Lund University Master of Science in International Development and Management May, 2015 Women’s Pathways into Parliament: The Case of Indonesia Author: Livia Berg Supervisor: Catia Gregoratti Abstract The purpose of this thesis was to examine women’s pathways into the Indonesian national parliament. Pathways constitute of both barriers and enablers, which were identified and discussed in the case of women’s access to the Indonesian parliament. This was examined by answering the research question: “What do female MPs’ narratives tell us about pathways into the Indonesian national parliament?”, using two sub-questions about barriers and enablers. The thesis as based on multiple qualitative data, both primary and secondary, in order to build a case study. The primary data constitutes of narrative interviews with female MPs in Indonesia and written biographies from the Internet; the secondary material used in the thesis treats topics about women’s access into the Indonesian national parliament. The main result in this thesis was that status play a huge role as an enabler for women’s pathways into the national parliament in Indonesia. This was also missing from the theoretical framework within the thesis; these deviations can be used for theory building within this area of research. Keywords: gender, participation, Indonesian parliament, pathways, political access Word count: 15000 i TABLE OF CONTENT ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... v 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Purpose and Research Question ..................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Outline of the Thesis ........................................................................................................................... 3 2. WOMEN IN INDONESIAN POLITICS ........................................................................................ 3 2.1 Historical Perspective ........................................................................................................................ 3 2.1.1 Independence ................................................................................................................................................ 4 2.1.2 The New Order ............................................................................................................................................. 4 2.1.3 Post-Suharto .................................................................................................................................................. 5 2.2 The Political System ............................................................................................................................ 6 2.3 The Current Status of Women in Politics ..................................................................................... 8 2.3.1 Socio-Cultural Context ............................................................................................................................. 10 2.3.2 Islam ................................................................................................................................................................ 11 3. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Research Design ................................................................................................................................ 12 3.2 Epistemology and Ontology ........................................................................................................... 13 3.3 Written Biographies ......................................................................................................................... 13 3.4 Interviews ............................................................................................................................................ 14 3.4.1 Ethical Considerations............................................................................................................................. 16 3.5 Reflexivity and Positionality ......................................................................................................... 16 3.6 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 18 3.7 Limitations .......................................................................................................................................... 18 4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................ 19 4.1 Pathways .............................................................................................................................................. 20 4.2 Dimensions .......................................................................................................................................... 20 4.2.1 Cultural Factors .......................................................................................................................................... 21 4.2.2 Socio-Economic Factors .......................................................................................................................... 21 4.2.3 Political Factors .......................................................................................................................................... 21 4.2.4 Family Networks ........................................................................................................................................ 24 4.2.5 Participation in Social Movements ..................................................................................................... 25 5. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 25 5.1 Barriers ................................................................................................................................................. 25 5.2 Enablers ................................................................................................................................................ 29 5.2.1 Celebrities ..................................................................................................................................................... 29 5.2.2 Businesswomen ......................................................................................................................................... 30 5.2.3 Activism and Party Affiliation .............................................................................................................. 32 5.2.4 Family Networks ........................................................................................................................................ 34 5.2.5 Quota............................................................................................................................................................... 37 6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 40 6.1 Future Research ................................................................................................................................ 40 LITERATURE LIST .......................................................................................................................... 42 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................... 48 Appendix A: Cabinet of Indonesia (2014-2019) ............................................................................ 48 Appendix B: Overview of the Commissions .................................................................................... 50 Appendix C: List of Webpages .............................................................................................................. 51 Appendix D: Current Female MPs ....................................................................................................... 52 ii Appendix E: Interview Participants ................................................................................................... 64 Appendix F: Interview Guide ................................................................................................................ 65 Appendix G: Categorizing of Current Female MPs ........................................................................ 66 iii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank BPS Badan Pusat Statistik [Indonesia Statistics] CEDAW The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women DPD Dewan Perwakilas Daerah [Regional Representative Council] DPR Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat [House of Representatives] CSO Civil Society Organization GNP Gross National Product HMI Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam [Muslim Students’ Association] IDR Indonesian Rupiah IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union MP Member of Parliament MPR Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat [People’s Consultative Assembly] NGO Non-Governmental Organization Setneg Kementerian Sekretariat Negara Republic Indonesia [Ministry of State Secretariat of