Every year April 21st is celebrated as Kartini’s Day. This celebration is a form of respect for the dedication of Raden Ajeng Kartini as the pioneer of education and emancipation for women in Indonesia. Therefore, Kartini Day is a day when Indonesian women express themselves as women who are equal to the opposite sex. The development of a dynamic era shows the existence of women as a role in the state, nation, and household. In the digital era, the emancipation of women made women more able to actualize and tell the world about themselves, with various aspects such as education, culture, society, business, and many more.
In celebration of Kartini Day, through the Multiplication program of Stube HEMAT in Sumba, the Kawara Panamung weaving group held various outdoor competitions, such as futsal, whispering words, and putting pencils in bottles using sarongs (Thursday, 21/04/2022) at Tanatuku weaving workshop. Although it was difficult to play futsal using sarongs, the event went so lively. Laughter and jokes always happened when the women had difficulty to kick the ball, even when there was a participant who kicked or fell wrong, all could not help but laughing. Debi Hada Indah, a weaving group member, admitted that it was the first time she took part in futsal wearing a sarong. She looked happy and full of laughter when she saw her friends kick the ball but she missed. Other competitions are not less exciting such as whispering words, especially words commonly used from vocabulary related to weaving stages that are being learned and practiced.
At the end of the competition, all members of the weaving group looked very happy when they received prizes in the form of basic needs. After the competition was over, the recording of the competition activities was shown on the Kawara Panamung YouTube channel, so that families, relatives, and the wider community could witness the excitement of the competition. Many appreciated the enthusiasm of the women participating in the competition. Nicodemus Njurumana, the village head of Tanatuku was proud when he watched the Kawara Panamung channel and promised to donate yarn for the weaving group.
Futsal matches become a symbol of gender equality in this modern era because so far futsal is synonymous with men. In addition, women in Tanatuku village can emulate Kartini's attitude, such as, women must always be happy doing daily tasks, be smart to educate children, be independent, and be able to synergize with men, and the most important is women become more empowered and productive. Women can be role models of digital knowledge, especially for the family and community of Tanatuku village, and the people of East Sumba in general. Happy Kartini's Day to all today-great women. The previous R.A Kartini's struggle was the emancipation of women, however the present-day Kartini’ struggle is independent women and adaptable to the existing information technology. (EUD)***