PLANET 50:50, SOCIAL CAPITAL, AND PORTRAITS THE ROAD OF BENGKULU WOMEN TOWARD THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT

Abstract

This study attempts to inspect the issue of gender politics in Indonesia, focusing on the electoral struggle
of female legislative candidates in the region of Bengkulu. The UN’s program, Planet 50:50, will be taken into
account in gauging the extent of these candidates’ success amidst the predominantly patriarchal culture across
three elections (2009, 2014, 2019). Being a qualitative study based on discourse analysis, this study will primarily
employ the concept of social capital by Pierre Bordeau (1986) and David Putnam (1993). Among the significant
findings are: first, in addition to building a primordial network of religious and ethnic organizations as every
Indonesian legislative candidate commonly does, female national parliament candidates in Bengkulu must work
harder to create community empowerment to gain more public trust and establish the norm that women are
genuinely fit and capable for election and re-election. Second, community empowerment is performed via various
programs for first-time voters, youth, women, educators, and farmers; in addition to utilization of different media
to promote tourism and market products. This study, hopefully, may enrich pre-existing discourse on gender and
politics by juxtaposing its local practices with the ideals encapsulated in the SDG target that is Planet 50:50.