How are women disadvantaged in the face of natural disaster?

It is a slightly common decency for women to deal with social norms constructed by society in most parts of the world. The norms then indirectly determine social status to women. Consequently, women are often required to follow social and religious traditions which limit their movement and progress. In addition to that, those traditions are, in fact, tailored by men in the society to maintain their male-domination.

Those social norms have significant impacts to women in every single aspect of their lives. For instance, in dealing with impacts of natural disasters, social status of women consequently makes women more vulnerable to the events. This fact has been proven by many studies. To be clear about that, the women’s struggle following cyclone in Bangladesh and drought in Zambia can be good cases to better understanding the connection between women’s social status and impacts of natural disasters.

In April 1991, a cyclone hit Bangladesh in the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal. It left a massive destruction and economic loss to the local people. Over 100,000 died caused by the disaster. Surprisingly, the number of women who died is greater than men.

Women are indeed physically weaker than men in which it makes them vulnerable to natural events. However, the social norms and restrictions have made women much weaker in some extent. The Bengali women, specifically, have to follow social structure which is male-dominated and driven by religious traditions. Their mobility is restricted by some integral roles in households such as taking care of children and property. When the cyclone struck, these women put their lives aside to prioritize saving their children and family’s property.

Their weak condition also limits their movement to access relief supplies and safety. Victims of disasters are usually desperately in need of help or assistance. When humanitarian aid comes following a disaster, such as food and clothes, the victims will be aggressive and fighting each other to get the aid. Man representatives of the victimized households of course will win the fight due to their physical strength and male ego. The female-headed households that only have an adult woman will definitely get small portion of the aid or even nothing.

Following the disaster, women are more necessarily involved to help in relief work. Despite their efforts, sometimes discrimination happens in the evacuation work which hinders their jobs in some extent. The woman relief workers are usually looked down by their man counterparts. They have to follow all instruction by men, especially those who are in local authoritative bodies. The men always tend to undermine the women’s credibility just because of their status in the society as a woman, which is below men’s.

Because of the social norms, the woman victims of the 1991’s cyclone in Bangladesh had tendencies to rely on woman relief workers more. Their pains that were related to reproductive system, and also emotional feelings, could be understood only by women. Following the disaster, some women really suffered from aches such us miscarriage, bad injuries, and whatsoever. They did not dare to tell about it to male relief workers. Instead, they were often treated roughly by those men in a reason of gender equality to male victims, which is somewhat unequal. Therefore they were more comfortable to leak their feelings and pains to other women.  

The women could not easily run away to save their lives when the cyclone hit their livelihood. They were also not convenient to stand side by side with men when there was food distribution. They chose to accompany their children, especially daughters, in order to avoid sexual or physical violence happened against them, especially in shelters where the man and woman survivors stayed. All these reasons were because they tended to stick to social religious norms. It then showed that the women were seriously vulnerable to the disaster impacts even before, during and after the cyclone.

Cyclone could happen once in a while in Bangladesh but not drought in Southern Africa. The drought has been a regular phenomenon in the region due to a long period of low rainfall within a year. As the result, local people suffer from water shortage, food insecurity and even starvation. Even though drought has been a common occurrence in Southern Africa, it is quiet new for women in Eastern Province of Zambia.

The women, who were not accustomed to the drought, found their tasks and problems were increasing due to the event. They had to walk further and longer than usual to fetch water. They had to find firewood as well but use only little of it because they did not have anything to cook. The grains that they usually got from agriculture were no longer available. Consequently, they had to depend on raw fruit, roots or grass from their surroundings.

Along the drought, people, especially adult women in rural areas, were really starving to death. They were so thin and fragile, suffering from diseases such as dysentery, chorea, diarrhea, and other diseases related to digestive system. It was not surprising because they were likely to risk their lives for their children. They skipped meals just to make sure the food available for their children. Yet, the children were also likely to die from starvation due to no food at all.

In normal daily life, women had no valuable properties such as land and animals. The land was often registered under their husbands’, brothers’, or uncles’ name. Therefore they did not have right to make decision in everything in their lives. They did not have economic support except cash crop from subsistence farming. Nevertheless, it had gone along the on-going drought as well as the last step of their husbands who fled to other villages to marry other women for food.

The women, however, still had encouragement to survive in the middle of the disaster by joining community development. They joined a workshop conducted by an NGO. Here, at least, they could involve in decision-making. They stood up in front of public to voice out their concerns that they had significantly become major contributor to their family and community, which all this time were not recognized. They put aside their hunger and grievance by singing and dancing.

In the workshop, both women and men were joining. The men were also suffering from hunger and they blamed the government for being ignorance. The women, instead, became a shoulder to the men to lean on. They did some efforts to fight hunger, including creating a club. It was not successful though, they still effortlessly fed their husband and children. Since they are reliable, it is not a disadvantage to help women. Therefore, women have to be empowered by providing them clean water, improved health, access to education, control over childbearing and access to credit in which they can use it to enhance their potential.

Almost in every natural disaster, people as a whole are likely to be impacted. However, poor people, especially minorities and women, are most likely to be affected. It is because their social norms required them to save their children and belongings first than their own lives. During evacuation and relief programs, they tend to rely on female relief workers due to safety. However, the female relief workers themselves have to deal with discrimination from their male counterparts as well as local governments officials. Women are surprisingly reliable for community development. Therefore their contribution should be recognized. They also need empowerment to bring a society to a more developed stage.  

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Women and the politics of water

World now is in water crisis. United Nations (UN) has shown unbelievable facts regarding to water shortage around the world. Every year, 2.2 million people die because of unsafe drinking water. By 2025, sixty six percent of world population will suffer from water shortage. Collectively, women in developing countries have to deal with this water crisis by collecting water up to eight hours a day to ensure their household can survive.

Water now becomes a commodity. Many big companies emerge as capitalists that only think of profit. Government itself has no control on water supply which is owned by private party. Access to water is restricted to those who have more power in terms of gender, social class, economical class, and ethnicity. As a result, poor people especially those who live in rural areas, no matter in Third World or First World countries, are significantly affected.

Limited access to water is common problem in dried-countries such as African countries. In Tanzania especially, women of rural areas have to walk all the way for an hour to other villages just to fetch water every morning to fulfill their family’s need of water. The water they get is not clear with brown color and the quality is far from the standard quality of fresh water, though. The water is usually used for cooking, cleaning, and of course drinking. This situation causes new problems when many diseases related to digestive system and waterborne diseases appear. The situation will be worse when dry season which there will no water at all in the village or the other villages nearby.

Despite the fact that water is very limited and needed by most people in the villages of Tanzania, conflicts to defend the water from being taken always happen. A group of people in a village which has water resource tries to protect the water so that people from other villages cannot take the water. It seems that water resources become a private or group property and no more become public amenity. This circumstance even can cause a war among the people.

Not only in rural areas, even in the urban areas, water shortage is common problem too. Again, women are the ones whom always have to fetch water from water tanks nearby that are provided by water sanitation companies. Definitely, they have to pay some amount of money to get the water. Other than women, children, especially girls, also have to fetch water to help their parents. As the consequence, they do not have time to go to schools, to play among themselves, or to do activities for the development of their communities. In addition, they do not have time to empower themselves so that they maintain subordinate in society.

This problem is very serious and the people have asked for government concerns. Yet, the local government fails to overcome it. The practice of corruption has become a reason why the government people simply ignore the voice of the people. They prefer big companies to handle the problem and fulfill people demand of water so that they get their “pockets”. Meanwhile, the companies can gain big profit.

It seems the government does not know or does not want to know that water shortage has impacts on gender relation. Basically, women are the ones who get the worse impacts because they almost never have control to water. Thus it motivates women to fight for better quality of water. They then involve in water management even though it is in grass root level. They voice the concerns out in public. Yet, the government does not even listen to them.

In India, water for agriculture is more important than water for drinking. It is proven by the effort of the local government of India to build a dam near a river by displacing so many people. It affects the lives of the people who depend so much on the water from the river. Women who live there could not be only silent. They lead a movement to regain their control on the water again. It seems the movement goes better when the women are in the front line. The way they see the issue is different from the way men do. They tend to make the movement successful because they have closeness to families and community so that they understand the problem quite well and know how to deal with. Most importantly, they will not stop until their demands are fulfilled.

According to Biraj Swain from Wateraid India, the movement the women do is just a kind of silent revolution. It is so because they are not in decision making level. Besides, they just fight for water supply but forget to fight for better quality of water. However, Marcia Brewster from Gender and Water Alliance says it is not a silent movement since there are some of woman leaders are in positions of policy and decision making level. In Africa for instance, the Minister State of Uganda, Maria Gambao, is appointed as the chairperson of African Ministry Chancellor on Water. She makes sure of fair distribution of water in African countries. She even goes down with the people to fetch water. She encourages more women to involve in water management.

Access to water is actually an investment to community and future. Brewster outlines that access to water gives empowerment to women. With better access to good quality of water women will have more time to themselves. The girls especially, will have time for education and their development. In addition, the cost estimated to meet Millennium Development Goals in terms of water sanitation is only USD11.3 billion per year and it is nothing compared to spending on military.

Water is such a basic need for human-beings. However water is no longer public amenity. Water is becoming commodity which gives benefit only for the elite people. The poor, especially women, have no control on it. Therefore they are neglected to have access to it. Water supply is not only the issue here. The water management is also crucial to provide safe water for all humankind. Yet, the control on water management is never a woman. In short, women are the ones who suffer from water shortage.

*pic from womenandclimatechange

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The world is in a circumstance of overpopulation. ACT NOW!

The world is now in situation of overpopulation. Based on the census in 2010, world population is approaching seven billion. On late 31^st October 2011, United Nation (UN) granted the babies who were born on  as “THE SEVEN BILLIONTH PEOPLE”. A newly-born Pyotr Nikolev from Russia was one of the babies who received a certificate as recognition for being the seven billionth world citizen. The United Nation added that world population would exceed seven billion starting from the day. It is hardly wrong in fact the world is really overcrowded as we can see in many developing countries, and in big cities in developed countries, seas of people are seen everywhere.

In 1960 world population was only three billion and it had doubled forty years later in 2010 to nearly seven billion. Back then, one billion people lived in industrialized world, which was western countries, and they were living better life because they had small family. They even lived healthier and wealthier. In contrast, the other two billion people lived in developing word had to face hard life, struggling for food every day. 

Then in 2010, when the population world became doubled, industrialized world had been much more developed. Whereas, two billion people of developing world remained the same. However, an emerging economic world appeared with more or less three billion people within. Those three billion people were quite well-educated and employed. This economy-driven world had been moving towards developed world with attempts to implement green technology and family planning to limit population. For instance, China which has implemented One Child Policy since forty years, given huge subsidy for education, and moved to industrialization, now becomes one of super power countries in the world. It seems population control is the answer for overpopulation crisis and other crisis related to it.

If population is not controlled by now, it is frightening when it comes to the year of 2050, population in developing world will reach four billion. It happens when the mindset of the people is still primitive, thinking to have as big family as possible. It is not impossible if the reality shows that majority of them do not have access to education and they only focus on dealing with hunger. If they can get access to well education so they know about green technology, family planning, and child survival, they will be living better life.

The child survival rate is actually the key of solution. With attempts to keep children alive well, it is not only to save the children but also the mothers which are women. Child survival is also related to infant mortality. Infant mortality can only be prevented by providing good nutritious food for women. Where the good food comes from? The best food comes only from nature. Frankly said, to keep humankind surviving, environment should be preserved sustainably. Therefore, humans have to start thinking to live sustainable life by minimizing family size and increasing child survival rate.

Back to 1960, only wealthier and healthier country which had 100% child survival rate. Poorer countries such as African countries have been facing very low rate of child survival. It is not surprising because those countries are living under poverty. The people are less educated, unemployed and even getting worse when they live in massive and unsustainable population. They are lack of knowledge of contraceptive. In fact they do not have access to contraceptive programs. Figure shows only one woman out of five that has access to contraception.

An international organization which promotes policies that improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world, called OECD or Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has proposed a contraceptive program. The program is to give chances to every woman and man to get access to their contraceptive rights. It is significant for poor family to have a plan on how many children they want to have and how healthy the children are supposed to be. However, the program should be implemented equally by man and woman of the family. It has been an issue as well when many husbands refuse to do contraception and just let the program is done by the wives. It has impacts on gender and power relations between men and women. It is as if only women that are responsible to limit population while men are free to claim their sexual rights over the women.

World population, gender relation, and environment are definitely interconnected. If population keeps growing, nature has to be victimized to feed seven billion people. Humans change the landscape of earth and degrade biodiversity to build housing. Now, more than 30% of land is used for agriculture. Yet, starvation is still a major problem in poor countries. Twenty five thousand people die every day in 2003. Women and children are living under poverty, dealing with unpaid jobs every day, and having no time for their self-improvement.

Humans never realize that they are not very powerful creature. They need nature and education to build their technology for survival till present day. In past time, when food was provided by nature, humans started to build agriculture to produce more food. The agriculture then enables them to build towns and cities in order to give space to their descendants. From agriculture they move to industrialization to boost economy without their realizing that the industrialization is one of factors which booms population rapidly. It is so because industrialization causes urbanization when people of rural areas move to big cities to gamble their life for a plate of rice. When they are successful, they will produce children to keep their inheritance. Then their fellows back in villages will follow their step, moving to cities as well. That is the reason why big cities are becoming more and more overcrowded. 

In time, overpopulation drives overconsumption then leads to climate change.  Climate change occurs because people in the world have been too many and they are doing activities that harmful to environment. They produce fossil fuel to mobilize their daily transportation, especially in big cities, which emits tons of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide that are enough to kill livelihood. They cut down trees and destroy animal habitats to build estates. Last but not least, overconsumption of natural resources is the critical factor that causes climate change too.

Religions have tried best to describe supernatural world, including the better way to live in huge population, which may be hard to digest with logic mind. Religions indeed encourage human to increase their number in order to have fruitful life. However, people themselves who cause all the problems related to overpopulation. They keep warming the earth. They abuse natural resources. Eventually they die due to natural disasters.

Overpopulation really is happening, yet no affirmative action has been taken. People are hiding behind denial. They deny that earth is sinking. They deny that world comes to the end. They deny their own truth of fear. They keep ignoring relevant issues about something bad has been happening on earth.

Overpopulation is a reality. It is a reality that drags people themselves to crisis of humankind. Solution and action have to be taken into account. People must have mindset of sustainable living. They have to stop population by now and focus more on women empowerment. Only through women empowerment, birth rate will be able to decrease and economic productivity can be achieved. Education should be determined as a public facility which poor people can get access to. Natural resources must be taken care well too. Environmental exploitation must be stopped. If there are demands of natural resources, green technology should be applied. All of these can be done if people unite together to take action.

*Pic from Google

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Ecofeminism

The word Ecofeminism is formed from “ecology” and “feminism”. Thus ecofeminism is a term to explain how feminist ideology can be used to discuss ecology issues that are happening in society. According to Lorentzen and Eaton (2002) Ecofeminism is an activist and academic (and also political) movement that concerns connection between domination of nature and oppression of women. In other words, ecofeminism is an ideology that sees domination of nature and exploitation of women as interconnected.

The term “ecofeminism” itself was first introduced by Francoise d’Eaubonne1 in 1974, a France feminist who fought during the third wave of feminism era. In conjuction with feminist movement, ecofeminism grew in late 1970s to early 1980s. At that time, ecofeminism movements were brought to mainstream level by anti-nuclear, enviromental, and lesbian-feminist activists. Since then, many discourses on ecofeminism have been engaged in many conferences. One of them was The “Women and Life on Earth: Ecofeminism in the Eighties” conference which was held at Amherst in 1980.

As mentioned above, ecofeminism sees connections between nature and women oppression. Warren sees that there are at least eight connections between nature and women (1993). Those connections are historical/typically casual, conceptual, empirical/experiental, symbolic, epistimological, political, ethical, and theorical interconnection. However, Lorentzen and Eaton (2002) states women and nature interconnections, which are explored within ecofeminist thoughts and actions, are defined by three only. They claim that the oppression of women and the domination of nature are interconnected empirically, conceptually/culturally/symbolically, and epistemologically.

The empirical connection between women and nature claims that most of environmental problems affect women and men differentially. Women are the ones who receive the more burdens from all of the most parts of environmental problems. Women depend on nature more that men do because they are seemed as closer to nature. When the nature which is the surrounding where the women have some plants on it is destroyed to become some sorts of modern development areas, they will not be able to provide their family with food that they plant by themselves anymore. This is because most of the development policies ignore the importance of women and so that they will not get the benefits from the development.

The second claim is conceptually/culturally/symbolically connection. This connection sees concept of dualism to differentiate women from men. As Ruther mentions that this concept of dualism most probably comes from Western world which once upon a time women of Western world are indeed treated as second-class group to keep them in subordinate level. The concept of dualism itself identifies women as femininity, the body, Earth, nature, sexuality, and flesh, while men are identified as masculinity, mind, heaven, culture, and power. While the mind of men is seemed more important to the society than the body of women, and culture seems more significant to the society than nature, women will remain subordinate. Just like nature itself, which is seen less important than the technology and the development that are applied on it. Therefore, the dominations of nature and women primarily appear as a culturally/symbolically connection.  

The third connection is epistemological which claims that women are more knowledgeable than men. It is because women care about nature and have some special skills to preserve environment which men do not. Therefore when there is something harmful happens to nature, there will be a tendency to appoint women for the curing process or just to give some sorts of ideas how to deal with natural degradation.

However, some ecofeminists also see connection between domination of women and nature from spiritual/religious perspective. As old and traditional believes regard nature as protected by gods/goddesses, and women are believed to always follow the spiritual/religious tradition, women tent to preserve nature as a way of worshiping to the gods/goddesses. Then when it comes to patriarchal religious tradition, the tradition that women carry is seemed less important. Consequently, nature is seemed less important to by the tradition of patriarchal religious.

In line with the importance of the discourse of the ecofeminism ideology and the movements, the people behind the movements are particularly important too. As mentioned above, in the early time of the development of ecofeminism, groups of people such anti-nuclear, enviromental, and lesbian-feminist activists are the ones who spread the ideas. It seems so because of their concerns on feminist and enviromental issues. It is obvious that ecofeminism ideology is a part of feminism ideologies. Therefore the activists themselves can be considered as feminists. And it becomes a discourse when it comes to the people behind the idology of ecofeminism.

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Mengelak seksisme dalam penyelidikan (How to avoid sexism in research)

Seksisme atau sexism sering dijumpai dalam kebanyakan kajian. Seksisme itu sendiri merujuk kepada kepercayaan dan tingkah laku yang mengistimewakan lelaki daripada wanita (http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/sexism.html). Seksisme ini dimaksudkan sebagai mekanisme yang memastikan wanita tetap pada peranan subordinasi di mana nilai yang mengidentifikasikan wanita cenderung dikritik. Secara amnya, seksisme diertikan sebagai diskriminasi berdasarkan jantina tertentu.

Sebelum kita membincangkan bagaimana mengelak daripada seksisme dalam penyelidikan, terlebih dahulu kita harus mengenal pasti tujuh permasalahan seksisme dalam penyelidikan. Ketujuh permasalahan tersebut ialah penumpuhan kepada lelaki (androcentricity), generalisasi/pengkhususan berlebihan (overgeneralization/overspecificity), ketidakpekaan gender (gender insensitivity), piawaian berganda (double standards), kesesuaian jantina (sex appropriateness), familisme/kekeluargaan (familism) dan dikotomi jantina (sexual dichotomism).

Penumpuhan kepada lelaki bermaksud melihat dunia hanya daripada perspektif lelaki (Eichler, 1991). Ertinya, segala fenomena dalam dunia sains dan sains sosial hanya dinilai berdasarkan pandangan lelaki sahaja. Ini merupakan sesuatu yang tidak tepat untuk diaplikasikan dalam penyelidikan atau kajian. Penyelidikan yang baik ialah penyelidikan yang tidak bias atau tidak berat sebelah. Oleh sebab itu pengalaman wanita juga perlu diambil kira sama seperti ketika Seksisme atau sexism sering dijumpai dalam kebanyakan kajian. Seksisme itu sendiri merujuk kepada kepercayaan dan tingkah laku yang mengistimewakan lelaki daripada wanita (http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/sexism.html). Seksisme ini dimaksudkan sebagai mekanisme yang memastikan wanita tetap pada peranan subordinasi di mana nilai yang mengidentifikasikan wanita cenderung dikritik. Secara amnya, seksisme diertikan sebagai diskriminasi berdasarkan jantina tertentu.

Sebelum kita membincangkan bagaimana mengelak daripada seksisme dalam penyelidikan, terlebih dahulu kita harus mengenal pasti tujuh permasalahan seksisme dalam penyelidikan. Ketujuh permasalahan tersebut ialah penumpuhan kepada lelaki (androcentricity), generalisasi/pengkhususan berlebihan (overgeneralization/overspecificity), ketidakpekaan gender (gender insensitivity), piawaian berganda (double standards), kesesuaian jantina (sex appropriateness), familisme/kekeluargaan (familism) dan dikotomi jantina (sexual dichotomism).

Penumpuhan kepada lelaki bermaksud melihat dunia hanya daripada perspektif lelaki (Eichler, 1991). Ertinya, segala fenomena dalam dunia sains dan sains sosial hanya dinilai berdasarkan pandangan lelaki sahaja. Ini merupakan sesuatu yang tidak tepat untuk diaplikasikan dalam penyelidikan atau kajian. Penyelidikan yang baik ialah penyelidikan yang tidak bias atau tidak berat sebelah. Oleh sebab itu pengalaman wanita juga perlu diambil kira sama seperti ketika mengambil kira pengalaman lelaki.

Masalah kedua iaitu generalisasi atau pengkhususan yang berlebihan. Maksud daripada generalisasi berlebihan ialah jika suatu kajian fokus kepada satu jantina sahaja tetapi dijelaskan untuk menerangkan kedua-dua jantina. Contohnya, kajian terhadap tugas penjagaan anak di mana kebanyakan kes penjagaan anak dilakukan oleh ibu tetapi pengkaji sentiasa menggeneralisasikannya sebagai tugas ibu-bapa, sedangkan pada kenyataannya kehadiran bapa dalam tugas penjagaan anak adalah kurang. Pengkhususan berlebihan pula bermaksud penggunaan terma satu jantina sahaja untuk mewakili kedua-dua jantina. Contoh kes overspecificity sering dijumpai dalam penggunaan bahasa seksis seperti penggunaan kata “man” (lelaki) untuk mewakili terma “orang/person” yang sebenarnya merujuk kepada lelaki dan wanita.

Selanjutnya, masalah ketidakpekaan gender, iaitu pengabaian gender sebagai satu unit analisis kajian. Masalah ketidakpekaan gender saling bertindih dengan masalah generalisasi atau pengkhususan berlebihan. Jika generalisasi dan pengkhususan berlebihan sangat fokus pada perbezaan jantina/gender walaupun penggunaannya salah, masalah ketidakpekaan gender langsung tidak mengambil kira perbezaan gender. Masalah ini dapat dijumpai dalam kes pembentukan polisi-polisi yang tidak mengambil kira perbezaan pengalaman lelaki dan perempuan yang mungkin membawa kesan yang berbeza pula pada kedua-dua jantina tersebut.

Masalah keempat iaitu piawaian berganda yang membawa maksud menentukan hasil kajian atau membuat kesimpulan berdasarkan dua piawaian: piawaian lelaki dan piawaian wanita. Seperti yang kita ketahui lelaki dan wanita memiliki ciri-ciri fizikal dan psikologikal berbeza. Dalam kajian yang mengandungi piawaian berganda biasanya menggunakan ciri-ciri tersebut untuk membezakan lelaki dan wanita. Namun hasil akhirnya atau pada kesimpulannya sering kali hanya memihak pada satu piawaian sahaja, iaitu berdasarkan ciri-ciri yang dimiliki lelaki. Contohnya, penentuan perbezaan status lelaki dan wanita di mana status lelaki ditentukan oleh pencapaiannya dalam masyarakat manakala status wanita ditentukan secara semula jadi mengikut proses kedewasaan yang diwarisi daripada ibunya. Kemudian sebagai kesimpulan status lelaki dianggap lebih tinggi kerana “pencapaian” dianggap lebih bernilai berbanding “mewarisi”.

Masalah selanjutnya iaitu kesesuain jantina yang merupakan contoh spesifik daripada piawaian berganda. Kesesuaian jantina bermaksud pembentukan ciri-ciri sosial yang berbeza antara lelaki dan wanita. Sebagai contoh, pembahagian peranan jantina antara lelaki dan wanita di mana lelaki dianggap sesuai dengan kerja di ruang publik sedangkan wanita dianggap sesuai dengan kerja domestik.

Masalah keenam iaitu kekeluargaan di mana keluarga di anggap sebagai unit analisis terkecil. Pada kenyataanya, keluarga terdiri daripada ahli dengan jantina berlainan sehingga pengalaman setiap ahli keluarga juga berbeza. Namun dalam kajian yang seksis seringkali menganggap kepala keluarga, iaitu bapa (lelaki) dapat mewakili pengalaman dan kepentingan seluruh ahli keluarga.

Terakhir, iaitu masalah dikotomi jantina yang merupakan pengkhususan daripada piawaian berganda. Dikotomi jantina ialah pembezaan ciri-ciri sosial dan biological antara lelaki dan wanita dan mengabaikan ciri-ciri bertindih yang ada pada kedua-dua jantina. Sebagai contoh, lelaki dianggap rasional sedangkan wanita emosional. Pada kenyataanya, lelaki juga mempunyai ciri emosional dan wanita juga mampu mendahulukan rasionalitinya.

Setelah mengetahui permasalahan seksisme seperti yang disebutkan di atas, dapat dirumuskan panduan bagaimana mengelakkan diri daripada seksisme dalam penyelidikan. Yang pertama, penyelidik memerlukan pengetahuan yang luas. Pengetahuan yang luas dapat membantu penyelidik memahami secara mendalam bidang kajian sehingga kritikan dan pendapat penyelidik tidak terhad kepada fakta-fakta objektif yang memihak lelaki sahaja. Seperti yang kita ketahui bahawa ilmu pengetahuan awal dicipta oleh lelaki (phallocentric knowledge-making) sehingga fakta yang dicipta memihak pada kepentingan lelaki (Leed, 1991). Penyelidik dapat mengelak daripada fakta seksis sekiranya dia membaca tulisan feminis dan memerhatikan penemuan-penemuan baru dalam bidang sains sosial yang lebih peka gender.

Yang kedua ialah mengelak penggunaan bahasa seksis dalam penulisan laporan hasil penyelidikan. Ini dapat dilakukan dengan cara mengenal pasti subjek kajian kita sama ada spesifik kepada salah satu jantina sahaja atau bersifat umum yang melibatkan kedua-dua jantina. Jika subjek kajian memang difokuskan kepada satu jantina sahaja, maka terma yang digunakan untuk menjelaskannya harus spesifik kepada satu jantina sahaja. Sebagai contoh, dalam kajian tentang blogging yang saya lakukan, untuk menjelaskan amalan penulisan blog yang dilakukan oleh wanita, maka saya harus menggunakan terma “penulis blog wanita” (female bloggers) daripada “penulis blog” (bloggers). Sebaliknya, jika kajian dilakukan kepada subjek yang lebih umum, maka terma yang digunakan juga harus terma-terma umum dan bukan terma khusus pada satu jantina sahaja. Sebagai contoh penggunaan “she/he”, “s/he”, “they”, dan “one”, daripada penggunaan “he” untuk menerangkan “someone/person/people”, penggunaan “chairpersons” daripada “chairmen”, penggunaan “police officers” daripada “policemen”, dan lain sebagainya.

Selain penggunaan terma tepat bagi mewakili terma umum atau terma khusus, perlu dielakkan juga penggunaan terma non-parallel untuk menjelaskan situasi parallel atau sejajar. Sebagai contoh, “a man and his wife” menunjukkan bahawa wanita lebih dirujuk pada statusnya yang berkaitan dengan suaminya (lelaki) padahal dia boleh menggunakan statusnya sendiri. Untuk itu terma yang tepat ialah “a man and a woman”, “a couple”, atau “a husband and a wife”.

Suatu penyelidikan juga perlu seimbang di mana konsep dan rujukan yang digunakan harus mengambil kira pengalaman daripada perspektif lelaki dan wanita. Jika hanya mengambil pengalaman lelaki atau wanita sahaja maka tajuk atau skop kajian perlu dispesifikkan kepada salah satu jantina sahaja. Sebagai contoh, penyelidikan dilakukan ke atas amalan pertontonan filem dewasa di kalangan pelajar sekolah lelaki di Lembah Klang, sepatutnya diberi tajuk “Amalan pertontonan filem dewasa di kalangan pelajar lelaki di Lembah Klang” dan bukan “Amalan pertontonan filem dewasa di kalangan pelajar sekolah di Lembah Klang”. Ini demikian kerana yang dijadikan subjek adalah lelaki sehingga pengalaman yang diambil kira juga pengalaman lelaki sahaja dan tidak dapat mewakili pengalaman perempuan.

Selanjutnya, untuk mengelakkan penggunaan piawaian berganda, penyelidik perlu mengenal pasti konsep kajian sama ada digunakan untuk mewakili dua jantina tetapi diperlakukan secara berbeza berdasarkan perbezaan jantina atau tidak. Jika konsep kajian sedemikian, penyelidik perlu membuat konsep baru yang mengakategorikan lelaki dan wanita sama jika mereka menunjukkan kualiti atau karakter sama. Contohnya, kesimpulan bahawa lelaki dan wanita berstatus tinggi dalam masyarakat jika mampu menyeimbangkan kepentingan antara ruang domestik dan publik, dan bukan hanya ditentukan daripada pencapaian di ruang publik sahaja.

Untuk mengelakkan daripada penggunaan kesesuaian jantina pula, suatu penyelidikan harus memberikan deskripsi mengenai peranan atau identiti gender tertentu berdasarkan kajian empirik dan bukan berdasarkan asumsi stereotaip semata-mata. Ertinya, jika penyelidik ingin menjelaskan perbezaan peranan jantina, dia perlu mengkaji fenomena sosial berkaitan dengan topik tersebut sesuai dengan keadaan sebenar berdasarkan tahun atau zaman ketika penyelidikan dilakukan. Penyelidik tidak boleh menggunakan pengetahuan yang stereotaip mengenai hal tersebut.

Selanjutnya, untuk mengelak daripada penggunaan konsep familisme, penyelidik perlu mengenal pasti tingkah laku, ciri dan kebendaan yang dimiliki masing-masing individu. Ini kerana setiap individu adalah unik atau tidak sama sehingga kepentingan dan pengalamannya tidak boleh diwakilkan oleh individu lain.

Bagi mengelak konsep dikotomi jantina pula, penyelidik perlu mengenal pasti karakter dan kapasiti manusia secara umum daripada menggolong-golongkan ciri-ciri berdasarkan jantina. Ini kerana manusia memiliki ciri tertentu yang sama terlepas daripada perbezaan jantina yang ada pada mereka.

Kesimpulannya, seksisme sering wujud dalam penyelidikan. Seksisme dapat berupa androcentriciti, genelarisasi atau spesifikasi berbelihan, ketidakpekaan gender, kesesuaian gender, familisme dan dikotomi jantina. Untuk mengelak daripada seksisme, penyelidik perlu memiliki pengetahuan luas sehingga mampu mengenal pasti subjek kajian sama ada khusus kepada satu jantina sahaja atau melibatkan kedua-dua jantina. Penyelidik juga perlu mengelak penggunaan bahasa seksis. Terakhir, penyelidik perlu mengenal pasti ciri-ciri khusus masing-masing jantina dan ciri-ciri manusia secara umum sehingga penyelidik mampu membezakan pengalaman dan perspektif berlainan antara lelaki dan wanita.

 mengambil kira pengalaman lelaki.

Masalah kedua iaitu generalisasi atau pengkhususan yang berlebihan. Maksud daripada generalisasi berlebihan ialah jika suatu kajian fokus kepada satu jantina sahaja tetapi dijelaskan untuk menerangkan kedua-dua jantina. Contohnya, kajian terhadap tugas penjagaan anak di mana kebanyakan kes penjagaan anak dilakukan oleh ibu tetapi pengkaji sentiasa menggeneralisasikannya sebagai tugas ibu-bapa, sedangkan pada kenyataannya kehadiran bapa dalam tugas penjagaan anak adalah kurang. Pengkhususan berlebihan pula bermaksud penggunaan terma satu jantina sahaja untuk mewakili kedua-dua jantina. Contoh kes overspecificity sering dijumpai dalam penggunaan bahasa seksis seperti penggunaan kata “man” (lelaki) untuk mewakili terma “orang/person” yang sebenarnya merujuk kepada lelaki dan wanita.

Selanjutnya, masalah ketidakpekaan gender, iaitu pengabaian gender sebagai satu unit analisis kajian. Masalah ketidakpekaan gender saling bertindih dengan masalah generalisasi atau pengkhususan berlebihan. Jika generalisasi dan pengkhususan berlebihan sangat fokus pada perbezaan jantina/gender walaupun penggunaannya salah, masalah ketidakpekaan gender langsung tidak mengambil kira perbezaan gender. Masalah ini dapat dijumpai dalam kes pembentukan polisi-polisi yang tidak mengambil kira perbezaan pengalaman lelaki dan perempuan yang mungkin membawa kesan yang berbeza pula pada kedua-dua jantina tersebut.

Masalah keempat iaitu piawaian berganda yang membawa maksud menentukan hasil kajian atau membuat kesimpulan berdasarkan dua piawaian: piawaian lelaki dan piawaian wanita. Seperti yang kita ketahui lelaki dan wanita memiliki ciri-ciri fizikal dan psikologikal berbeza. Dalam kajian yang mengandungi piawaian berganda biasanya menggunakan ciri-ciri tersebut untuk membezakan lelaki dan wanita. Namun hasil akhirnya atau pada kesimpulannya sering kali hanya memihak pada satu piawaian sahaja, iaitu berdasarkan ciri-ciri yang dimiliki lelaki. Contohnya, penentuan perbezaan status lelaki dan wanita di mana status lelaki ditentukan oleh pencapaiannya dalam masyarakat manakala status wanita ditentukan secara semula jadi mengikut proses kedewasaan yang diwarisi daripada ibunya. Kemudian sebagai kesimpulan status lelaki dianggap lebih tinggi kerana “pencapaian” dianggap lebih bernilai berbanding “mewarisi”.

Masalah selanjutnya iaitu kesesuain jantina yang merupakan contoh spesifik daripada piawaian berganda. Kesesuaian jantina bermaksud pembentukan ciri-ciri sosial yang berbeza antara lelaki dan wanita. Sebagai contoh, pembahagian peranan jantina antara lelaki dan wanita di mana lelaki dianggap sesuai dengan kerja di ruang publik sedangkan wanita dianggap sesuai dengan kerja domestik.

Masalah keenam iaitu kekeluargaan di mana keluarga di anggap sebagai unit analisis terkecil. Pada kenyataanya, keluarga terdiri daripada ahli dengan jantina berlainan sehingga pengalaman setiap ahli keluarga juga berbeza. Namun dalam kajian yang seksis seringkali menganggap kepala keluarga, iaitu bapa (lelaki) dapat mewakili pengalaman dan kepentingan seluruh ahli keluarga.

Terakhir, iaitu masalah dikotomi jantina yang merupakan pengkhususan daripada piawaian berganda. Dikotomi jantina ialah pembezaan ciri-ciri sosial dan biological antara lelaki dan wanita dan mengabaikan ciri-ciri bertindih yang ada pada kedua-dua jantina. Sebagai contoh, lelaki dianggap rasional sedangkan wanita emosional. Pada kenyataanya, lelaki juga mempunyai ciri emosional dan wanita juga mampu mendahulukan rasionalitinya.

Setelah mengetahui permasalahan seksisme seperti yang disebutkan di atas, dapat dirumuskan panduan bagaimana mengelakkan diri daripada seksisme dalam penyelidikan. Yang pertama, penyelidik memerlukan pengetahuan yang luas. Pengetahuan yang luas dapat membantu penyelidik memahami secara mendalam bidang kajian sehingga kritikan dan pendapat penyelidik tidak terhad kepada fakta-fakta objektif yang memihak lelaki sahaja. Seperti yang kita ketahui bahawa ilmu pengetahuan awal dicipta oleh lelaki (phallocentric knowledge-making) sehingga fakta yang dicipta memihak pada kepentingan lelaki (Leed, 1991). Penyelidik dapat mengelak daripada fakta seksis sekiranya dia membaca tulisan feminis dan memerhatikan penemuan-penemuan baru dalam bidang sains sosial yang lebih peka gender.

Yang kedua ialah mengelak penggunaan bahasa seksis dalam penulisan laporan hasil penyelidikan. Ini dapat dilakukan dengan cara mengenal pasti subjek kajian kita sama ada spesifik kepada salah satu jantina sahaja atau bersifat umum yang melibatkan kedua-dua jantina. Jika subjek kajian memang difokuskan kepada satu jantina sahaja, maka terma yang digunakan untuk menjelaskannya harus spesifik kepada satu jantina sahaja. Sebagai contoh, dalam kajian tentang blogging yang saya lakukan, untuk menjelaskan amalan penulisan blog yang dilakukan oleh wanita, maka saya harus menggunakan terma “penulis blog wanita” (female bloggers) daripada “penulis blog” (bloggers). Sebaliknya, jika kajian dilakukan kepada subjek yang lebih umum, maka terma yang digunakan juga harus terma-terma umum dan bukan terma khusus pada satu jantina sahaja. Sebagai contoh penggunaan “she/he”, “s/he”, “they”, dan “one”, daripada penggunaan “he” untuk menerangkan “someone/person/people”, penggunaan “chairpersons” daripada “chairmen”, penggunaan “police officers” daripada “policemen”, dan lain sebagainya.

Selain penggunaan terma tepat bagi mewakili terma umum atau terma khusus, perlu dielakkan juga penggunaan terma non-parallel untuk menjelaskan situasi parallel atau sejajar. Sebagai contoh, “a man and his wife” menunjukkan bahawa wanita lebih dirujuk pada statusnya yang berkaitan dengan suaminya (lelaki) padahal dia boleh menggunakan statusnya sendiri. Untuk itu terma yang tepat ialah “a man and a woman”, “a couple”, atau “a husband and a wife”.

Suatu penyelidikan juga perlu seimbang di mana konsep dan rujukan yang digunakan harus mengambil kira pengalaman daripada perspektif lelaki dan wanita. Jika hanya mengambil pengalaman lelaki atau wanita sahaja maka tajuk atau skop kajian perlu dispesifikkan kepada salah satu jantina sahaja. Sebagai contoh, penyelidikan dilakukan ke atas amalan pertontonan filem dewasa di kalangan pelajar sekolah lelaki di Lembah Klang, sepatutnya diberi tajuk “Amalan pertontonan filem dewasa di kalangan pelajar lelaki di Lembah Klang” dan bukan “Amalan pertontonan filem dewasa di kalangan pelajar sekolah di Lembah Klang”. Ini demikian kerana yang dijadikan subjek adalah lelaki sehingga pengalaman yang diambil kira juga pengalaman lelaki sahaja dan tidak dapat mewakili pengalaman perempuan.

Selanjutnya, untuk mengelakkan penggunaan piawaian berganda, penyelidik perlu mengenal pasti konsep kajian sama ada digunakan untuk mewakili dua jantina tetapi diperlakukan secara berbeza berdasarkan perbezaan jantina atau tidak. Jika konsep kajian sedemikian, penyelidik perlu membuat konsep baru yang mengakategorikan lelaki dan wanita sama jika mereka menunjukkan kualiti atau karakter sama. Contohnya, kesimpulan bahawa lelaki dan wanita berstatus tinggi dalam masyarakat jika mampu menyeimbangkan kepentingan antara ruang domestik dan publik, dan bukan hanya ditentukan daripada pencapaian di ruang publik sahaja.

Untuk mengelakkan daripada penggunaan kesesuaian jantina pula, suatu penyelidikan harus memberikan deskripsi mengenai peranan atau identiti gender tertentu berdasarkan kajian empirik dan bukan berdasarkan asumsi stereotaip semata-mata. Ertinya, jika penyelidik ingin menjelaskan perbezaan peranan jantina, dia perlu mengkaji fenomena sosial berkaitan dengan topik tersebut sesuai dengan keadaan sebenar berdasarkan tahun atau zaman ketika penyelidikan dilakukan. Penyelidik tidak boleh menggunakan pengetahuan yang stereotaip mengenai hal tersebut.

Selanjutnya, untuk mengelak daripada penggunaan konsep familisme, penyelidik perlu mengenal pasti tingkah laku, ciri dan kebendaan yang dimiliki masing-masing individu. Ini kerana setiap individu adalah unik atau tidak sama sehingga kepentingan dan pengalamannya tidak boleh diwakilkan oleh individu lain.

Bagi mengelak konsep dikotomi jantina pula, penyelidik perlu mengenal pasti karakter dan kapasiti manusia secara umum daripada menggolong-golongkan ciri-ciri berdasarkan jantina. Ini kerana manusia memiliki ciri tertentu yang sama terlepas daripada perbezaan jantina yang ada pada mereka.

Kesimpulannya, seksisme sering wujud dalam penyelidikan. Seksisme dapat berupa androcentriciti, genelarisasi atau spesifikasi berbelihan, ketidakpekaan gender, kesesuaian gender, familisme dan dikotomi jantina. Untuk mengelak daripada seksisme, penyelidik perlu memiliki pengetahuan luas sehingga mampu mengenal pasti subjek kajian sama ada khusus kepada satu jantina sahaja atau melibatkan kedua-dua jantina. Penyelidik juga perlu mengelak penggunaan bahasa seksis. Terakhir, penyelidik perlu mengenal pasti ciri-ciri khusus masing-masing jantina dan ciri-ciri manusia secara umum sehingga penyelidik mampu membezakan pengalaman dan perspektif berlainan antara lelaki dan wanita.

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Brand loyalty and friend loyalty

It hurts when your friends are not around while you need them. Yeah, that means your friends are not loyal to you.

Friends are brands, brands are friends. Yes it is real. I do not mean to say that what your favourite brands are likely friends to you. Of course it is sometimes true. But here I am talking about the similarities of  friends and brands.

They are the same. They have similar characteristics. Want to know what it does mean? Here we go

A brand has to seem salient to its customers. Like a friend has to be important in the eyes of his friends in his friendship. So that it will create loyalty in brand-to-customer as well as friend-to-friend. Then, what are required to make them salient? When a brand becomes prominent to its loyal customers, it has awareness, interest, assurances, consistency, and habitual choosing on the customers perception.

When we feel our friends important, that because they are always aware towards us. They have sympathy and empathy to us. They expose many times infront  of us whether or not we need them.

They have to be interesting to us as well. They should be amazing as they are and at the same time they are unique on eyes of ours. That will be make us interested to them, isn't it?

A friend, too, should assure us not to regret being friends with him or her. When we with them, we have to be feeling comfortable, enjoyable, fun, beneficial, and safe. That means a friend has to have a good quality to be called as a friend.

Everything needs consistency. Like a friend, she or he needs to be consistent with what they are believing, practicing, and performing in front of us. When they suddenly change, automatically we will feel there is something wrong with them.

Last but not least, a friend requires habitual choosing. It's meaning She or he should have choice of good in friendship.

With those five, a friend, or you, will seem important to your friends. What happens next is you will loyal to them, they will loyal to you.

If you are loyal to a brand, you will seek it when you need it, right? But sometimes you will find other people (not your gang) to be with you or to ask for. Or maybe you do not really loyal to your friends again, that's because of what?

It can happen. Yes. Like a brand, it could have lost its loyal customers for a while if it is out of stock. When our friends are out of stock, meaning they are not around, we simply find other people to get along with.

When a customer feels bored with his/her favourite brand, s/he will look for a variety of brands to get rid of their bore. Like us, we will seek for other people outside the gang just to find another fun.

 And, if other brands seem more attractive with better offers, a loyal customer will be likely to switch their prefferance. Like your friends, if you are too boring while others are getting interesting, they will get away from you.

The last one, in marketing there is always competition. A new brand will always try very hard to attract its customers. By setting balance to your favourite brand in such a way to make you not firm to your favourite anymore. In friendship, there are always other people make themselves special to your favourite friends just because they do not them to really loyal to one person only, you.


So, remember, Friends, make you always important to your friends in order to make them loyal to you. You too, need to find the importance of your friends to be loyal to them.

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Nilai estetika masyarakat Jawa sebagai bagian dari budaya masyarakat Indonesia

Potret Estetika Masyarakat Jawa

Masyarakat Jawa merupakan bagian dari sekian juta masyarakat Indonesia yang mempunyai tradisi menarik, unik dan kental akan nilai mistis. Ini terbukti dengan banyaknya hal-hal yang dikeramatkan salah satunya wayang. Wayang adalah salah satu mitos yang dipercaya masyarakat Jawa sebagai penggambaran hidup bermasyarakat mereka. Wayang memiliki peranan penting dalam masyarakat Jawa karena dianggap sebagai simbolisasi pencapaian kesempurnaan hidup. Sebagai mana yang kita ketahui masyarakat Jawa sangat kental kepercayaannya terhadap tradisi Jawa. Apa yang menjadi aturan dalam tradisi mereka sangat dipegang teguh dan seolah-olah wajib dilaksanakan dengan tujuan dapat tercapainya tujuan hidup yang sesungguhnya. Dan apabila ditinggalkan, mereka percaya bahwa sesuatu yang buruk akan terjadi pada mereka. Inilah yang menambah nilai mistis dari tradisi Jawa.

Kembali ke persoalan wayang yang mewakili potret kehidupan masyarakat Jawa. Wayang menurut serat Centini berfungsi sebagai cerminan manusia di dunia yang menggambarkan proses hidup dalam kurun waktu terbatas dari putaran hokum sebab akibat, yang dalam konsep Jawa disebut ‘cakra manggilingan’. Nilai keestetikan wayang dapat memberi inspirasi bagi pengarang sastra Indonesia mutakhir. Bahkan tak jarang nilai eksplorasi estetik terhadap wayang dalam sastra Indonesia dapat menghilangkan nilai mitos lama pada dimensi diri wayang itu sendiri. Beberapa pengarang modern Indonesia memanfaatkan wayang sebagai pemberi warna estetika karya-karya mereka. Putu Wijaya misalnya, me-remake cerita Mahabarata pada episode perang Barata Yudha dan menuangkannya dalm novel modernnya yang berjudul Perang. Burung-burung Manyar dan Durga Umayi dari J. B. Mangun Wijawa memanfaatkan alur, aspek pertunjukan, dan tokoh pewayangan.  Cerpen Umar Kayam juga memanfaatkan tokoh-tokoh citraksi wayang. Lakon Parkesit menginspirasi Goenawan Muhammad dalam sebuah puisi panjangnya sedangkan mitos lakon wayang Ramayana  tertulis rapi dalam kitab Omong Kosong karangan Seno Gumira Ajidarma.

Sejatinya wayang hanyalah salah satu dari sekian banyak kebudayaan di Jawa. Namun wayang mampu mewakili ciri khas kehidupan masyarakat Jawa secara menyeluruh. Penggambaran kerukunan antarlelakon wayang yang tervisualisasikan melalui media wayang mampu memberi amanat kepada penonton bahwa masyarakat Jawa sangat menjunjung nilai kebersamaan yang tinggi. Orang Jawa sangat menghargai persamaan di antara masyarakatnya walaupun secara logika persamaan itu terkadang sangat tidak bisa diterima secara akal sehat. Namun  justru itulah letak keestetikan masyarakat Jawa. Dan nilai estetik itu tampak pada setiap budaya dan tradisi Jawa.

Estetika Jawa Bagian dari Seni Budaya Indonesia

Indonesia sebagai Negara yang  memliki masyarakat majemuk dengan berbagai suku bangsa telah melahirkan banyak kebudayaan yang sangat digemari di dalam maupun luar negeri.  Kesenian tradisional begitu melekat pada setiap daerah yang menonjolkan keaslian daerah masing-masing. Aceh terkenal dengan tari Saman yang menggambarkan kekompakkan dan keteraturan puji-pujian kepada Sang Khalik. Betawi semakin semarak dengan kemeriahan Ondel-ondelnya. Tari kecak Bali memberi daya tarik wisatawan baik local maupun asing sedangkan Gamelan Jawa turut memperkaya khasanah musik Nusantara yang tidak tanggung-tanggung ternyata sangat popular sampai ke luar negri. Semua kesenian yang bernilai estetik tinggi tersebut merupakan kekayaan seni budaya Indonesia yang perlu dilestarikan dan dipertahankan demi menjaga identitas Negara kita.

Terlepas dari begitu banyaknya kekayaan seni budaya Indonesia, kesenian dan kebudayaan Jawa  muncul sebagai salah satu kebudayaan Indonesia yang paling menonjol. Sebagaimana yang telah disebutkan pada bab sebelumnya, Masyarakat Jawa sangat menjunjung tinggi nilai tradisi Kejawennya. Kearifan dan kelembutan tingkah laku masyarakat Jawa memberikan corak tersendiri bagi bangsa ini. Jika kita kembali ke masa orde baru, di mana  masa itu merupakan masa kejayaan Rezim Soeharto yang notabenenya orang jawa asli. Pak Harto kala itu sebagai pemimpin yang terkenal otoriter namun sangat memperhatikan rakyat kecil, mampu menciptakan image “sopan” bagi bangsa Indonesia di mata dunia. Ini dilakukan Oleh Presiden kedua RI itu dengan cara menggunakan jasa pelayanan orang jawa sebagai penerima tamu di hotel-hotel besar yang sering dijadikan tempat menginap tamu-tamu negara. Masyarakat Jawa sangat dihargai dengan segala tradisinya sebagai wujud bakti beliau terhadap bumi pertiwi tercinta. Pada waktu itu dan mungkin sampai sekarang, masyarakat Jawa masih mempertahankan tindak laku yang alus tetapi masih mempunyai nilai seni. Segala bentuk upacara adatnya sarat akan nilai etika sebagai tuntunan dan estetika sebagai tontonan. Jawa adalah milik Masyarakat Jawa dan milik bangsa. Bagaimanapun Jawa merupakan kampung halaman orang Indonesia dan Estetika  Jawa merupakan bagian dari kekayaan seni budaya Indonesia.

Pandangan Beberapa Ahli mengenai Estetika Jawa/Indonesia

1.    Jacob Soemarjo

Jacob Soemarjo merupakan sastrawan sekaligus pengamat budaya ternama di negeri ini. Banyak pendapat dan tulisannya menjadi panutan masyarakat pecinta budaya yang lain. Setiap kalimatnya sangat berpengaruh dan sarat akan nilai moral serta budaya tinggi. Seperti salah satu tulisannya yang berjudul Satrio Piningit berada di antara kita yang ditulis pada masa awal reformasi di Indonesia. Menurut beliau, tokoh-tokoh politik Negara pada saat itu merupakan tokoh-tokoh yang berkepentingan secara kontekstual dan bukan yang seharusnya yaitu universal. Mereka dengan segala kepentingannya berdasarkan kebutuhn golongan, massa tertentu dan dengan tujuan tertentu pula. Teori yang mereka ucapkan juga terbilang “unik” dengan dalih lebih mengutamakan kami dari pada kita yang merujuk pada kepentingan orang banyak. Jacob juga mengatakan bahwa oraang yang bisa dipercaya saat itu dan mungkin sampai saat ini adalah orang yang bisa diterima oleh semua golongan dan massa dengan kata lain yaitu orang yang universal. Orang-orang semacam inilah yang oleh Jacob Soemardjo disebut Satrio Piningit di mana mereka bisa saja muncul dalam berbagai kejutan di luar dugaan semua orang.  Justru orang-orang seperti itu merupakan orang yang tidak kita kenal akan tetapi sudah sangat jauh berperan demi kepentingan masyarakat  banyak. Penggambaran sosok satrio piningit yang digambarkan oleh Jacob setidaknya memunculkan pemikiran kepada sebagian orang bahwa seperti itukah seorang pemimpin seharusnya?

Secara tidak langsung, sosok satrio Piningit yang digambarkan oleh Jacob telah mewakili kepribadian orang Jawa yang sesungguhnya yaitu lebih sedikit bicara dan banyak kerja dan yang lebih penting lagi yaitu kerja demi kepentingan orang banyak, demi sesuatu yang dinamakan kebersamaan. Suatu konsep keindahan di Jawa menurut Jacob adalah sesuatu yang bisa membawa kebaikan pada banyak orang tanpa harus memprioritaskan identitas. Oleh karenanya Jacob sangat menyenagi sesuatu yang merakyat. Baginya kehidupan yang merakyat bisa membawa kebahagiaan secara spiritual meski dalam keterbatasan materiil. 

2.    Clifford Geertz

Clifford Geertz bukanlah orang Indonesia atau Jawa asli tetapi pengetahuannya mengenai Indonesia tidak perlu diragukan lagi. Lahir di San Francisco 23 Agustus 1965 dengan nama asli Clifford James Geertz, ia  merupakan ahli antropologi yang sangat menggemari kehidupan masyarakat Indonesia dan Maroko. Ketertarikannya terhadap bidang agama terutama agama islam, perkembangan ekonomi, struktur politik tradisional serta kehidupan desa dan keluarga membawanya pada kecintaannya terhadap kebudayaan Jawa. Ia memulai penelitiannya terhadap masyarakat Jawa pada tahun 1960-1n dan merupakan orang yang pertama kali mempopulerkan kata priyayi.

Geertz mengelompokkan masyarakat  Jawa dalam tiga golongan yaitu priyayi, santri dan abangan. Tiga golongan itu menurut Geertz merupakan kelompok cultural penting dalam masyarakat Jawa di mana priyayi merupakan kategori kelas sedangkan santri dan abangan merupakan kategori agama.  Tradisi keselamatan di Jawa menurut Geertz adalah tradisi local semata dan tidak berhubungan dengan pengaruh ajaran normative islam. Namun pendapat ini kurang disetujui oleh sebagian besar masyarakat Jawa sendiri karena mereka menganggap tradisi lokal mereka juga merupakan perwujudan pengamalan ajaran normative islam. Geertz juga menemukan bahwa perkembangan islam di Jawa lebih akomodatif dan sinkretik.

Dari beberapa pernyataan Geertz mengenai Islam dan perkembangannya dalam masyarakat Jawa dapat disimpulkan bahwa, konsep keestetikan masyarakat Jawa menurut Geertz yaitu suatu padu-padanan kehidupan antara kelas dan agama yang bersatu dalam keragaman budaya dan kerukunan warga.

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