SOCIAL CAPITAL AND FEMALE POLITICIANS' NETWORKING STRATEGIES IN THE 2024 INDONESIAN LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS

Women's political representation serves as a crucial metric for assessing the quality of democracy and gender equality; nevertheless, in Indonesia, the percentage remains significantly below the ideal, despite the implementation of a 30% quota policy since 2004. This study intends to examine the networking tactics employed by female politicians to secure victory in the 2024 Legislative Election in Magetan Regency, East Java, a local environment that embodies the challenges of patriarchy, socio-religious dynamics, and transformations in digital communication. Employing a qualitative case study methodology, data were collected via in-depth interviews with female candidates, party representatives, and community supporters, with field observations, and subsequently analyzed using NVivo theme coding. The findings delineated four principal strategies: (1) establishing formal political networks via internal and external party coalitions; (2) cultivating community social networks through religious study groups, social events, and fitness groups; (3) leveraging gender-specific networks to gain access to women's communities and families; and (4) enhancing social media networks for tailored messaging, voter mobilization, and broadening cross-generational support. These four techniques cultivate social capital that empowers female candidates to surmount structural obstacles, broaden their electorate, and enhance political legitimacy. These findings highlight the necessity of combining affirmative action policies with capacity-building and digital literacy initiatives to facilitate the more inclusive adaptation of political networking techniques throughout Indonesia.