In this country, farmers are marginalized in almost all aspects of life. Socially, being farmers is one of livelihoods which are underestimating because of their low income and simple life. Economically, job opportunity in agriculture is getting fewer along the narrowness of productive land and less government’s program and budget in this field. Politically, the priority alternation from agricultural to industrial development has resulted some contrary policies that don’t take side to small farmers and support a sustainable agriculture. Culturally, agrarian culture with the local wisdom of rural community is assumed gradually to be old-fashioned compared with modern culture that is full of advanced technology of urban community. As a conclusion, farmers encounter discrimination to live their life properly.
The reasonable analysis where the women take place in agriculture field establishes obviously a double discrimination on them. The cause is that the Indonesians are still fully living with patriarchal culture placing women’s position below men. Women farmers are much uncountable in the planning and implementation of development programs in relating field because they are assumed to be represented by men as head of a family. Several laws and regulations affect women farmers losing their access to agricultural and natural resources management. These policies cause a not well-targeted and unsustainable development. There will be no significant impact to poverty number decreasing comprehensively in all over this country as long as farmers are still being a foundation of life of the Indonesians.
Women farmers experienced some facets of discrimination in agricultural and natural resources management from the implementation of Green Revolution of Indonesia in 1980s until recent years. In a rural farming culture, women take hold of particular roles in some aspects of life dispensed equally and fairly with men and other family members in domestic scope, and with other social groups in public scope or in a community. Those roles include some aspects of agricultural and natural resources management, such as land control, seedlings, plant cultivation works, rural farmer’s organization, and public decision making. Unfortunately, those roles is getting disappeared in the last decades replaced by high-technology and individually instant culture.
· Right to Land
Political culture and cultural politics spread out in Indonesian people, because of patriarchal culture, cause women losing their rights to own a land properly, even though they got the land by their own efforts or inheritance. Land administration is in the name of their husbands after getting married or it is represented by their brothers if they are single or divorced. Women are considered only as supporting roles in the land right advocacy, so they are very often overlooked when the right has been captured and distributed. It belongs to the violation of women’s economic rights causing them not get benefit from the usage of land. For example, women can use land certificates as a guarantee to get a venture capital, or they can determine the management technique of the farm land by themselves. Women are dissociated from economic access to the land resources that put them into difficulties to be independent and susceptible to falling on poverty.
· Right to Food
The production and storage of seeds have been women’s essential roles in farm for long time ago. They have developed local seeds from the forest and surroundings from generation to generation for centuries. Local seeds are naturally bred and selected so they can be kept productive, qualified, and relatively resistant to pests and diseases. These roles have started to disappear since government has introduced hybrid seeds whose natures are terminator and perishable. As a result, the seeds supply that previously became women’s responsibility was altered to seed companies and market’s role. Moreover, the seed subsidy established by government gives more financial beneficiary to seed companies than to farmers. In this condition, government violates women’s rights for not respecting their efforts to conserve seeds and defend their source of economy. It means that women lose their rights to food, the right to get adequate food to eat daily.
· Plant Cultivation
Women place many roles in plant cultivation, such as seedling, transplanting, weeding, and harvesting. Doing those roles, women discrimination happens when their wages are lower than men in the same quantity of work hours. The consideration is that women’s works are lighter than men or they spend less energy. In fact, the amount of physical energy used at work is relatively the same between both of them. Even other jobs decide their wages on the capacity and professionalism of workers. This differentiation creates double burden on women who still have to be responsible on domestication and have to work twice harder to get equal wages upon men. It will be a distinctive burden, especially for the widowers. This problem is greatly caused by culture respecting men higher than women, called is patriarchal culture. In this case, government has not made any intervention on its policy to eliminate discrimination on women.
· Rural Farmers Organization
Since The New Order Government was running, women’s roles were getting domesticated, including in an organization. Barely are women as members in farmers groups, particularly in water users’ farmers groups. However, women are the biggest water users. If they participate in farmers groups, they take part only in food division or joining a cooking training. The minimum access and opportunities for women in an organization cause their low capacity and skills to work on farm.
· Public Decision Making
The difference between the opportunity given in farmers groups and the real women’s works in farm makes women have no bargaining position on decision making from the lowest level in family, community, until national level. In Development Planning Discussion, the number of women participation is still under 30% with inactive level of participation. It causes a not well-targeted development program and a stagnant poverty reduction eventually. This discrimination of rural women on decision making is a government’s violation to its people because of not fulfilling their political rights.
Dian Pratiwi Pribadi
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