… the 2024 election will be an important milestone in the struggle to achieve fairer and more inclusive representation in parliament to create empowered women and protected children.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The 2024 election is expected to be an important milestone for increasing women's representation in parliament, according to Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA), Bintang Puspayoga.

"We all hope that the 2024 election will be an important milestone in the struggle to achieve fairer and more inclusive representation in parliament to create empowered women and protected children," the minister said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

During a seminar themed "Increasing the Representation of at Least 30 Percent of Women in Parliament in the 2024 Election," she described the upcoming election as a golden opportunity for society to make positive changes in the political system.

She said she believes that one aspect that can really influence election results is votes from first-time voters, namely those who are participating in an election for the first time or young voters who do not have sufficient political experience.

Minister Puspayoga said that to make women empowered, opportunities must be opened as wide as possible for them to participate in making and taking decisions by occupying strategic positions.

"Women have a great opportunity to take strategic steps to increase their representation in the upcoming 2024 elections, so that they can reduce gender inequality and contribute to the birth of policies that can improve the quality of life for women in various development sectors," she added.

Minister Puspayoga stated that the commitment to achieving equality was laid down in the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

She added that this mandate was also strengthened by the Indonesian government's commitment to realizing gender equality for the entire Indonesian nation, which has lasted for more than 22 years.

"The most concrete milestone in ensuring this commitment began with the birth of Presidential Instruction of the Republic of Indonesia Number 9 of 2000 concerning Gender Mainstreaming in National Development," the minister said.

Long before that, she pointed out, the Indonesian government ratified the CEDAW Convention through Law Number 7 of 1984 and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) agreement, which was adopted in 1995 at the 4th World Conference on Women.

Unfortunately, she added, the equality that is the nation's ideal has not been fully achieved.

"Through this seminar, we hope to increase our understanding regarding the importance of women's involvement in politics, and this seminar will be an important first step in achieving the goal of increasing women's representation by 30 percent in parliament in the next election," Minister Bintang Puspayoga said.

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Translator: Zubi M, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Sri Haryati
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