The Asia Foundation

Indonesia holds parliamentary and presidential elections in 2009. Right now, women represent less than 12 percent of all national and local parliamentarians and hold less than 3 percent of top tier executive positions. An obstacle to more women in public office historically has been the reluctance of party leaders to recruit women to electable positions. In 2008, the Foundation supported strong advocacy efforts resulting in a clause in the new elections law mandating that at least one in every three candidates listed on a party ballot be a woman. We also supported the creation of a database of nearly one thousand potential women candidates parties could recruit. These efforts, combined with innovative strategies like Indonesia's first text messaging advocacy campaign, helped double the number of women on the candidate list for this year's elections. To strengthen these new candidacies, we provided training to three hundred women running for national and local legislatures. The trainings built their capacity to run a campaign, build constituency networks, develop focused media and voter education campaigns, and understand the finer details of the electoral system. "I was able to gain experience, and, with other women candidates, build synergy around a women's agenda," says Marini, a candidate from Aceh for the National Awakening Party, who is running for Indonesia's National Legislature (DPR). "Women are an agent for change in development, because without women, development won't become prosperity."