Violence Against Women and Gender Inequality

Do you know that one out of three women have experienced violence? Furthermore, more than 80% of sexual violence and domestic violence cases were not reported to police. More than 62 millions of young women dropped out of school due to underage marriage, financial difficulties and gender norms. Moreover, women trafficking also happens every day. This data of violence cases against women was presented by Kartika Jahja, a music enthusiast and gender equality activist, during the Tech Media Talk talkshow held by students of Communication Program Binus University International at Auditorium Binus FX Campus on Tuesday (29/3).

To elaborate it even further, Detik.com, based on data from National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), stated that in 2013 there were 279.760 cases of violence against women in Indonesia. That number increased to 293.220 cases in 2014. Aside from this data, there are a lot of unreported cases, mainly due to the low awareness to report and lack of complaint channels in local goverment institution. However, the data from Komnas Perempuan indicates that the public is starting to realize the importance of reporting violence against women.

Kartika adds that violence against women is not always physical, as insults or verbal abuse towards women are also considered as violence. As a gender equality activist, she is strongly against public opinion which tends degrade women as she believes this is the source of verbal abuse against women. “Have you ever heard a statement ‘you are not properly dressed like a lady’? or ‘you hit like a woman’? We can also see the different role between wife and husband as husband is the one who earns money and the wife takes care of all the house work,” adds Kartika Jahja who is also a vocalist of an indie band, Tika & The Dissidents.

This stereotype still exists in the society. To make it even worse, many women accept their duty to work in the kitchen and their husband to provide income as well as being a leader. Therefore, Kartika is actively campaigning for gender equality issue to make women realize that their right and status should be equal with men. She is campaigning by writing song “Tubuhku Otoritas” which also happened to be her campaign’s theme. Apart from actively campaigning with her music, Kartika also started a foundation called Bersama Project which is used as a creative movement to promote gender equality and to end violence against women.

Catherine Coyle, a volunteer in Komnas Perempuan, who was also present in the Tech Media Talk, supports movements which promote gender equality and actions to end violence against women. Catherine, a self-claimed feminist, encourages all women who were victims of violence to be not afraid to report all of the abuses they had experienced. “To all those women who experienced violence, stand up and report all the abuses to the authorities. You also have to look for for others who share the similar experiences so you can unite and become powerful,” she said. Kartika adds, “For those who experienced it, do not think that you are on your own, you should not blame yourself either, there are many women like you, and there are a lot of people who wants to help you out there.”