Strategizing Local Regulation On Women Representation in Village Policy-Making as A Realization of Sustainable Development Goals: A Study in Semarang Regency

Abstract

Since 2015, Indonesia had been joined an international resolution called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in which gender equality is one of critical goals for the betterment of human lives. Accordingly, Indonesia government had started to take attention on women political representation from which the government stipulated policies and regulations regarding women political participation in every policy-making levels. Started from the state context, the issue of women representation has recently been expanded to village policy-making through the stipulation of the Village Act (Law No. 6/2014). Given the escalating trend of decentralization and democratization of villages, local governments have likewise taken initiative regarding women political participation, thus the topic of this article. This article explores the extent of local regulation corresponds the implementation of Village Act concerning women representative in the Village Representative Council. To explore which, the research takes place in Semarang regency whereby the local government has promulgated two policies on such regard. The research method used in this article is socio-legal approach whereby a statute or regulation is analyzed through empirical facts, either quantitative, qualitative, or both. In conclusion, we contend that the mechanism of women representation as stipulated by the Semarang regent government is more focused on quality rather than quantity, thus stressing the role of women representative and women constituent groups not only in the context of policy-making in the Village Representative Council, but also in the village politics at-large.