The city, PKK leaders, and women’s empowerment

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the strategic roles of leaders of state-organized women’s groups of the Pemberdayaan dan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (Family Welfare and Empowerment or PKK), in the development of Ruang Publik Terpadu Ramah Anak (Child-Friendly Integrated Public Spaces or RPTRA) in the province of Jakarta, Indonesia. This is a qualitative study undertaken via in-depth interviews with PKK leaders and relevant officials. It is also based on observations I made of RPTRA Mutiara and RPTRA Serdang Baru in Central Jakarta, between 2019 and 2022. I found that the PKK leaders have been able to influence the design of the RPTRA that are now equipped with lactation rooms that enable women to move outside and participate more easily in public spaces. These have promoted women’s empowerment, group formation and collective action and have focused on bringing women’s interests into the initial design of the RPTRA. This paper suggests that while “State Ibuism” continues to be an important concept, PKK leaders are showing signs of adopting new ideologies and practices that indicate progressive feminist thinking and directions that are important and need to be studied.

ABSTRACT IN BAHASA INDONESIA

Tulisan ini mengkaji peran strategis para pemimpin Pemberdayaan dan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK), sebuah organisasi perempuan bentukan negara, dalam pengembangan Ruang Publik Terpadu Ramah Anak (RPTRA) di Provinsi DKI Jakarta, Indonesia. Studi kualitatif ini dilakukan melalui wawancara mendalam dengan para pemimpin PKK dan pejabat terkait. Hal itu juga berdasarkan pengamatan yang saya lakukan terhadap RPTRA Mutiara dan RPTRA Serdang Baru di Jakarta Pusat, antara tahun 2019 dan 2022. Tulisan ini menemukan bahwa para pemimpin PKK mampu memengaruhi desain RPTRA yang kini dilengkapi dengan ruang laktasi yang memungkinkan perempuan untuk bergerak di luar dan berpartisipasi lebih mudah di ruang publik. Aksi tersebut merefleksikan pemberdayaan perempuan, pembentukan kelompok dan aksi kolektif perempuan, yang berfokus pada membawa kepentingan perempuan ke dalam rancangan awal RPTRA. Tulisan ini juga menunjukkan bahwa meskipun “Ibuisme Negara” (“State Ibuism”) masih terus menjadi konsep penting, para pemimpin PKK menunjukkan tanda-tanda bahwa mereka mengadopsi ideologi dan praktik baru yang menunjukkan arah dan pemikiran feminis progresif yang penting dan perlu dipelajari.

KEYWORDS:

• City
• PKK leaders
• women’s empowerment
• feminist thinking
• public spaces

KEYWORDS:

• Kota
• pemimpin PKK
• pemberdayaan perempuan
• pemikiran feminis
• ruang publik

Acknowledgments

I thank Claudia Ituarte-Lima at the workshop at Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights (RWI) in 2019 and Prof Nancy J. Smith-Hefner at Boston University at the AIFIS RISTEK BRIN workshop in 2020, for providing varied feedback at the initial stage of writing this paper. Deepest thanks to all PKK leaders and resource persons, who have shared their experiences and participated in this study. My deepest thanks go also to the two anonymous referees for their critical and valuable comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is Governor of DKI Jakarta (2014–2017). Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and VT then divorced in 2018.

2 Pancasila in English called “Five Principles” is the Indonesian state philosophy as the way of life of the Indonesian nation since 1945, which becomes the source of all sources of law and guidance of Indonesian citizen”s way of life. The five principles are: (1) Belief in the one and only God (Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa), (2) Just and civilized humanity (Kemanusiaan yang Adil dan Beradab), (3) The unity of Indonesia (Persatuan Indonesia), (4) Democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations amongst representatives (Kerakyatan yang Dipimpin oleh Hikmat Kebijaksanaan dalam Permusyawaratan/Perwakilan), (5) Social justice for the whole of the people of Indonesia (Keadilan Sosial bagi Seluruh Rakyat Indonesia).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kurniawati Hastuti Dewi

Kurniawati Hastuti DEWI is a senior researcher at Research Center for Politics, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Indonesia with interests in gender and politics; she is an active member of the Asian Association of Women’s Studies (AAWS) and has a Ph.D. in Area Studies from Kyoto University and MA in Asian Studies from Australian National University. Her key publications include Indonesian Women and Local Politics: Islam, Gender and Networks in Post-Suharto Indonesia (Singapore: NUS Press & Kyoto University Press, 2015); Gender and Politics in Post-Reformasi Indonesia: Women Leaders within Local Oligarchy Networks (Singapore: Springer, 2022).