Gender equality and the reduction of child malnutrition the goals of Catholic women

In Indonesia today, Wanita Katolik Republik has more than 96 thousand women members who aim to reduce child malnutrition and the "gender gap"

At its annual meeting held in Jakarta earlier this week, WKRI (Wanita Katolik Republik Indonesia), the country's oldest Indonesian Catholic women's organization, publicly laid out the four crucial but strategic issues the group should address in the coming future.

The WKRI was founded on 26 June 1924 by Maria Soelatri Soejadi Djajadiningrat - a Catholic noblewoman from the kingdom of Pakualaman in Yogyakarta in Central Java in response to the urgency many felt to enhance the dignity of women in society.

This associative reality was mostly influenced morally by the Dutch Franciscan missionary nuns (OSF) who at the time ran a girls' boarding school near the Mendut Buddhist temple in Borobudur in Central Java. Djajadiningrat set out to bring Catholic teaching into society, where at that time the dignity and role of women were neglected.

Initially called "Poesara Wanita Katholik", it changed to Wanita Katolik Republik Indonesia (WKRI) in 1950 thanks to the advice of some Jesuits from Central Java but above all of the country's first indigenous bishop, Msgr. Albertus Soegijapranata SJ of the Apostolic Vicariate of Semarang.

To date, the WKRI has more than 96 thousand members throughout Indonesia and during the national gathering, the outgoing president of the association, Justina Rostiawati, publicly expressed her desire for the WKRI to touch on issues that go beyond gender equality: corruption among government officials is rampant and "Pancasila" - the philosophical thought on which the Indonesian state was founded at the basis of the drafting of the 1945 constitution - is eroded; Indonesian women and children live in conditions of growing poverty; the environment is brought to its knees by the climate crisis; and finally the role of women in the information and technological age.

“The objective you set is ambitious but necessary for the common good of the country: every Indonesian citizen is expected to enjoy a high quality of life", said Indonesian Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo of the archdiocese of Jakarta in front of hundreds of WKRI members who came from all parts of the country.

"However - he added -, we are also morally called to carefully review the long path that Indonesia must take to achieve these objectives. After 78 years of independence - he asked - , have we as a nation successfully achieved these objectives? Looking at the infamous practice of human trafficking that involves our country, then we can say that there is still a lot of work to be done."

The cardinal also recalled how women and especially men children in Indonesia have to deal with malnutrition: "Data from 2020 shows 22% of minors suffered from malnutrition. Given this situation, the WKRI, of which all members are women, are expected to work to change the society from within”, concludes Indonesian Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo.

At the end of the conference, WKRI elected Elly Kusumawati Handoko as the new president of the association together with Lusia Willar and Kho Hwie Hong as vice presidents.

• Gender equality
• malnutrition