Women and men are complementary, but many people think that women are inferior. Because of this assumption, the issue of emancipation emerged, with demands for equality between men and women.

Is this still the case today? I think this will continue to be the case where there are issues concerning something that is natural, but the symptoms are very much reduced now. Speaking of gender being a natural problem, we certainly agree that we are created in two complementary sexes, namely male and female (not discussing the problem of anomalies that occur such as hemaprodites and so on), we cannot deny but in the process of becoming a true person as a woman, or becoming a true person as a man, the individual will continue to look for and imitate the forms that are around him, and the sad thing is that not necessarily what is around is something right, even ordinary becomes something very wrong and will make a product that is considered “wrong” for the individual.

Actually, by blaming the environment, it will not solve the problem of right or wrong against an individual for his behavior, because the environment itself is a product that is made little by little through various civilizations until it becomes what we encounter today.

We will focus on discussing women’s issues regarding the equality they have gained today, but in its application there is always a form of oppression in the corners of equality itself. The point is that constitutionally women have been recognized as equal to men, but there are still many barriers that are in most women, that they have a certain portion in doing something because they are women, instead of being an ideological problem, it is used as a shield for a form of incompetence, even though to fight for this equality is not easy, like Ibu Kartini who struggled to provide education to women so that they could be more appreciated.

We are born empty without knowing anything, but then we are shaped by the environment in such a way. Speaking of women, women are also shaped in this way, they are limited by the ideas about good women by their surroundings, as a result they will become products with evolutionary limits, but of course there are those who manage to get out of that limit and really emerge as women who do not blame gender for all their work, they will act professionally as a human being. The boundaries of gender-based rewards must be eroded more and more.

………

In the realm of fine arts or more specifically in the realm of painting, many great women are able to emerge and become figures in it, although not a massive movement, but what these women do is expected to be able to spark other women to dare to start showing their potential without having to wait, when he only waits then he will be left behind one round of the world, and if he continues to wait he will always be left behind round the world.

With the increasing number of exhibitions initiated and carried out by women, hopefully in the future the number of women who carry out art activities will increase and enliven art as actors not only as appreciators.

• Written as a curatorial introduction to the exhibition entitled Indonesian Women’s Artworks
• In 17 May – 5 June 2016
• At Bumi Surabaya City Resort, Jl. Jend Basuki Rakhmat 106-128, Surabaya 60271