Negotiating Gender and Bureaucracy: Female Managers in Indonesia’S Ministry of Finance
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Negotiating Gender And Bureaucracy: Female Managers in Indonesia’s Ministry Of Finance Paramita Muljono A thesis submitted to the School of International Development, University of East Anglia, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2013 © This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that no quotation from the thesis, nor any information derived therefrom, may be published without the author's prior, written consent. 1 Abstract There is global recognition of the need for more women in decision- making positions within bureaucracies to ensure gender-equitable policies and outcomes. Article 7 of the Convention of the Elimination of the Discrimination against Women commits states to ensure equality between women and men in political and public life, including participation in formulating government policy. In Indonesian government agencies, women now are employed in almost equal numbers to men. This thesis considers whether these changes represent genuine empowerment for these women, focussing on the gendered processes within the Ministry of Finance (MOF). There is a small but growing literature on female managers in developing country government agencies. However, no studies systematically combine an analysis of gendered processes within these organisations with an exploration of women’s work/family balance. This thesis develops such a combined approach. It draws on a range of data sources including interviews with 121 MOF employees, personal observation and documents. The analysis compares gendered practice within three different ministerial departments. Drawing on Goetz’s concept of the “gendered archaeology of organisation”, this thesis reveals a high degree of gender inequality in the daily practices. This includes overt discrimination in recruitment, as well as more indirect forms of discrimination in promotion and training. The thesis considers how employment in the MOF shapes the identities of female managers, and how these women balance their domestic lives with their careers. Among other things, this considers the effects of corruption, Islamic conservatism, Javanese culture, a bureaucratic reform programme and a gender mainstreaming initiative. The thesis observes how these women exercise agency within and outside the MOF, and the extent to which their education and professional status empower them in their working lives. The thesis also examines how gendered processes within the MOF affect its external policies. 2 Table of Contents LIST OF ABBREVIATION 12 1 INTRODUCTION 13 1.1 ASSESSING WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 13 1.2 LOCATING THE INDONESIAN CIVIL SERVICE IN A WIDER CONTEXT 16 1.2.1. The Javanese as the culturally and politically dominant ethnic group 16 1.2.2. Islam as the predominant religion 18 1.2.3. The lingering effects of civil service politicisation during the Suharto regime (1966-1998) 19 1.2.4. Corruption and public perception 20 1.2.5. Female civil servants in the context of the Indonesian labour market 21 1.3 WHY THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE? 23 1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 26 1.5 A WORD ON METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH 28 1.6 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS 28 Chapter 2: The Gendered archaeology of the Indonesian MOF 28 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 29 Chapter 4: MOF as a subsystem of the Indonesian bureaucracy 29 Chapter 5: The gendered cognitive context of Indonesian bureaucracy 29 Chapter 6: Gender discrimination as a formal policy in MOF’s recruitment process 29 Chapter 7: Diploma Disease: To what extent does education empower women at MOF? 30 Chapter 8: ‘Would you mind if we promote your wife?’ Gendered Discretion in Promotion 30 Chapter 9: Money talks: Disentangling gender from the knot of corruption 30 Chapter 10: Locating the identities of MOF women in relation to MOF’s gendered space and time 31 Chapter 11: Gender Mainstreaming at MOF 31 Chapter 12: Conclusion 31 2 THE GENDERED ARCHAEOLOGY OF MOF, A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 33 2.1 INTRODUCTION 33 2.2 FORMULATION OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND IDENTIFICATION OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 34 2.3 GENDERED ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ORGANISATION 37 2.3.1 Gendered institutional and organisational history 37 2.3.2 The gendered cognitive context of the organisation 38 2.3.3 Gendered organisational culture 39 2.3.4 Gendered participants 42 2.3.5 Sexuality of the organisation 46 2.3.6 Gendered authority structures 47 2.3.7 Gendered space and time 49 2.3.8 Gendered incentive and accountability systems 51 2.4 OTHER APPROACHES TO THE GENDERED ORGANISATION 51 2.5 POWER AND EMPOWERMENT 54 3 METHODOLOGY 58 3.1 INTRODUCTION 58 3.2 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH 59 3.2.1 Formulating the research questions 62 3.2.2 Research timeframe 63 3.2.3 Choice of fieldwork site 63 3 3.2.4 Design and sampling 63 3.3 INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS 79 3.4 REFLECTIONS ON POSITIONALITY AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STRATEGIES 79 3.4.1. Researching in a familiar setting 79 3.4.2. Ease of Access 79 3.4.3. Establishing Trust and Rapport 80 3.4.4. Reduced resource requirements and reduced problems with translation 81 3.4.5. Triangulation 81 3.4.6. Keeping in touch after the fieldwork had finished 83 3.4.7. Lack of critical distance 84 3.4.8. Conflicting roles? 84 3.4.9. Asking ‘obvious’ things 84 3.4.10. Ethical issues 85 3.5 LIMITATIONS 86 4 MOF AS A SUBSYSTEM OF THE INDONESIAN BUREAUCRACY 87 4.1 INTRODUCTION 87 4.2 THE CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM IN INDONESIA: AN OVERVIEW 87 4.3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDONESIA’S CIVIL SERVICE 88 4.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF INDONESIAN BUREAUCRACY 89 4.4.1 Political influence in the Indonesian Civil Service 89 4.4.2 A role model for society 90 4.4.3 Military influence 91 4.4.4 Corruption and public perception 92 4.5 HIERARCHY IN THE INDONESIAN BUREAUCRACY 93 4.5.1 Organisational structure and job hierarchy 93 4.5.2 The grade and rank system 94 4.5.3 The link between the grade and echelon systems 96 4.5.4 Functional Positions 99 4.6 FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE CIVIL SERVICE 99 4.7 THE FUTURE OF WOMEN IN THE INDONESIAN BUREAUCRACY 104 4.8 THE HISTORY AND STRUCTURE OF INDONESIA’S MOF 108 4.8.1 History 108 4.8.2 Structure 108 4.9 MOF HR STATISTICS 110 4.9.1 Overview 110 4.9.2 Structural Positions 110 4.9.3 Functional Positions 112 4.10 BUREAUCRATIC REFORM 113 4.11 CONCLUSION 115 5 THE GENDERED COGNITIVE CONTEXT OF INDONESIA’S BUREAUCRACY 117 5.1 INTRODUCTION 117 5.2 INDONESIAN GENDER IDEOLOGY 118 5.2.1 The Suharto Era 118 5.2.2 President Baharuddin Jusuf Habibie (1998-1999) 129 5.2.3 President Abdurrahman Wahid (1999-2001) 130 5.2.4 President Megawati Sukarnoputri (2001-2004) 131 5.2.5 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004-present) 132 5.3 GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN THE INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT 137 5.3.1 Gender mainstreaming and the Ministry of Religious Affairs 139 5.3.2 Evaluation of gender mainstreaming implementation in selected government ministries/agencies 143 5.3.3 The National Plan of Action for Gender Mainstreaming 147 4 5.4 CONCLUSION 148 6 GENDER DISCRIMINATION AS A FORMAL POLICY IN MOF’S RECRUITMENT PROCESS 150 6.1 INTRODUCTION 150 6.2 BACKGROUND TO CIVIL SERVICE RECRUITMENT 151 6.3 RECRUITMENT PRACTICES IN MOF 151 6.3.1 Overview 151 6.3.2 STAN 153 6.3.3 Direct recruitment from local universities 165 6.4 WOMEN’S MOTIVATIONS FOR JOINING MOF 169 6.5 CONCLUSION 173 7 DIPLOMA DISEASE: TO WHAT EXTENT DOES EDUCATION EMPOWER WOMEN IN MOF? 174 7.1 INTRODUCTION 174 7.2 WHERE WOULD YOUR DIPLOMA TAKE YOU IN MOF? 175 7.3 OPPORTUNITIES TO OBTAIN FURTHER DEGREES 178 7.3.1 MOF Scholarships 178 7.3.2 Self-funded study 182 7.3.3 Third-party scholarships 184 7.4 EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND OF MOF EMPLOYEES 185 7.5 IN-SERVICE TRAINING 188 7.5.1 Structural/Managerial Training 190 7.5.2 Technical Training 192 7.5.3 Distance learning in MOF 193 7.6 CONCLUSION 194 8 ‘WOULD YOU MIND IF WE PROMOTED YOUR WIFE?’ GENDERED DISCRETION IN PROMOTION 196 8.1. INTRODUCTION 196 8.2. CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS ON PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT 198 8.3. CIVIL SERVICE AND MOF PROMOTION REGULATIONS 200 8.4. LINKING PROMOTION AND RELOCATION 203 8.5. GENDERED DISCRETION IN PROMOTION 205 8.5.1. Promotion as a ‘family affair’ 205 8.5.2. Promotion related to corrupt behaviour 210 8.5.3. Other forms of gendered discretion 213 8.5.4. Perceptions: ‘women are not after promotion’ 216 8.6. RESISTING PROMOTION 217 8.7. WHAT HAPPENS TO WOMEN WHEN THEY BECOME MANAGERS? 220 8.8. CONCLUSION 222 9 MONEY TALKS: DISENTANGLING GENDER FROM THE KNOT OF CORRUPTION 225 9.1 INTRODUCTION 225 9.2 THE HOUSEHOLD DIVISION OF LABOUR AND FINANCE 227 9.3 OVERVIEW OF CIVIL SERVICE REMUNERATION 231 9.3.1 Basic salary and other allowances 231 9.3.2 Special Allowances for MOF employees 233 9.3.3 Membership of ad-hoc teams 234 9.3.4 Budaya amplop (envelope culture): Taking bribes 235 9.3.5 Mark-ups and mark-downs 236 9.3.6 Lembur fiktif (Falsifying overtime claims) 236 9.3.7 Moonlighting 237 5 9.3.8 Gifts for the bosses 238 9.4 ARE WOMEN LESS CORRUPT? 239 9.5 A QUESTION OF OPPORTUNITY? 243 9.6 IS WOMEN’S LACK OF ENGAGEMENT IN CORRUPT BEHAVIOUR THE CAUSE OR THE CONSEQUENCE OF THEIR MARGINALISATION? 244 9.7 CONCLUSION 246 10 LOCATING THE IDENTITIES OF MOF WOMEN IN RELATION TO MOF’S GENDERED SPACE AND TIME 249 10.1 INTRODUCTION 249 10.2 CHILD- AND HUSBAND-CARE 251 10.3 LEAVE OF ABSENCE, WORKING HOURS AND OVERTIME 255 10.3.1 Annual leave 255 10.3.2 Maternity leave 257 10.3.3 Unpaid leave 257 10.3.4 Working hours 259 10.3.5 Overtime 260 10.4 BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL WOMAN THERE IS A PEMBANTU 263 10.5 FAMILY ARRANGEMENTS WHEN WOMEN HAVE TO BE AWAY FROM HOME 265 10.6 BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL MAN THERE IS A WOMAN? BEING THE WIFE OF ANOTHER CIVIL SERVANT 273 10.6.1 Dharma Wanita activities to support husbands’ careers 273 10.6.2 When a woman’s position is higher than her husband’s 274 10.6.3 ‘I will follow him wherever he may go’: When the husband relocates 275 10.7 WORK AND THE GENDERED LIFE COURSE 278 10.7.1 Sulastri 278 10.7.2 Aisyah 279 10.7.3 Ratna 281 10.8 CONCLUSION 284 11 PRACTICING WHAT YOU PREACH? INTERNAL ORGANISATIONAL PROCESSES AND EXTERNAL OUTCOMES OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN MOF 287 11.1 INTRODUCTION 287 11.2 ESTABLISHING GM IN MOF 290 11.2.1.