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The Australian Human Rights Commission hosts a discussion of Women and Poverty in Indonesia

'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 at the discussion of her book, Women Against Defeat, at the Australian Human Rights Commission in Sydney on 29 September. 'Poverty is a justice issue because it is caused by basic violations of human rights,' she added.

The lunchtime session was opened by President Gillian Trigg and hosted by Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane.

Lies used photos from her book to illustrate the stories surrounding the issue of poverty in Indonesia. Well-known Indonesian photographer, Armin Hari, who accompanied Lies on her research throughout Indonesia, took the images in the book.

Nani Zulminarni, Director of PEKKA, also shared her stories about women heads of households in the country and how her organisation has worked very hard in building their capacity and in turn succeeded in getting some women out of the poverty cycle. 'Many women are hidden as the poorest of the poorest,' she said.  The question and answer session afterward was very fruitful with discussion around women’s health, family planning, dispute resolution and human rights.       

The book 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 achievements of their rights. It tells the stories of how millions of Indonesians try to overcome poverty, and contains first hand accounts of life at the grass roots level from people who are rarely heard along with hundreds of powerful images that document in intimate detail everyday lives in many different locations.

AIPJ has supported Lies Marcoes' research into the structural forces that keep millions of Indonesia’s women in poverty, as part of strengthening our program's approach to helping women who are poor, one of our target groups.
 

Other links: Australia Human Rights Commission website

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