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Australian Human Rights Commission hosts a discussion on women and poverty in Indonesia

Lies Marcoes presenting her book

'Why is poverty so difficult to deal with in Indonesia? Because the problem is not about money and economy. It's about discrimination and human rights,' said Lies Marcoes author of A Journey against Defeat: Narratives of Women’s Rejection of Poverty. 'Poverty is a justice issue because it is caused by basic violations of human rights,' she added.

The Australian Human Rights Commission hosted a discussion on A Journey against Defeat: Narratives of Women’s Rejection of Poverty in Sydney on 29 September 2014. The lunchtime session was opened by the Australian Human Rights President Professor Gillian Trigg and was hosted by Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane.

Lies Marcoes used photos from her book to illustrate the stories surrounding the issue of poverty in Indonesia. Well-known Indonesian photographer, Armin Hari accompanied Lies on her research taking extraordinary images of everyday Indonesian women for the book.

A Journey against Defeat: Narratives of Women’s Rejection of Poverty goes beyond the usual studies on poverty and gender, describing how from birth to old age, limitations on and expectations of women coexist to cause their poverty and limit the realisation of their rights. It tells the stories of how millions of Indonesians try to overcome poverty. The book contains first-hand accounts of life from people who are rarely heard from, and hundreds of powerful images that document in intimate detail everyday lives across the country.

'Many women are hidden as the poorest of the poorest,' said Nani Zulminarni, Director of PEKKA. She shared stories of women heads of households in the country and how her organisation has worked hard and succeeded in getting some of these women out of the poverty cycle.

AIPJ has supported Lies Marcoes' research into the structural forces that keep millions of Indonesian women in poverty. This initiative is part of strengthening AIPJ’s support to women who are poor, a priority target population for the partnership.