Challenges and Political Communication Strategies to Win Elections: Ethnographic Studies on Women DPD RI Members

Abstract

Women's political participation faces various societal challenges, such as patriarchal culture and the politicians' internal challenges. Even though there is a minimum quota of 30% women's representation, many regions cannot meet this quota. The members of Indonesian senates (after this referred to as DPD RI) from South Sumatra Province are an exception. All four members are women. Therefore, there is an opportunity to design women's political communication to win elections from the examples provided by DPD RI South Sumatra Province members. This research aims to understand the challenges women politicians face, design women's political communication strategies to win elections and formulate women's political communication models in winning the election for DPD RI members. The research method was conducted through interviews with women DPD RI members who won elections in South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Researchers investigated the challenges faced by these winners and how they were able to overcome them. The challenges found included physical challenges, external challenges from the community, and internal challenges from DPD RI members. At the same time, the strategies used were the target, symbol, communication, and media strategies. This research identifies many political communication strategies that broaden the theoretical framework. Included in the strategies proposed are symbolic interaction-based communication and stereotype-based strategies. Both types of planning increase political confidence and voting decisions if adequately implemented, accompanied by steps to overcome the obstacles that impede women's political participation.