Membaca Dharma pada Wanita / Reading Dharma in Women

Yarn thread, curtain thread, video, table, logo embroidery

2017

Dharma Wanita (Union) is a legacy of the New Order. Indirectly, the establishment of Dharma Wanita was a milestone in the depoliticization of women in the realm of Indonesian politics and at the same time preserving the domestication process. When the husbands worked for the ruling party at that time, Golongan Karya (Party of Functional Group), the wife was deliberately projected as a companion to the husband who was able to provide support so that the husband always did his best, as well as to focus on managing the household and the child. As an old and large organization in the New Order era — and keeps going on — with all its massive and varied activities, Dharma Wanita certainly has an influence (directly and indirectly) on its members.

Starting from the President Soeharto speeches during the New Order era regarding the Dharma Wanita, as well as the projection of women who were considered ideal and it always echoed at that time, and then passed down by my mother who is a member of Dharma Wanita to her daughters about how women should be, in this work I would like to invite all of us to re-read it today. How do we examine the values embedded in these speeches, how they impact us, how I want to transmit my feelings by sharing the impact experiences through this work.