Women’s Nightmare Called Sexual Harassment (1)

Have you ever had a nightmare, and feel anxious and scared after it?
But, have you ever imagine that you’ll be haunted by the nightmares even when you are not
sleeping?

Well, you have to know that a lot of women in Indonesia run into this case, caught up in the
fear of sexual harassment. It can happens, because there are almost no places that are truly
safe for them. To solve this problem, some people might easily say, “Wear your long shirt!”,
“Wear your trousers!”, “Do not put on your makeup!”, “Don't walk alone at night!”, or
“Don't walk alone in lonely places!”. We can implement those advices to reduce the risk of
sexual harassment that m ight happen, but believe me, it doesn't really work in this crazy era.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Coalition for Safe Public Spaces based on their survey of 62.224
participants conclude that, revealing clothes wear by women was not the cause of sexual
harassment. In fact, 17% victims of sexual harassment come from the category of hijab users.
This case is the one, that takes the most victims when we compared it with the victims who
were wearing the revealing clothes. This survey is also supported by the case of sexual
harassment by the teacher named Herry Wirawan to his 13 students at an islamic boarding
school in West Java. This is one of the strongest evidences that clothes do not cause someone
to become a victim of sexual harassment, because we all know that Islamic boarding school
students required to wear hijab.

In the other condition, besides from not looking at the victim's clothes, sexual harassment
also doesn't look at the place, which means it can happen even in public places. One of the
related cases was in August 2022, the sexual harassment happened to a woman on the train of
Jakarta-Bogor, it's very unfortunate this case happen on public transportation, which will
cause other women to feel scared to use public facilities. After that, another case occurred in
the office environtment, in January 2014, five female employees reported the case of sexual
harassment by the manager of the National News Agency, which in the end, this case got the
manager fired. And also the impact of technology doesn’t want to be left behind, in taking on
a role in this nightmare, because of that, the sexual harassment doesn’t only happen in real
spaces, but can also occur in virtual spaces through the chatting applications that we usually
use.

After all of those cases, there are several ways that we can do in reducing cases of sexual
harassment:
First, we need to realize that clothes and places cannot be used as an excuse for sexual
harassment to occur against women.
Second, stop blaming the victims for the clothes and places they visited at the time of the
incident.
Third, the government should pay more attention to the security system in public places.
Fourth , women in Indonesia must be more assertive towards the movements of those around
them, who may commit harassment and immediately, run and seek the nearest help.
Fifth, the last but not least, the whole people need to have mutual respect, take care of one
another, and realize that women need places where they feel free and safe.
Ladies and gentlemen, the nightmare in the form of sexual harassment, has haunted all
women in Indonesia, even the women who have never experienced it feel the same fear,
considering that, this happens as if it can't be prevented, whatever women wear seems wrong,
women's space for movement is also disputed, the right to freedom as a human being cannot
be fully owned.

Every day and every time there are a lot of women in Indonesia who cry out in frustration,
because they don't know which clothes can make them feel protected, and which places can
make them feel safe.

In the end, stop blaming women's clothes, stop limiting women's space, because that's not
what they need. Help them out of this nightmare, because they deserve a better life.

Child Marriage (2)

Ladies and gentlement, child marriage is a formal or informal marriage in which one or both
parties are under 18 years of age. UNICEF states, marriage of children under the age of 18 is
a fundamental violation of human rights.This is very risky to endanger the physical and
mental health of children. However, until 2021 this practice still happens in many countries
include Indonesia. According to Law Number 16 of 2019 concerning marriage, the law has
included changes in the minimum age of marriage from 16 years for women to 19 years. This
has accommodated the principle of equality. In fact, based on data from the Central Statistics
Agency in 2018, Indonesia is in the 8th position in the world and 2nd position in Southeast
Asia for cases of child marriage. There are 11.21% of women aged 20-24 years in Indonesia
who married before the age of 18 years, and 20 provinces of which have a prevalence of child
marriage, while in 2019 it increased to 22 provinces.
We need to realize that marriage is not just about romance, but it is related to the necessity to
build a nation's civilization whose responsibility cannot be placed on children who still have
to be treated and protected for their growth and development.

After that, Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency in 2019, South Kalimantan
Province occupies the first position with the highest number of child marriage, with 21.2%
cases. While, Yogyakarta is the province with the lowest number of child marriage, with
11.7% cases.
But, how about West Kalimantan?
Well, in 2019 Deputy for Family Welfare and Family Empowerment Dr. dr. M. Yani M,Kes.
said that “West Kalimantan is recorded as one of five provinces out of 34 provinces in
Indonesia with the highest level of early marriage or underage.” And after that, Head of
Representative for the National Population and Family Planning Agency of West Kalimantan,
Tenny C Soriton said, based on the results of the 2020 Population Census, 14.25% of women
in West Kalimantan were married under the age of 16.

This kind of social problem has a big impact on 3 aspects:

First, education. Most child marriages cause children to drop out of school, thus hampering
the achievement of 12-year compulsory education.
Second, health. This is related to the reproductive health condition of a child if they have
children, their nutritional fulfillment will disturb when they also have to take care of their
children, even the worst thing is the risk of maternal and child mortality.
Third, economy. Children who marry at a young age has difficulty finding a decent job to
support their family, earning low wages, which eventually leads to poverty and child labor
problems.

Ladies and gentlement, no child should give birth to a child. Child marriage is associated
with poor education, child marriage violates human rights. It endangers health, disrupts
education and development, and insreases risks of violence and abuse. No more child brides.
Let kids be kids.