Women Participation in Ponggok Tourist Object Development
Arif Rahmanto, Argyo Demartoto and Mahendra Wijaya
Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia
Keywords: Participation, Tourism Development, Water Tour.
Abstract: Water tour is one of potencies to be developed into a superior tour in Ponggok Klaten. The role of village
government and society in the development of water tour potency is very desirable. This research aimed to
find out the participation of public and Village-Owned Enterprises (thereafter called BUMDes Ponggok) and
factors inhibiting and supporting the development of Ponggok tourist object potency in Klaten Regency. This
study was a case study research supported with qualitative data. Techniques of collecting data used were
interview, observation, and documentation study. The informant was selected using purposive sampling
consisting of Tourism Development and Tourism Marketing Division of BUMDes organizer, Culture and
Tourism Service, sellers around Ponggok Tourist Object, some visitors, and people surrounding. Data
validation was carried out using data triangulation, while technique of analyzing data used was an interactive
model of analysis. The result of research showed that water tour in Ponggok Klaten included umbul ponggok,
umbul pongggok ciblon, umbul kapilaler, umbul besuki and umbul sigedang. The development of Ponggok
tourist object potency was conducted in the form of planning the development of supporting facilities and
infrastructure in water selfie, cooperating with other government institutions, private, and community,
developing promotion and marketing through booklet, tourist potency of Klaten Regency, website, social
media and artistic event. The role of institution in improving human resource includes training and building
the developer of tourism development regulation and facilitator in developing tourism in Klaten Regency.
The inhibiting factors in developing Ponggok tourist potency included village’s financial ability not focusing
yet on planning on object only, limited role of employers, very limited land the village government has for
public facility and the inadequate number of competent human resource in development. The factors
supporting the attempt of developing Ponggok tourist destination were: abundant potency, good accessibility,
support and inspiration from Village Government in the form of BUMDes, opportunity of opening new job
vacancy, and support from private in the form of CSR, land existing for the tourist object, professional
management in the form of BUMDes, society’s care and the opening the job opportunity for the citizens.
1 INTRODUCTION
The optimal development of tourism industry can
improve a state’s economic growth; for that reason, a
good management is very desirable in the attempt of
developing tourist objects in Indonesia (Marpaung
and Bahar, 2002). Tourism business performers begin
to take development action by means of research,
observation on Indonesian tourist objects in order to
find the potency and the problem existing in every
object and then to look for the solution. Another
measure taken is to promote it through printed,
electronic media, and internet (social media) to make
the society knowing the existence of the objects and
participating in its development (Wahab, 2004).
In addition, tourism world should begin to
abandon short term planning and should be able to
view from long term perspective by taking any effect
potentially occurring in tourism realm into account
(Swarbrooke, 1998).
Tourism in Indonesia recently begins to show its
development and growth into a standing-alone
tourism industry (Demartoto, 2014). However, it is
noteworthy that so far the consciousness and
understanding on tourism has not reached the public
in general. Recently, tourism industry initiates new
period after having been stricken by some constraints
as the impact of economic crisis leading the tourism
condition to the nadir. Beginning the rescue program
conducted by government amid the crisis (1997-
1998), tourism sector recovered gradually as various
90
Rahmanto, A., Demartoto, A. and Wijaya, M.
Women Participation in Ponggok Tourist Object Development.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 90-95
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

activities constituting the component of tourism
industry flourish (Pitana, 2005).
Women fulfill most proportions of formal tourism
worker. Women are represented in service and
administration work level, but are less represented at
professional level. Women usually get 10% to 15%
income less than the men workers. Tourism sector
makes women business owners/employers two folds
more than other sector does. One of tourism ministers
throughout world is women. Women working in
tourism sector become an independent worker with
much higher proportion than in other sector. A
number of unwaged works is being done by women
in family tourism business (UNWTO and UN
Women, 2010).
UNDP measures Gender Inequality Index (GII)
showing the loss in human development due to
gender discrepancy because of discrimination in such
aspects as health, education, and manpower. This
index is designed to improve the awareness of gender
inequality occurring so far within society and to find
out human development progress due to gender
inequality. GII data can be used to help make
development decision and policy, so that a better
human development is yielded (UNDP, 2010).
Human Development Report (HDR) (2013)
indicated that GII decreased during 1990-2012. It
represents that each of ASEAN countries attempts to
achieve gender equality and reduce the loss in human
development in their country. Singapore successfully
achieved the lowest gender inequality index (0.1) in
2012. Meanwhile, Indonesia still has high gender
inequality index despite some gender equality
program (UNDP, 2010).
Tourism sector is one sector having potency to be
developed by Klaten Regency as it can improve the
people welfare and improve the revenue of Local
Original Income (PAD). It is this local income
deriving from tourist object that becomes the
important asset to support the growth of Klaten area.
However, in fact, the important asset of tourism has
not been utilized and developed optimally by Klaten
Regency including natural tour, cultural tour, and
artificial/human-made tour. Ponggok village has been
developed into water tour village now, recalling that
Ponggok village has abundant water potency. In
Ponggok Village, there are some umbul (water
sources): Umbul Besuki, Umbul Sigedang, Umbul
Ponggok, Umbul Kapilaler, and Umbul Cokro. In
these individual umbuls, beautiful scenery and clear
water can be found, supported with a chic rural
circumstance, so that this village is very appropriate
to be developed into a tourist village.
The institutions representing tourism industry are
interested to claim that tourism contributes to
millennium development goals (MDGs), as indicated
with little evidence. Indeed tourism perpetuates
retardation and human right infringement in many
ways. This article analyzes in detail the relationship
between tourism and MDGs, by focusing on MDG3:
promoting gender equality and women
empowerment. Tourism offers potency to contribute
to development goal including women empowerment
but significant sector restructuring should be done to
achieve the objective. The difference of current
research lies on development method using MDGs
while the similarity lies on the focus on women
potency in women participation (Soemanto, 2011).
The analysis of tourism participation and tourism
expense has been conducted using scobit model
involving the parameter of relaxing tendency
assuming that highest sensitivity to the change of
explanatory variable occurs between individuals with
caring or uncaring preference to participation and
non-participation in tourism. This research conducted
an empirical analysis using data collected from Japan.
The result confirmed the relationship between
tourism participation and tourism expense and shows
that scobit model is more superior to logit model in
decision modeling related to tourism. This research
also discussed the main factor affecting participation
and emphasized on the tourism expense. This
research’s difference lies on its emphasis on tourism
expense with scobit analysis, and its similarity lies on
its focus of study on participation in tourism (L.wu
and A Fujiwara, 2015).
The successful or failed tourism objective is
dependent on the ability of providing secure
environment for visitor. Women are more afraid of
crime as the result of vulnerability felt exacerbated
with sexual risk or difference of fear recognition (A.
Fitri and Toh Poh, 2013).
Work condition of women involved in fish
catching in Corumbau MPA affects their participation
in management and decision making. Women
participation in MERC meeting was limited and
inhibited by gender-related factor, unfulfilled
expectation, and inadequate information. Meeting
dynamics and decision making process should deal
with women’s certain need and priority with gender-
sensitive measures (L Ferguson and Lucy, 2013).
Improving women’s rights in MERC and
listening to their voice can exert significant effect
personally and collectively, can be beneficial to entire
society. The measure intended to inform, to motivate
and to support them improving their trust in co-
management and improving their participation is the
Women Participation in Ponggok Tourist Object Development
91

positive reflection on conservation and social-
economic condition (L Ferguson and Lucy, 2013).
Considering the literature review, only a few
literatures studied the women participation in
developing a tourist object, particularly in developing
Ponggok Tourist Object (Women Empowerment and
Child Protection Ministry, 2013). The society or
human resource should utilize their potency more
optimally in sharpening their skill and expertise more
creatively and innovatively.
2 METHODS
This qualitative research employing a case study
method gave the author the broad access to studying
in-depth, in detail, intensively and comprehensively
the people participating in tourism development in
Ponggok Village (Women Empowerment and Child
Protection Ministry, 2013). The informants were the
people coming from various categories such as
business performers, employees, society leader and
government from the related service selected using
maximum purposive sampling technique. The
informants consisted of 16 people living in Ponggok
Village as the key informant. Meanwhile the
supporting informants consisted of 6 society leaders
for data triangulation purpose. The author also
interviewed the representatives of Tourism Service in
Klaten Regency.
Data collection was conducted through
observation, interview, and documentation. Data
validation was carried out using data source
triangulation, while data analysis was carried out
using an interactive model of data analysis.
3 RESULTS
One component of development is society. The
development of tourist village is inseparable from the
participation of community existing surrounding the
Tourist Object location. Tourism development
reaches almost entire aspect of society life in
Ponggok Tourist Object, and therefore in its effort,
the surrounding community’s support and active
participation are required, so are the government’s
and the public’s support. It is just like what the
Chairperson of PKK (People Welfare Empowerment)
group, Director of BUMDes Ponggok and Ponggok
Village Government Staff suggest that development
and tourism development involve the surrounding
people, particularly women. Public participation is
not limited to an activity but also in every stage of an
activity and even in the process of evaluating whether
or not the development has been as planned and can
improve their economy. In tourism development, the
local community participation cannot be done
without considering gender aspect. Local people
know more about their area than outsiders do;
therefore the local community participation in
planning, implementing, and utilizing Tourist Object
development is very desirable. In the planning stage,
more public participation is needed because in this
stage, the people are invited to make a decision. It is
intended to make the people have sense of belonging
thereby generating the feeling of consciousness and
responsibility for developing it.
Women participation in Ponggok Tourism Village
Development can be seen from their activities in
surrounding tourism sustainability. Ponggok Village
women participate in Planning the Development of
Ponggok Tourist Village. Planning in a broad sense is
a process of preparing systematically the activities to
be done in order to achieve certain objective.
Meanwhile, development planning is a direction of
the limited use to achieve social objective. A planning
contributes considerably to a successful development
and a successful development is highly dependent on
the precision of planning made.
Women participation in planning Tourist Village
development is embodied into their participation in
some training and their affiliation with PKK and
BUMDes of Ponggok Tourist Village, with a belief
that their area has natural beauty and potency in the
presence of Ponggok Tourist Object. In addition, it is
expected to exert social-economic effect in improving
the people welfare in Ponggok Village. Becoming the
employees of BUMDes here can also contribute to the
income of family.
Women participation in implementing Ponggok
Tourist Village Development can be seen from the
real activities as the manifestation of planned
programs. In this implementation stage, public
participation is indicated with both material and non-
material contribution. In BUMDes, women group as
the organizer of BUMDes not only assembles but also
hold unique activity, namely ‘investing’ the original
capital to get return on it.
Women participation in Utilizing the
Development of Ponggok Tourist Village is related to
the utilization of products of activity. It can be seen
from the extent to which the society benefits from the
help and program, either emotionally or materially.
The benefit that can be obtained is, among others, the
increased experience by attending some training, and
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
92

promoting the Ponggok typical original food
business.
Women participation in Developing Ponggok
Tourist Village is of course inseparable from its
affecting factors including supporting and inhibiting
ones. Surrounding people, particularly women,
participate in Developing Ponggok Tourism Village
to increase income and to fulfill their economic need.
Improving Ponggok Tourist Object as a tourist
destination flanked with two big cities (Yogya and
Solo) and located in strategic location and affordable
access to Tourist object is inseparable as well from its
surrounding supporting factors, for example Ponggok
tourist village provides some facilities, one of which
is the existence of BUMDes. BUMDes is inseparable
from the participation of surrounding people who
want to promote tourism in Ponggok area.
However, inadequate promotion is an inhibiting
factor. As tourism business performers are women,
not everyone knows Ponggok Tourist Village. Those
domiciling in Ponggok Tourist object automatically
participate in the development of Ponggok Tourist
Village.
The development of Tourist Object in Ponggok
Village indeed focuses on local youths to organize
and to make innovation the development plan. It is
suggested by the Director of BUMDes Tirta Mandiri.
The budget available is always inadequate, but
considering the people’s ever increasing interest in
visiting this tourist object, a long-term investment is
needed to compensate or to accommodate it by
providing supporting facility. But it is inhibited with
the limited budget available to develop homestay
waterboom or supporting facilities requiring a large
investment.
Flanked with two big cities leads to an attractive
selling power for Klaten Regency, and its location not
far away from Semarang City makes Klaten as if
surrounded with a golden triangle between big cities,
and the operation of almost finished Transjawa Toll
road makes Ponggok area having higher selling
power, but it is not followed with the development of
infrastructures so that this tourist object is less
accessible to big fleet such as big-size tourist bus. It
is also suggested by the BUMDes.
Umbul Ponggok has been now equipped with rest
area, children-friendly area and café. From its
development aspect, this Tourist Object has been very
good, but it should be compensated with supporting
infrastructure such as parking lot, because on the
weekend the visitors often find the parking lot
difficultly thereby resulting in traffic jam in the
entrance and exiting gates. So far, the organizer has
given solution by providing parking pouches in
citizens’ house.
4 DISCUSSION
In this research, the women of Ponggok village serve
as the actor receiving stimulus of Ponggok Tourist
Object development. The women will respond to the
stimulus. Then, they will conduct an activity as a
response to the development of Tourist Object.
Parson developed a scheme of social action’s basic
units with the following characteristics:
The presence of individual as an actor. In this
study on women participation in developing Ponggok
Tourist Object, there are clearly individual as the
actor. In Ponggok Tourist Object, many actors are
involved (Soemanto, 2011).
Actor is considered as the pursuer of certain
objectives. Ponggok Village women, as the actor, of
course, have certain objectives. Actor participates in
the development of Ponggok Tourist Object by means
of investing into the rental of some supporting
instruments in Umbul Ponggok. It is intended to
create an impression of the easiness in enjoying
Umbul Ponggok; they got the capital by attending the
Arisan PKK activity, utilizing resource and
surrounding potencies such as processing fishery and
farming products into various snacks and selling them
to the tourists and making them the typical snack from
Ponggok Tourism Object, and by developing the
fishery sector they have operated into tourism sector
so that their farming sector changes into agro-tourism
one. In addition, they also attend the training given
and the monthly routine meeting in order to develop
themselves (Suwantoro, 2004).
The actors had alternative way, tool and technique
of achieving their objective. The actors using
alternative way to affiliate with the PKK group
supporting Ponggok Tourist object include the PKK
female group the members of which are females.
The actors face a number of situational conditions
that can limit their action in achieving objective. The
constraints include situation and condition. Some of
them are out of individual’s control. When the actors
conduct an activity with certain purpose, they often
find the constraint that can hinder their activity. The
constraints found in Ponggok Tourist Object include
the inadequate promotion made thereby inhibiting
them in developing Ponggok Tourist object.
The actors are controlled with values, norms, and
abstract ideas affecting them in selecting and
determining their objective and alternative ways of
achieving the objective.
Women Participation in Ponggok Tourist Object Development
93

All activities are conducted by actors to achieve
an objective. The actors conduct it corresponding to
the existing norms. Ponggok Village Women develop
Ponggok Tourist Object based on and corresponding
to the regulation and policy specified by government
or non-government institution. For example, the
government implements Sapta Pesona. Sapta Pesona
is a condition that should be realized in the attempt of
attracting tourists to visit an area or region. We should
create a beautiful fascinating circumstance anytime
and anywhere, particularly in the places visited by
many tourists and during catering to the tourists. With
an attractive ad comfort condition and circumstance,
the tourists will stay longer there, feel satisfied with
their visit and have beautiful memory in their life. The
7 elements of sapta pesona are: safe, orderly, clean,
cool, beautiful, friendly, and memorable. It can be
seen clearly that the objectives the actors want to
achieve are subjected to the existing values.
This research also employs gender analysis
technique to analyze women participation in
developing Ponggok Tourist Object. Gender analysis
technique used by the author was Harvard’s analysis
one. In Harvard’s analysis technique, there are three
main elements: Activity Profile, Access Profile and
Control. The detail can be elaborated as follows.
Activity Profile. The activity in BUMDes activity
is held more by the women creating a female group
with an activity of improving the existing potency.
Although quantitatively the female organizer is
superior, in certain position the male one still
dominates. The activity of BUMDes management
consists of some business lines and units. The work is
done by women. But in Ponggok Village, there is no
gender unequality. In this BUMDes activity, women
and men manage the BUMDes jointly. The activities
of processing fishery product are all done by women,
from raw material to finished product. This
processing is conducted by PKK groups, the members
of which are female. The product processed included
nila fish (nile tilapia) processed into fish chips,
nugget and etc.
Another activity the women attend is training. In
training activity attended by women only, the women
acquire the knowledge about how to manage
swimming apparatus or to take photograph
underwater and to manage souvenir in which the
training is attended by women only [6].
The Tour Guide activity is intended to facilitate
and to explain the tourist object to the tourists.
Ponggok Tourist Object has 4 tour guides, with the
number of women more than that of men. Because
Ponggok Tourist Object presents selfie spot and
swimming arena, female tour guide can present more
flexibly the superiority of this tourist object in Klaten
Regency.
Access Profile. The women’s access to and
control over resource in BUMDes includes Village
Enterprise Ownership of Ponggok tourist object,
Ponggok Ciblon, and village store at both managerial
and executive levels in which the women are involved
proportionally of course considering the position and
education and experience background they have.
Nevertheless, there are some distinguishing points in
which women control financial resource, while men
can access the managerial matter only. Meanwhile,
the control over development plan is held by men, and
the women can access the management only.
However, access and control held by both of them is
resource to select development and to plan
development because the development of Tourist
Object business and other business units build on
their consensus so that both of them hold access and
control.
Control Profile. The profile of women’s control
over the development of Umbul Ponggok tourist
object shows that women and men in Umbul Ponggok
tourist area have their own control in BUMDes
including leadership, management and financial held
by men and women, so are access and evaluation
control held by both men and women.
In tourist object, access to and control over
resource owned include the work area ownership, the
selection of tourist object rented instrument, the
souvenir selling, and the tariff determination. There
are some distinguishing points in which women have
more control over souvenir selling, while access is
held by both of them. However, the selection of
rented instrument types is held by men (Women
Empowerment and Children Protection Ministry,
2013).
Therefore, it can be concluded that women
participation in Ponggok Tourist Object can be stated
as enthusiastically. It can be seen from women’s
participation in every activity in developing Ponggok
Tourist Object. In running the Tourist Object
business, the women in Ponggok Tourist Object
create their own group called Kelompok Wanita PKK
Ponggok (Ponggok PKK Female Group) having such
activities as producing Ponggok typical souvenir,
cooking for the guests, and synergizing with men to
operate this business. On the other hand, women can
have positive activity and benefit their life either
materially or in the form of knowledge that can be
applied in life. For example, the activity of processing
fishery and farming products into typical Ponggok
snack such as nila fish processed into nugget and
chips. Another activity conducted is monthly routine
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
94

gathering (arisan) and training in which the women
participate in it to develop their potential resource.
Through participating in many activities, the women
can benefit economically and can increase their
experience.
The development and managerial activities in
Ponggok Tourist Object are done by men and women.
Although this activity is usually identical with the
men’s, women also participate actively in which they
process the potencies existing in Ponggok Tourist
Object and farming product into snack. The women
participation in planning, implementing, and utilizing
can be considered as positive, as the form of a
woman’s awareness that tourism activity is not
intended to men only, but women have equal
obligation to participate actively in developing
Ponggok Tourist Object.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The community have not been aware completely yet
of the natural potencies developed into a phenomenal
Tourist Object in Ponggok. What becomes trademark
is umbul water, but when studied further, there are
many supporting tourist attractions that have not been
explored maximally. It takes time to make Umbul
Ponggok area larger and more attractive to be visited,
and the friendliness of people participating is also
required in this tourism activity. Public participation
plays a very important and absolutely necessary role
because the public (community) is the subject of
development and the development itself is basically
the community’s need, the result of which will return
to the community. Women participation in the
development of umbul ponggok tourist object is
divided into three stages:
Participation in planning, in which women attend
monthly routine meeting in BUMDes and are
affiliated with PKK, the members of which are all
female. Regarding the participation in
implementation, BUMDes developing very rapidly
can make the citizens existing surrounding Ponggok
village prosperous, create appropriate synergy
between men and women in managing resources and
potencies existing in Ponggok Village, and attending
the training given by Cooperative Service and CSR
from the privates.
Participation in economic value-added utilization
and experience give job opportunity to the people in
Ponggok Village according to their own expertise,
and training increases knowledge about how to
promote the typical food and souvenir business.
Women participation in Developing Umbul
Ponggok tourist village is inseparable from the
affecting factors including: human resource,
economic resource, inadequate promotion, poor
understanding on the potency existing in Umbul
Ponggok tourist village, Activity Profile, access and
control indicating the women participation in Umbul
Ponggok development.
REFERENCES
Demartoto, A. 2014. Habitus Pengembangan Pariwisata.
Surakarta: UNS Press.
Ferguson, L Lucy. Tourism, the Millennium Development
2015. Goals, and Gender Equality.International
Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences
(Second Edition 2015, Pages 474–480.
Fitri, A., See, Toh Poh. 2013. Sustainable Tourist
Environment: Perception of International Women
Travelers on Safety and Security in Kuala Lumpur.
jurnal Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam,
Selangor, Malaysia,
Kementerian Pemberdayaan Perempuan dan Perlindungan
Anak. 2013. Pembangunan. Manusia Berbasis Gender;
Jakarta: CV. Lintas Khatulistiwa
Marpaung., Bahar. 2002. Pengantar Pariwisata. Bandung:
Alfabeta.
Pitana, IG. 2005. Sosiologi Pariwisata. Yogyakarta:
Penerbit Andi.
Suwantoro, G. 2004. Dasar-Dasar Pariwisata.
Yogyakarta: Penerbit Andi.
Soemanto, RB. 2011. Sosiologi Pariwisata, Surakarta:
UNS Press. Wahab, S. 2004. Dasar-Dasar Pariwisata.
Yogyakarta: Penerbit Andi.
Swarbrooke, J. 1998. Sustainable Tourism Management.
New York: CABI Publishing is division of CAB
International.
UNWTO., UNWomen. 2011. Global Report on Women in
Tourism 2010: Preliminary Findings. Madrid: World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United
Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Employment
of Women (UNWomen).
UNDP Indonesia. 2010. Partisipasi Perempuan dalam
Politik dan Pemerintah, Makalah Kebijakan. Jakarta:
UNDP Indonesia.
Wu, LandFujiwara, A. 2013. Tourism participation and
expenditure behaviour: Analysis using a scobit based
discrete–continuous choice model.Annals of Tourism
Research, Volume 43: 662.
Women Participation in Ponggok Tourist Object Development
95