"Just do it, don`t stop. We need half a century to get equal pay, and maybe even longer to realize all the resolutions, but we can never stop"A woman in white dress stepped swiftly to let Antara enter her room. A firm but gentle way of speaking with British and Australian accents was heard one after another when Elisabeth Newman described her aspirations for the worldwide women`s movement.
At a meeting at the Grand Inna Malioboro Hotel Yogyakarta on Friday (9/14), where the 35th General Assembly of the International Women`s Council (ICW) was held, Elisabeth also recounted her journey to take part in the ICW which is the mother of all world women`s organizations.
Elisabeth`s clarity of memory and mind make her much younger than her age even though whole of her hair has turned white and her body needs to be supported by a stick if she walks far.
"Women must benefit the family, the environment, the community, without forgetting themselves. It`s difficult, right?" said the 72-year-old women activist opening the conversation.
The difficulty was experienced by Elisabeth at the beginning of her role as an adult woman, when she had become a mother, but also wanted to actualize herself in her career and community organization.
At that time, Elisabeth stopped working after learning she was pregnant, and determined to dedicate her life to children and families. Although not because of the coercion of her partner, it is a condition that forces her to leave the public sphere permanently to the domestic.
In the 1960s, Australia was not as friendly and equal to women as it is today, said Elisabeth, who moved from England to Australia to follow her partner.
The difference in wages between women and men is very high. There is no leave of pregnancy and childbirth for female workers, as well as no sexist work environment in which women work in places fit for them.
Australia has just set a "Maternity Leave Act" or paid leave for pregnancy and childbirth for 12 weeks in 1973. In its development, the Australian Government is currently giving maternity and maternity leave with salary paid for 18 weeks.
Meanwhile, Indonesia just passed it 30 years later through Law No. 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower, which provides leave with salary paid for 12 months.
"I have to wait for my daughter to go to elementary school to get back to work, and, of course, at that time , it was very difficult to get a job again when I became a mother," Elisabeth said.
However, Elisabeth`s anxiety about herself made her start to be active in organizations in the community, which led her to become a member of the National Council of Women in the Australian State of Victory in 1976.
From Victoria, Elisabeth was then appointed to be a health adviser at the Australian National Women`s Council, and was active in various management positions until 1995. She was appointed an observer at the ICW General Assembly in Paris in 1995.
After more than 40 years of developing the ICW to advance in mainstreaming gender equality and empowering women throughout the world, Elisabeth decided to enroll as a lifetime member of the ICW in 1997 when she was 51 years old.
Her desire to remain active and benefit others despite retirement is a reason for Elisabeth to register as a lifetime member.
Being a lifetime member of the ICW is not free as Elisabeth has to pay two thousand euros for her membership. The withdrawal of fees was carried out by the ICW as a way to raise donations for the financing of the organization`s operations.
As a lifelong member, Elisabeth upholds the privilege of being a member of the ICW board that assists the ICW president and steering committee at every international meeting held by the ICW.
Elisabeth is currently the ICW`s vice president along with Christine Knock from New Zealand, to assist the leadership of ICW President Jungsook Kim, who was elected in 2015.
As a steering committee member, she got involved in preparing all materials for the general assembly, draft a resolution for various issues of concern to ICW, she said.
Being a witness of the ICW`s journey for more than 50 years, Elisabeth felt various changes in the organization affiliated with the UN Commission for the Status of Women (CSW), including on the organizational side, the ICW now does not have a secretary general, whose role is replaced by the ICW board.
The ICW also began to regenerate management by involving representatives of young women to maintain regeneration.
On the women`s movement, Elisabeth considers that women today are undergoing more severe challenges because what they face is often invisible, compared to the past, though, of course, the world today is much more friendly to women.
When women struggle for getting equal wages and the rights to vote in the past fifty years, now, women not only have to exercise their voting rights, but also to be more involved in politics as policy makers.
The division of roles between a father and mother in taking care of children also needs to be mainstreamed because even though women are freer to work outside the home, but there are still many things happening as they return to be the holders of control in families.
When getting home, father returns to be like a king, and gives up all the responsibilities of caring for children and households to mother, why? she asked.
Elisabeth said the answer was because boys were not educated to realize that their position was equal to women, not higher and not stronger.
She acknowledged that the process would not be easy because the doctrines of different roles of men and women had firmly been rooted throughout the world from generation to generation. Therefore, the notion of gender equality needs to be cultivated early.
"But we have to start eliminating the glass ceiling doctrine," she said.
The 35th ICW General Assembly is held in Yogyakarta on 13-18 September 2018 with the main agenda of the ICW council election and the adoption of seven resolutions proposed by the steering committee.
Among the resolutions are warnings of internet danger for children, cessation of violence in the elderly, challenges and empowerment of migrant women from the sub-Saharan region, access to education and information on environmental preservation, availability of clean water, and eradication and elimination of all forms of sexual violence.
So, can the ICW resolutions overcome all the challenges of women today? Elisabeth answered no if the resolutions only stopped on paper without being supported by the willingness of all parties to implement them.
Answering her own question at the beginning of a conversation about multi-roles of women that are not easy to do, Elisabeth answered lightly that the key to making it easier is to keep moving.
"Just do it, don`t stop. We need half a century to get equal pay, and maybe even longer to realize all the resolutions, but we can never stop," she said.
Reporting by Azizah Fitriyanti
Editing by Bambang Purwanto/Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: Bambang Purwanto
Editor: Gusti Nur Cahya Aryani
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
