21 April, Kartini Day

Today is Kartini day, a day where we celebrate the life of R.A. Kartini, who is seen as an important figure of the women’s emancipation movement in Indonesia.

When I was still in elementary school, on this day, we would wear traditional clothing and the school would hold a contest for best dressed. I think schools nowadays still do this. Although...now that I think of it...I’m not quite sure what traditional clothing has to do with women’s emancipation...but anyways...playing dress-up was quite fun :)

Although a major day, it is not a public holiday, so now that I am in the workforce, Kartini day doesn’t have a big impact on my life as it used to do. However, some companies do hold special activities for example department stores would give away discounts.

Today I went to Telkomsel's customer service outlet (Telkomsel is Indonesia's biggest cellular service provider) which gave out free goodie bags to all female patrons (including me :) ). The customer service reps also weren’t in their normal uniform but wore traditional clothing (the women in kebaya, men in batik).

I wish every store would give away free stuff on Kartini day... :)