Women’s Empowerment and Development in Southwest Sumba
R. Widya Setiabudi S., Teuku Rezasyah and Nuraeni Nuraeni
Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung,
Indonesia
Keywords: Border Development, Women’s Empowerment, International Organization, Sustainable Development Goals,
Southwest Sumba.
Abstract: The border area becomes the main development focus of the Indonesian government. The acceleration of
development in border areas is constrained by several factors, including the role gap between men and women.
Gender equality, as one of the point in Sustainable Development Goals, is considered crucial to build a strong
society. Southwest Sumba, as one of the outermost areas, has included women’s empowerment programs and
activities in their development policy. This study aims to provide an overview of women’s empowerment and
development in Southwest Sumba as a part of Indonesian border areas.
1 INTRODUCTION
From the beginning of his administration, President
Joko Widodo has emphasized the commitment to
build the nation from the border. He has also invited
stakeholders to support and address the border
development comprehensively, while strengthening
territorial security simultaneously. However, there
are several challenges in managing border areas, such
as the poor condition of people who live there and the
high numbers of cross-border crime (Wu, 1998).
Developmental Studies suggests the social
construction is eminently influential in society’s
attitude towards development, in which gender
construction becomes a significant one. Most
developed countries recognize and apply gender
equality and justice in various aspects of community
life (Steady, 1998). The Sustainable Development
Goals specifically emphasize the importance of
gender issue (Brand, 1996). This research will
provide an overview of the importance of women’s
empowerment in the framework of border
development.
This research has several specific purposes: a)
providing an international perspective about
partnerships between sub-national actors and
international organizations in increasing awareness
about gender equality; b) mapping the characteristics
of Southwest Sumba and its major development issue;
c) understanding the people of Southwest Sumba’s
perception about development, gender equality, and
men involvement in women’s empowerment; d)
mapping the women’s empowerment in Southwest
Sumba; e) analyzing the significance of women’s
empowerment in the outer island development; f)
providing recommendations for the central
government to build partnerships with local
governments in terms of border development.
2 BORDER DEVELOPMENT IN
INDONESIA
There are three commonly-used terms in addressing
the border, namely boundary, frontier and border per
se. According to Prescott and Triggs, boundary is a
line, while frontier and border are areas. Border per
se is defined as the region between two countries that
is bind to each side by national borders. Lapradelle
explains the term border as the area of le voisinage,
means neighborhood or adjacent territory and
territories limitrophe means neighboring or territorial
land (Prescott & Triggs, 2008). The concept of border
covers not only the administrative authority, but also
territorial one. Thus, ‘border’ will further be used in
this research.
Indonesian border areas generally encounter
various problems, such as irrelevant policies,
tendency to grow more slowly, interest conflicts
628
S., R., Rezasyah, T. and Nuraeni, N.
Women’s Empowerment and Development in Southwest Sumba.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 628-632
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

between regions and the disunity in the planning of
the border development. These problems have created
inconsistencies, which lead to disruption of
development programs (Budianta, 2010). Outer
Island, like Southwest Sumba, is also categorized as
border area. The detrimental characteristic of the
outer islands is usually one of the main challenges to
develop those area. In addition to geographically
distant from the capital of the country, outer islands
are generally isolated and have limited access to
facilities (Sciascia, 2013). From socio-cultural
perspective, the people who live there are generally
very bind to their traditional identity and often
resistant to change. Under such circumstances,
transnational crime is most likely to occur.
President Jokowi seems to understand the
problems of the people of outer islands. His
government has prioritized the construction of
connecting infrastructure, such as port harbors and
airports, in outer islands, including Sumba Island. In
the past, Sumba received renovation and expansion
projects of several ports and two airports. Nowadays,
Tambolaka Airport in Southwest Sumba can be
landed by large-bodied aircraft. Besides economic
development, the government has also emphasized
the importance of education since education can
accelerate the development and overcome various
problems in the outer island borders.
3 WOMEN EMPOWEMENT AND
DEVELOPMENT
Gender difference is not an issue if it doesn’t lead to
gender inequality. Gender inequality per se is the
system and structure in which both men and women
are potential in becoming victim of injustice (Fakih,
2008). The understanding about gender inequality can
be deepened through existing manifestations
(Soekanto, 2002). There are five forms of gender
discrimination according to the Ministry of Women’s
Empowerment (2010): marginalization,
subordination, stereotype, violence and workload.
The first form of gender discrimination is women
marginalization. It is a term to describe the low status,
access and control of a person to economic political
resources in terms of decision-making (Hafidz,
1995). Marginalization, though is related to gender
injustice, is caused by gender difference. Many jobs,
namely kindergarten teachers or secretaries, are
claimed to be inferior to men's work and often affect
the salary differentials between men and women.
Besides marginalization, subordination is also
considered as gender discrimination. It is commonly
believed that one sex is considered more important
than the other. Tradition, religion and bureaucracy
often place women under men’s domination. The fact
also shows there are still community values that limit
the space and movement of women.
Marginalization and subordination are highly
correlated with the third form, stereotype, which
defined as a standard image of an entity inconsistent
with existing empirical reality. The stereotype based
on the gender notion shows that one particular sex is
inferior to the other. This condition leads to higher
number of discrimination and injustice. Stereotypes
can be found not only in the household level but also
in the workplace and society, even the government
and state level. The standard of value about the
women and men is quite different, yet such standard
is much detrimental to women. Women being labeled
as "housewives", are greatly disadvantaged once they
involve in men's activities, such as politics and
business. On the other hand, men being labeled as the
"breadwinner" tend to be overlooked.
The stereotypical view usually leads to the forth
form of gender discrimination, violence. The word
"violence" means an attack on the both physical and
psychological integrity of a person. Therefore,
violence is not only about physical attacks, such as
rape, beatings and torture, but also non-physical, such
as sexual and emotional harassment. The
perpetrator(s) can be any individual or group coming
from the household or society. The last form of
marginalization is in equal workload between men
and women. In a typical household, some types of
activities are performed by men, and the rest are done
by women. Current studies show women do almost
90% of the household work, but receive in equal
treatment when engaged in public sector
(KemenPPA, 2010).
The discussion above shows that gender
discrimination has spawned various inequalities in
family, society, nation and state. Apparently, women
experience inequality much more than men do. As a
result of gender discrimination, women's economic,
socio-cultural and political conditions are at a
disadvantage. This unfavorable condition will still
exist unless the people do something about it
(Lingam, 1994). According to the study of Gender
and Development, the important concept that must be
studied is women’s empowerment. Women who
undergo structural subordination are often hampered
in developing innovations. Therefore, in the context
of social relationships laden with gender construction,
women’s empowerment often has to be supported by
empowerment itself (Ebrahimi-far, 2007).
Women’s Empowerment and Development in Southwest Sumba
629

The concept of gender developed since there was
dissatisfaction with the concept of Women in
Development (WID) in the 1970s, which basically
viewed women apart from men. This approach aims
to provide the greatest opportunity for women to
participate in development. However, after
approximately a decade, critics started to emerge
(Darahim, 2003). The data from World Survey on
Women in Development shows that at the global
level, the constitutional expectations on women's
standing in society and their role in development,
have not been fully achieved.
At the national level, a situation analysis of
women has been conducted to monitor women's
position in society and their role in development
(Tjokrowinoto, 1996). The reality of the position and
role of women in the future is summarized in
Tjokrowinoto’s work. It is expected that years from
now the demand for women in employment will
increase, both in quantity and quality, due to the
advancement of women's education. The agricultural
sector will still be a place of female labor force.
However, there will be a tendency of a decreasing
proportion of female labor in the overall labor input
per unit of agricultural land, i.e. from 65% in the
1920s, to 53% in the 1960s, and down again to 37%
in 1970s. Consequently, there are two alternatives
that can be done to overcome the decrease: first,
diversification of farm business and increasing
agricultural processing industries which absorb many
female labor; second, preparing women in non-
traditional occupations. Nevertheless, the main
obstacle in pursuing the second alternative is the
disparity in educational levels between men and
women. Data show that women tend to work mainly
in low productivity sectors.
One thing that seems quite positive is that, in
many other developing countries, the global
economic crisis, the debt crisis, and the policy
adjustment have become obstacles to increase the
position and role of women. In Indonesia, the global
economic crisis has made some adjustments
(devaluation, tax reform, etc.), which accelerated
potential structural transformation of new
employment opportunities for women in non-
traditional sectors. Women's participation in the field
of health and politics is enormous.
The WID approach has finally shifted its direction
and policy objectives into Women and Development
(WAD) by empowering women to play more active
role (Fakih, 2008). WAD contributes significantly to
increase concerns about women's issues and to
develop better-off national and international
networks for women's organizations. Through this
concept, it is expected that male dominance in public
space can be reduced. As the concept progresses,
criticism re-emerges since WAD is considered
sharpening the boundary between men and women
(Primariantari & Hardy, 1998). WAD later developed
into the concept of Gender and Development (GAD),
which is a more comprehensive and comprehensive
approach since it does not release women's studies
from the context of its social role.
According to Hubeis, in developing countries,
GAD raises three perspectives on women's roles
related to their position as household managers and
development participants or wage earners, they are
the traditional, transitional, and contemporary roles
(Ahmadi, 1999). The traditional role or domestic role
engage all the household work, namely cleaning,
cooking, washing, nurturing children and many more
as women’s responsibilities. The role of transition can
be explained through following examples: in
agricultural areas, women are used to working on
family farms, when in town work in the family
business. While contemporary role is related to more
independent choices for women in expressing their
existence. The goal of GAD is to increase
understanding that promotes capacity building and
equality as well as to arrange an applicative approach
that empowers women through strong local
institutions.
In this research, women's empowerment becomes
an important element in the border development. The
problem of empowerment, which is inseparable from
the gender justice and socio-cultural values, have
become the identity of the people in the outer border
of the outer islands. This gender insight also contains
a very strong international dimension. Indonesia has
specifically ratified various conventions on the
protection of women as well as supporting gender
equality in various fields.
4 INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATION AND
GENDER JUSTICE ISSUES
Archer argues that international organizations give
meaningful contribution to the norm system of
international politics. Gender issues become one of
the norms, which eventually turned to be the vision
and mission of various international organizations
(Archer, 2001). UN Women was established as a
serious commitment toward gender injustice in the
world. This function is closely linked to
systematically attempt in transferring the values to all
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
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members. This socialization is done through a special
programs “He for She” campaign. In this process, UN
Women will require the cooperation from all relevant
elements. This campaign has become inspirations for
Indonesian Ministry of Women’s Empowerment to
initiate the programs that encourage men’s
involvement in women’s empowerment.
5 SOUTHWEST SUMBA
CHALLENGES AND
POTENTIAL
The border concept will be the basis to understand the
characteristics of Southwest Sumba. Southwest
Sumba’s special characters can be a guide for
development strategy in this region including those
related to aspects of women's empowerment.
Southwest Sumba is a district in Nusa Tenggara
Timur, Indonesia, formed by Law no. 16 of 2007,
which previously was part of West Sumba. Its total
area is 1.445,77 Km2, covering 8 sub-districts that are
divided into 94 villages (Kemendesa, 2016). With
more than 319 thousand inhabitants, this region has
become the most densely populated on the island of
Sumba (BPS, 2015). With 97 kilometers of beach in
length, this area has given the rise of potential as well
as challenges depending on how the government and
people of Southwest Sumba deal with this.
The interesting part of this region is the deeply
entrenched ancestral tradition. This tradition does not
only poses the main force of society, but also many
challenges. Women’s empowerment in this region
has been initiated by local governments through
women's groups that are engaged in the conservation
of Ikat Sumba, which is traditional cloth from
Southwest Sumba. Ikat Sumba is a rich traditional
weaving technique as well as tremendous economic
potential.
As one of the areas located on the outer islands,
there are some interesting features of Southwest
Sumba. The first feature is that the community of
Sumba Island highly upholds tolerance and harmony
among people with different religions. Albeit the
Indonesian government only recognizes 6 official
religions as a condition of civil registration identity,
the majority of Sumbanese still follow Marapu as an
ancestral religion. In the 2015, Badan Pusat Statistik
(BPS) data about the composition of Southwest
Sumbanese population are only listed based on
official religions. The population who follow the
Protestant Catholics became the second majority in
Southwest Sumba, while Islam became the third
major religion. It is interesting to observe how the
religious festivities of Marapu, Catholic, Protestant,
and Islam become a common celebration for the
whole society. The condition is recognized to be
conducive to implement various development
programs.
The high agrarian conflicts and crimes have
become a meaningful challenge for the people of
Southwest Sumba. Poverty, low education and in
availability of relevant jobs are considered to be the
major reasons of this unfortunate condition. Besides,
transnational criminal activities, like human
trafficking, are often experienced by less educated
women, who are the breadwinners of the family. The
BPS data also shows the poverty rates comparison
between Southwest Sumba District and Nusa
Tenggara Timur (NTT) Province. As a new region,
Southwest Sumba is considered to be more
promising.
The local government has been actively
cooperating with ministerial office in Jakarta to create
some programs to empower women through gender
partnership. The gender awareness and capacity
building are expected to involve both women and
men. One of their programs is promoting traditional
Ikat Sumba produced by women in collaboration with
men in Kampung Adat. This program tries to
eliminate the marginalization, subordination,
violence and workload. The economic effects from
the program give an alternative choice for the job
seeker and minimize the victims of human
trafficking.
The government has also played an important role
to increase the enrollment rate of school. There is a
very interesting trend that more women enroll in
higher level of education than men. Furthermore,
from the interview with several key persons from
both the government and community show some
interesting findings. First, Sumba society
traditionally does not distinguish access for women
and men to education. This encourages women,
especially those with good economic background, to
pursue education to the highest level. Second, that
educated women are respected and considered to be
very influential. In this context, the Sumbanese
women are allowed to choose their own role. Both of
these facts become very important for Southwest
Sumba to optimize women's contribution to
development. The women in this region have unique
characteristics that encompass both transitional and
contemporary roles.
Women’s Empowerment and Development in Southwest Sumba
631

6 CONCLUSIONS
This study has found more supporting evidences that
women’s empowerment has become an important
part of development. Men’s involvement in women's
empowerment is also crucial in implementing more
successful development programs that are relevant to
the needs of the community per se. Besides,
empowering women is indeed a way to achieve more
effective and equal distribution of development.
Southwest Sumba local government and community
have showed great efforts to support the government
commitment on well-distributed development
without removing socio-cultural identity. Southwest
Sumba is a potential area of a pivot project of
women’s empowerment in the Indonesian border
development as one of President Joko Widodo main
policies.
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