The commemoration of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2026, is not just an annual ceremony to celebrate progress in civil rights. In Indonesia, this momentum coincides with a crucial phase in the national legislative cycle. With the inclusion of revisions to the Election Law and the MD3 Law in the 2026 National Legislation Program Priority List, we are faced with a fundamental question: to what extent is the state committed to providing real power to women, beyond mere numbers?
Over the past decade, women’s political participation in Indonesia has been stuck in an anomaly of “present but not powerful.” Although quantitatively, the number of women represented in parliament shows an upward trend, qualitatively we still witness systematic marginalization. The most pressing actual problem is the pattern of political party recruitment, which is still pragmatic and patriarchal. Women are often used as “quota fillers” to avoid administrative sanctions, without being provided with equal logistical support, structure, or political education.
This situation is exacerbated by the growing phenomenon of political dynasties. Many women who have successfully won seats in parliament did so not because of ideological cadre training, but because of their kinship ties to male political elites. As a result, substantive agendas concerning women’s rights are often co-opted by political patronage interests. On the other hand, structural barriers such as an open proportional electoral system with non-preferential candidate numbers and high campaign costs make it difficult for women without significant capital to compete fairly (Perludem, 2024).
Revision of the Election Law: Learning from Regulatory Tragedy
The revision of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, which is included in the 2026 Priority National Legislation Program, must be used as momentum to clean up discriminatory regulatory residues. We must not forget the regulatory tragedy in the 2024 elections, where Article 8 paragraph (2) of PKPU No. 10/2023 applied a rounding down policy in calculating female representation. Mathematically, this policy has cut the chances of thousands of female candidates in hundreds of electoral districts because decimal numbers below 0.5 are considered non-existent. Although the Constitutional Court, through Decision No. 12/PUU-XXII/2024, has corrected this error and affirmed that women’s representation is a constitutional mandate, technical interpretation loopholes such as this can only be permanently closed if the protection norm is directly guaranteed in the body of the new Election Law.
In the new legal architecture, the principle of affirmative action should no longer be merely a moral recommendation, but must be established as a non-negotiable norm. One concrete step is to explicitly require the implementation of a zipper system (2:1 or 1:2) in the compilation of the final list of candidates. This means that for every two prospective candidates, there must be at least one woman. This stipulation is crucial to prevent political parties from placing female candidates at the bottom of the list, where they are difficult for voters to reach. To ensure its effectiveness, this regulation must be accompanied by progressive administrative sanctions, namely the cancellation of the entire list of political party candidates in the relevant electoral district if they are found to have violated the gender composition requirement.
Finally, this legislative reform must address the root of the problem, namely political capital inequality. The upcoming revision of the Election Law needs to mandate political parties to allocate at least 30% of the Political Party Assistance Fund (Banparpol) specifically for political education and women’s cadre development programs. This step is a form of urgent financial intervention, given that political contests in Indonesia are currently very capital-intensive and tend to marginalize female candidates who do not have access to large economic resources. With institutionalized financial support, we are not only encouraging women to simply appear on the ballot, but also equipping them with the capacity and competitiveness to win parliamentary seats in a substantive manner.
Revision of the MD3 Law: Glass Ceilings in Parliament
The challenge of women’s representation in our democracy does not end when the votes are counted and the winners are declared. The next big problem lies within parliament itself, which has been guided by Law No. 17 of 2014 on MD3 (MPR, DPR, DPD, and DPRD). In practice, the MD3 Law often serves only as an instrument for the distribution of power among political party factions that are still dominated by a strong patriarchal culture. As a result, a “glass ceiling” phenomenon has emerged, where female politicians are seemingly allowed to enter the parliament building, but their steps to occupy strategic leadership positions are halted by political agreements that are exclusive to men.
Revisi UU MD3 dalam Prolegnas 2026 harus menjadi momentum untuk mendobrak tradisi marginalisasi ini dengan menyertakan klausul kewajiban representasi gender pada struktur pimpinan Alat Kelengkapan Dewan. Jika UU Pemilu fokus pada akses masuk, maka UU MD3 harus menjamin akses kuasa. Tanpa adanya mandat hukum yang memaksa, posisi pimpinan pada komisi-komisi strategis seperti Badan Anggaran, Komisi I yang membidangi pertahanan, atau Komisi VII yang membidangi energi, akan terus menjadi wilayah teritorial tertutup bagi perempuan. Kita harus mengakhiri pola penempatan perempuan yang seolah-olah dikhususkan hanya pada isu-isu domestik atau sosial, karena perspektif perempuan sangat krusial dalam merumuskan kebijakan fiskal hingga kedaulatan negara.
The affirmative measures in the MD3 Law are in line with various Constitutional Court rulings that emphasize that the structure of the parliament must be inclusive and democratic. The Court has repeatedly asserted that the right to be elected and hold public office must be exercised without discrimination. By integrating the principle of gender equality into the mechanism for electing AKD leaders, Indonesia is not only fulfilling a symbolic quota, but is truly building substantive democratic quality. A fair distribution of leadership in terms of gender will ensure that legislation, oversight functions, and national budgeting are born from a negotiating table that respects the diversity of its citizens’ life experiences.
Significance of the Constitutional Court’s Decision
In recent years, the Constitutional Court has acted as the guardian of inclusive democracy. The Constitutional Court’s decision, which affirms that women’s representation is not merely an appeal but a constitutional mandate, must be the main foundation for lawmakers. The Constitutional Court has sent a strong signal that any derivative regulation that degrades women’s political rights is unconstitutional.
However, relying on the Constitutional Court alone is not enough. The Constitutional Court can only overturn bad regulations, but it is the House of Representatives and the government that must write good regulations. Therefore, the synergy between the Constitutional Court’s ruling and the draft revisions to the Election Law and the MD3 Law in 2026 must be truly harmonious. We do not want to see any legal loopholes in the revision of the law that would weaken the constitutional mandate.
To address these challenges, several concrete steps are needed in the legislative process in 2026. First, ensuring that every point of the Constitutional Court’s decision related to gender is adopted into the articles of the new Election Law so that it cannot be easily manipulated by subordinate regulations (PKPU). Second, a mechanism for providing incentives in the form of additional party funding for political parties that succeed in exceeding the 30% quota for women in parliament (based on election results), not just on the candidate list. Third, changing the mechanism for electing AKD leaders in the MD3 Law from a closed package system to a system that requires the inclusion of women in every leadership formation.
International Women’s Day 2026 must be a moment of truth for our political elite. Do the promises of democracy they tout also include the fate of 50% of the nation’s population? Through the revision of the Election Law and the MD3 Law, we have a rare opportunity to overhaul the power structure that has long been skewed.
As International Women’s Day is celebrated repeatedly, aspirations for affirmative representation are also repeatedly expressed, highlighting the urgency of the issue. The hope is to strengthen the political will of party elites, parliament, and the government. Without changes to the rules in the Election Law and the governing rules of the MD3 Law, the annual commemoration of IWD will only serve as a reminder of how far we are from the ideal of equality. []
USEP HASAN SADIKIN
Researcher at the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem)