WOMEN IN BANYUMAS LOCAL POLITICS

The role of women in Banyumaspolitics is an interesting object to be studied, especially if it is related to Banyumas culture. As the transition culture between Javanese and Sundanese culture, Banyumas culture have egalitarian values. It has relatively loose social structure compared to Javanese and Sundanese social stucture. Thus, the position of women in Banyumas traditional societyis quite unique. While it still reflects the values of patriarchy, there is space for women to play important roles. It is shown in politics under New Order Regime, that there was only few numbers of Banyumas women legislators. However, in Reform Era, the number is increasing. Unfortunately, most of them do not play prominent roles, neither in parliament as there presentation of the people nor in the political parties. Actually, in the patriarchical environment, there are still hopes for women to takeparts in politics. It was proven by assigning qualified women in the top positions in the candidates list, the party board, and the legislative structure. The low level of women political representation as an effect of the culture of patriarchy is probably due to the fact that the valueof egalitarianism in Banyumas culture untouched the area of women's political role. However, there is still space in Banyumas patriarchal values if it is compared to Javanese and Sundanese cultures which are highly patriarchic.