Not The Same But Equal

A Training on Masculinity and Femininity

Equality between men and women should be established in human life. The realization of one’s awareness towards the issue requires a process of understanding and reflection on the basic nature of men and women. It is true that there is still a gap between men and women which affects different treatment between men and women, such as the opportunity to learn and work, the right to give opinion and make decision. Commonly people still consider that man is more powerful than women that is considered as a weak creature.

Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta through Masculinity and Femininity training is trying to build awareness among youth and students about the equality of men and women. The training was held on Friday – Sunday, November 27 – 29 at Wisma Pojok Indah, Condongcatur, Yogyakarta. This training aimed to give correct information about masculinity and femininity in the understanding of gender and  further, students are able to analyze man and woman equality in Indonesia context and finally they are able to campaign it.

Pdt. Hendri Wijayatsih, MA, a lecturer and member of the Working Group of Duta Wacana Christian University, Yogyakarta, on Gender Justice Mission 21, facilitated the training and and revealed that there is still a misunderstanding between sex and gender. She said that sex is a biologically inherent in men and women, while gender is related with men and women differentiation based on social and cultural construction.

A session on Masculinity and Femininity in Nusantara Tradition (Indonesian context) was presented by Dr. Inayah Rohmaniyah, M. Hum., MA, a lecturer and consultant at Islamic Indonesia Unversity, Yogyakarta at Indonesian Community for Fair and Equal (KIAS Indonesia). She revealed that the equality of men and women in Indonesia has not completely established and there is still different treatment influenced by local culture. As a result, various understandings about gender grow differently in many regions. The forms of inequality are covering from: 1) stereotypes (negative label), 2)subordination, the position of superior and inferior, 3) marginalization, 4) triple burden, and 5) gender-based violence.

Communication skill is very important in the campaign of the equality of men and women in society. This process begins with one’s understanding about him/herself as well as the social context in which she/he is growing. It helps to understand the messages to be delivered, to be able to design a certain message in an interesting and unique designs, also to be smart using a media, either orally, printed material or social media. This topic was facilitated by Majes Maestra, from PKBI Bantul.

Setyoko, S.H., M.H.I., a law practitioner from P2TPA DIY explained some facts that domestic violences are still going on until now, a husband to his wife, a wife to her husband, and parents to their children. One violence will trigger another violence, so, domestic violence must be stopped now. In addition, he also explained steps to process legal complaint if we got violence. A victim, after suffering from violence, should go directly to hospital and ask a vise, then report to Women and Children's Services Unit (PPA) in local police office.

  

The final step of this training was designing a project work. Project work was a result of participants’ reflection toward the materials and topic he/she was interested to. The results should be interesting, unique and well-designed. Finally, the participants were encouraged to publish the project to public as a form of gender education, equality between men and women.

Let’s young people, do equality between men and women! (TRU).