Affirmative Action Needs Stronger Support in Women's Politics

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – A study by the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (KemenPPPA), conducted with the Center for Political Studies at Indonesia's University of Indonesia, found that the election rate of women to the DPR RI and regional legislative council (DPRD) has remained around 16–22 percent for over two decades of affirmative action policies.

This means that affirmative action policies to support women's political representation need to be made stronger to ensure they achieve real change.

Deputy Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR RI) Lestari Moerdijat, stated that increasing women's representation requires strengthening the regulations and mechanisms that give women a better chance of being elected to legislative bodies.

"We need a movement that goes beyond mere administration or tokenism. Let's transform this into a national movement backed by legal force. The entry point is the revision of the General Election Law," said Lestari during a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) in Jakarta on Thursday, August 19, 2026, as quoted by Antara

According to her, revising the General Election Law provides an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of affirmative action policies for women. Ensuring the presence of female candidates on election ballots is not enough; implementing representation requires mechanisms that increase their chances of securing seats.

Women's representation is crucial for responsive, participatory and equitable public policies. Pursuing the agenda of increasing women's representation consistently is necessary to see changes in legislative bodies.

Lestari believes women must be more politically involved and able, beyond just meeting regulations. She says it's important to strengthen women's knowledge, empowerment, and leadership so they can compete and take on key roles in politics.

"We need to discuss gender studies and leadership, but above all, we must reshape women's mindsets, to make them realize their place is in politics, not just in the background," she said.

Meanwhile, women represent 37 percent of the Regional Representative Council (DPD RI). This achievement indicates that affirmative action policies can be strengthened to increase women's representation more effectively and equitably across all legislative bodies. ***