Lifting Up the Position of Women

KOMPAS/HARIS FIRDAUS

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti (second right) and Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Rector Panut Mulyono (third right) dance with students in a ceremony to send off participants of the UGM Community Service-Empowerment Learning Project (KKN-PPM) on Friday (28/6/2019) at Pancasila Grha Sabha Pramana UGM Field, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta. In the event, UGM sent off 5,360 students who will take part in KKN-PPM activities in 107 regencies/cities in 32 provinces.

Much progress has been made to advance the position of women in society. In the future, women must also become centers of development.In many ways, women are in a better position today. School enrollment rates, for example, do not differ much between men and women. Women have attained employment and are involved in politics, occupying ministerial positions in the Cabinet, defying the stereotype of traditional roles.

However, in a seminar on World Population Day last Thursday in Jakarta, it was revealed that women were still left behind in development. One thing that stands out is the high maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births, which was 305 in 2015.