On August 27, 2021, Puskapol UI held an audience session with the Indonesian General Elections Commission (KPU RI) regarding the She Leads Indonesia 2021 program. This program aims to encourage increased participation of women in applying for the selection of members for KPU RI and Bawaslu RI for the 2022–2027 term, while also promoting women’s representation in line with legal mandates within election management bodies to ensure the creation of procedural electoral policies that are gender-responsive.
The event was attended by Aditya Perdana as Director of Puskapol UI and representatives of the Puskapol UI management team, all commissioners of KPU RI, the KPU RI Secretariat, female members of Provincial KPU, and female members of Regency/City KPU from across Indonesia, totaling more than 400 participants.
During the audience session, all commissioners who delivered remarks—including Ilham Saputra (Chairman of KPU RI), Arief Budiman (Member of KPU RI), Pramono Ubaid Tanthowi (Member of KPU RI), Viryan Aziz (Member of KPU RI), I Dewa Kade Wiarsa (Member of KPU RI), and Evi Novida Ginting Manik (Member of KPU RI)—expressed strong support for the She Leads Indonesia 2021 program. This is primarily because the presence of women as election administrators remains very low. Women’s representation at the KPU RI level consists of only one person, and many regions still lack female representation as members of Provincial and Regency/City KPU. A greater presence of women at the national level is expected to increase and encourage the representation of women as election administrators at the local level.
The commissioners’ presentations also highlighted the many challenges faced by women, particularly in fostering an inclusive social and political environment that prioritizes gender equality. Many barriers are still encountered despite various affirmative efforts that have been implemented. It is hoped that the female election administrators attending the audience session will proceed by participating in the selection process so they can be included in the subsequent training process according to the established schedule and criteria.
More specifically, Evi shared her own experience as an alumna of She Leads 2016. According to her, the She Leads training provided significant benefits, especially in building her confidence to participate in the KPU RI selection at that time. Through this training, Evi felt she gained a better understanding of her own weaknesses and strengths, enabling her to navigate the entire series of tests for election administrators at the KPU RI level and ultimately be chosen as the only woman elected. Additionally, and no less importantly, Evi spoke about building women’s solidarity to support one another.
The agenda continued with a presentation from Aditya Perdana regarding the details of the She Leads Indonesia 2021 program. The explanation covered the program’s background, the state of women’s representation in election management bodies, the number of female applicants for KPU RI selection, an explanation of what the She Leads Indonesia 2021 program is, the criteria and prerequisites for joining the program, and specific information regarding the training schedule for the three modules. After the presentation, the meeting moved into a discussion and Q session, particularly concerning the procedures for applying to become a training participant. Several matters related to selection procedures were also explained in more detail by the Puskapol UI management team. From this audience session, the enthusiasm and spirit of female election administrators at the provincial and regency/city levels to become part of the She Leads Indonesia 2021 Program were clearly evident.
