Catatan kecil dari Workshop... and some other things from the rest of the day

Workshop kemarin boleh dikatakan sukses. Gardenia Room full, setidaknya sampe waktu makan siang. Opening session sih biasa2 aja, begitu pula sesi I, tapi sesi II seru! Pembicara: Pak Arizal Ahnaf dari BPS yang bicara soal Data Terpilah (Sex-Disaggregated Data) dan Bu Aida Vitayala dari IPB soal Integrasi Gender pada Proyek Pemerintah.

Presentasi bu Aida was very lively! She added lots of jokes, criticsm, and sarcasm (of course!). In the beginning, she simply stated that many people mistake gender for "women only". Gender actually refers to the social construction which demarcates the role of women and the role of men. And she commented - with touches of good humor - how men "invade" women's "traditional" work, from cooking to designing clothes to becoming dentists! In more developed countries (US, UK) dentists used to be, well, "female only". It was listed only as No. 6 or 7 of the "dream professions". Now that the demand for dentists is notably high, it's become No. 1 -- and men are chasing after it! Bu Aide let out her suspicion that the same phenomenon would occur soon in Indonesia, particularly in big cities where people are more conscious about their appearence, including, well, teeth beauty, hehehehe...

While he was not as much of a talker, Pak Arizal's presentation on sex-disaggregated data was also stunning. The data revealed the inequity of women and men's income, particularly in the private sector. In some areas, this even reaches 1:2! While inequity of income may not be an issue in government agencies, opportunities for women to be middle to upper level managers are worse (like 1:10!).

Perhaps we need a gender revolution in Indonesia?

Anyway, I went to Plaza Indonesia afterward. To my surprise, Times has gone! In what used to be its space stands the Periplus. (Apparently Times is moving to another block). I found what I looked for: the other books of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I picked the "Tears of the Giraffe", and when I brought it to the cashier, a girl in front of me pointed to the book and asked whether I had read the other books. After I said yes, she claimed that the books (in the serial) are very fun to read. I fully share this sentiment!!!!