Women in Islamizing Javanese Society and Modern Indonesia

Religion, Society and Politics in Southeast Asia
“Women in Islamizing Javanese Society and Modern Indonesia”
Okky Wicaksono

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Among major world religions, many scholars believe Islam is a religion that is not very friendly towards women position. It is so pointed out as evidently Islam is more patriarchal where male extensively dominates its social hierarchy. Based on the holy Quran as one of the most fundamental source of the religion and aside from Hadith and Sunnah, Islam is plainly considered to treat women strictly unequal compared to certain liberty that given to men. The ongoing debate about the contentious relationship between religious tradition and feminism until recently has remained unresolved.
Arguing about the relationship of women and Islam, Islam appreciates women 's equality with men in many great respectful ways. Khan (2008) argues ”Islam has assigned a position of dignity and honor to woman.” Initially Islam believes that Adam and Eve were from the same soul as all Abrahamic religions tell that Eve was originally created from Adam’s left rib.
In His presence, both men and women are equally the same in the sense of spiritual obligations, as both have to do good deeds, five times prayer, fasting during Ramadan, giving charity, and doing pilgrimage to Mecca for those who can afford it. A woman is also has rights, such like to be treated as an individual, having her own earnings, owning properties and access to education. However, Quran says men and women are naturally different. In this sense, woman is efficiently equipped for child bearing, while man is incapable of it.
The spread of Islam in Indonesia is supposedly to be unique as Islam is never been applied and adopted barely without any local filterization. Instead of purely imposing its values, the process of localization has been dominating the Islamic diffusion in Indonesia ever since. Suarez (1999) says that the continuity of religious happening into Southeast Asia had
“never entirely replaced those which preceded them, but rather built layers of combined beliefs” while Islam “accommodated itself to indegenous Southeast Asian values rather than dictating them.” Despite of Islamic values that co-exist in almost all daily life aspect, Rinaldo
(2008) argues Islam in modern Indonesia has “been influenced by Islamic modernism, a movement that arose in early 20th century Egypt, and which rejected the authority of texts other than the Qur 'an and the Hadiths.”
In that sense, scholars cannot abandon the important fact that most Islamic values in
Indonesia are strongly influenced by Javanese locality to define the role of women. The traditional Javanese morality has helped religious Islamic values in Indonesia to form its link with the emergence of women’s right advocacy in contemporary Indonesia. In the early days before the colonialism, women in Java had quite notable status and equal power as men had.
Hull (1996; Hefner 2007) notes that “Javanese women have long played a prominent role in the family and public life” and “they have owned farm land, operated small businesses, and had the right to initiate divorce.” While Geertz (1961; Brenner 1995) also argues in the domestic domain, “the wife makes most of the decisions; she controls all family finances, and although she gives her husband formal deference and consults with him on major matters, it is usually she who is dominant.” Hence according to Hull (1996; Hefner 2007) even though

Javanese “tend to see the husband as the patriarchal head of the household, the husband-wife partnership is conceived of as complementary rather than subordinating.” The control of family spending in this context, gave certain power to those women in the domestic authority rather than being controlled over their husbands. The study of Sullivan (1989; Brenner 1995) have shown that “the notion of women 's dominance in the domestic sphere has served to keep men and women in particular in their socially desirable places.” However, such power is defined as “limited to certain sphere may prevent women from full and equal participation and access to power outside of such sphere (Fraser 1997; Adamson 2004).
Thus, in the conventional framing of gender status ideology within Javanese tradition,
Hull (1996) discovered that during 1970s the “middle-class Javanese women seemed to be moving toward a neo-priyayi pattern of female domesticity and restricted public participation” rather than using the platform of education to elevated their public activity.” He continues, instead of “developing greater influence or equality in the family, the authority of women in the new middle class seemed static or in decline” because they tended to “focus on the household.” In summary, he saw “a trend toward heightened domesticity and social insularity rather than greater equality and public involvement” in which carries the “evidence of diminished female autonomy and social “regress.” This point of view, however is the result from the tendency of the culture in Indonesian society as “patriarchal’ and the kyais are men, the (Quranic) verses are interpreted as they look and they benefit only men,” Rinaldo (2008).
As Brenner (1995) observes;
“This ideological system has been generated and reinforced not only by the values of the Javanese priyayi6 elite, but also by the patriarchal tendencies of Dutch colonial rule (in which male dominance was taken for granted in both political and domestic life, and which itself had a marked influence on the development of nineteenth and twentieth century priyayi rhetoric), of Islamic doctrine, and of the postcolonial Indonesian state.”

Meanwhile since the New Order period in Indonesia, ”Islam was embraced by many as a source of values that could facilitate the establishment of an equitable and just society and
Islamic texts were increasingly regarded as providing the basis for politics, as well as personal and social renewal (Brenner 1996 ; Hefner 1993 ; Robinson 2008). However, Dunn and
Kellison (2010) state that the initial ideology of Islamist revivalist was “meant the diminishment of Muslim women’s rights and access to civil justice. Opposing to that, the reality that pointed out by Rinaldo (2008) is “Islamic revival is a heterogeneous phenomenon that can contribute to new forms of women 's agency.” In that sense, the transformation in
Indonesian society since New Order facilitates many young women to access the education system and gain the knowledge of emancipation. However most of the feminist scholars in
Indonesia “highlight state oppression of women or how women contest religious or state power,” (Budianta 2003; Suryakusuma 1996; Rinaldo 2008). Hence, the struggle for these women to perform their emancipation through certain agencies has shown the resistance against external dominant forces. In Indonesia, scholars argue “middle class women are attracted to pious Islam because of its modernizing aspects, and that the expansion of Islamic institutions has had tangible benefits for many women.” (Brenner 2005; Van Doorn-Harder
2006; Rinaldo 2008).
During this period, “young women have benefited from the educational policies of the
New Order government, which succeeded in achieving near universal primary education and

in dramatically increasing women’s participation in secondary and tertiary education (OeyGardiner 1991; Jones 1994; Hefner 2007). This new generation of educated young women also received the Islamic education offering in the schools as Hefner (2007) mentions “since
1967, two to three hours of religious education each week has been state-mandated in
Indonesian schools).” Therefore, the beneficial education of these women would lead to the reconstruction of gender perception within Islam.
As stated in the previous paragraph, in the late of 1980s, Tamara (1996; Adamson 2007) says “Islam began to experience a renaissance in Java.” While Brenner (1996; Hefner 2007) also suggests that “Islam as a central guiding pillar, as well as symbolic, spiritual, institutional, and doctrinal force, was gaining increasing importance in peoples ' lives.”
Meanwhile in the same context, Noerdin (2002, Adamson 2007) proofs the emergence of
Islamic revivalism with “current controversy surrounding proposed anti-pornography legislation and the adoption of shariah-inspired legislation, including laws that restrict women 's mobility and mandate their dress, in over 22 regencies. Adamson later argues that
“the Islamic revival in Indonesia came a return to interpretations of Islam that were either based on extremist political agendas or historically and culturally-specific patriarchal interpretations of the Qur 'an that are biased against women” which then they fear the state
“threatened to impose new restrictions on women 's rights and mobility in Java.” She continues “the Shariah-inspired legislation that has been adopted in regencies throughout the country, similarly targets women as a way of addressing concerns about waning morality that derives from social changes that have not yet been manageably incorporated into Indonesian life” in which she states “the increasing authority of varying interpretations of Islam in peoples ' lives can be manipulated to bolster pre-existing gender stereotypes and ideologies that contribute to discrimination against women.”
The Islamic feminist resurgence in Indonesia is more likely shown by the occurrence of
Islamic feminist scholars that are outspokenly questioning about the chance of transformation in legal stand for woman within contemporary modern Indonesia. However, this active support for a change of more emancipation to be more present may be perceived as women personal interests which conceivably to raise the pious feminists’ dilemmas against Islam.
Robinson (2008) argues the most fundamental argument among Islamic feminist is the
“discriminative practices arise from gender-biased interpretation of the Qur’an and hadith that are in contradiction with the true egalitarian spirit of Islam.”
In reviewing the concept of feminism, Strathern (1988) thinks it “offers both a diagnosis of women’s status across cultures as well as a prescription for changing the situation of women who are understood to be marginal, subordinate, and oppressed.” While Mahmood
(2011) continues, “the articulation of conditions of relative freedom that enable women both to formulate and enact self-determined goals and interests remain the object of feminist.” I personally argue that feminism may lead to the violation of basic Islamic values if it is simply understood plainly without any further moral consideration. Giving such freedom without specific control to women would ruin the divine role of women in society. This idea would give a potential danger to the social harmony within the families as Rinaldo (2008) mentions the importance of, “women are seen as transmitters of cultural norms because of their reproductive capacities.” However such positive freedom, according to (Berlin 1969; Green
1986; Simhony 1993; Taylor 1985; Mahmood 2011) that understood as “the capacity to

realize an autonomous will” would not jeopardize the significant moral value of the freedom as long as there is a clear control on it.
In exercising their agenda these activists avoid to use the terminology of feminist as they consider it to be associated with western thing which is unacceptable for most Islamic scholars. However in contesting the New Order gender norm they defined "gender" as “to highlight the relational aspect of discrimination against women as something that constituted and was constitutive of both men and women” (Adamson 2007). They emphasized that “men should take equal interest in thinking about women 's rights issues and equality as something that benefits both men and women more generally, rather than thinking it is simply a
"woman 's issue” (ibid). According to Ricklefs (2012) “the very idea of gender equality was unacceptable to many Dakwahists and Islamists” even HTI women in Yogyakarta “denounced gender equality as a Western secularist plot to undermine Islam and to destroy Islamic families.” In the local reference, many Indonesian Islamic activists use the term “emancipation” to address the gender equality which in contemporary Indonesia is still commonly associated with western feminism. Adamson (2007) describes that most people in Java “believed that the woman’s movement in America promoted emancipation in order for women to act as freely as they want or so that they would not have to act “like women.” They said that this liberation of women might jeopardize their natural role as being mothers. Which later Adamson adds “they would have no need for husbands in a cultural environment in which marriage and sanctioned sexual practice is associated with the conjugal relationship and the family.” In this point of view, Javanese tradition strongly control the social role of women. Adamson’s informants also suggest that “emancipated women’s denial of their natural roles (kodrat)” would “led to tolerance of a heightened sexuality and degradation of moral values in the West.” In this argument, Brenner (1995) agrees on “Women are said to be more emotional, sexual, and irrational than men by nature; hence they must be carefully controlled by men so that they do not lead the latter astray from the proper path.” Adamson (2007) also adds that “gendered moral hierarchy in Java maintains women 's roles as key to the security of both family and nation. Security, in this sense, involves not only protection from individualist interests, but also assurance against threatening influences of social change brought on by an increasingly globalized economy.” Therefore it is very obvious that Javanese culture tend to keep women in their natural place, instead of allowing them in such situation which might threaten the harmony of social order. As told in “Islamic women 's rights advocacy workshop held in
Eastern Java, Indonesia in 1999, a young male participant summarised the consensus of many in the room saying that even if men 's control over and discriminatory attitudes towards women are "a case [of]...wide-spread misinterpretation [of Muhammad 's teachings] it makes
Indonesian women all the better” (Adamson 2007).
After the resignation of the former president Soeharto in May 1998, women 's rights advocacy in Indonesia gained a new opportunity to collaborate with the democracy and movements. As in Hefner (2007) suggests that women in Indonesia tend to “gain legitimacy in the post-Soeharto public sphere.” However Adamson (2007) argues that in Soeharto-era of
"New Order" the “formulations of ‘woman’ as primarily a mother and wife fostered ideologies that maintain women 's secondary status in society.” While for the women’s right activists, Adamson (2007) adds “the concern continues to be that, while democratic reform

might occur in the government, social values concerning women 's roles in conjunction with increasing expressions of Islamic faith threaten to become increasingly restrictive.”
The discovery of the common people’s desire of “democracy” in the reform era is perceived as the equal representation and the freedom of voice would be beneficial for gender equality. However, Adamson believes “since the 1990s, in the Javanese Muslim communities, social anxieties and concerns about both their and Indonesia 's futures have been complexly related to political regime change, economic crises, and a growing sense of being part of a global economic community. Brenner (1996) describes “during 1990s in the increasing numbers of women adopting the jilbab - or Islamic headscarf - a tradition that Javanese previously criticised as being too "Arab". As Hefner (2007; Alatas and Desliyanti 2002;
Brenner 1996) states this view was the result of “the government’s earlier suspicion of
“radical” or “fanatic” Islam” which” initially opposed.” Many of gender activists in Indonesia perceived this as the symbolic expression of a cultural shift towards more gender conservative society. In the today context, the equal opportunity for women to access the education system has spread the thriving idea of women’s liberation. These women use the platform of knowledge to effectively manipulate their resistance against the male domination. For those who cannot afford higher education probably have the similar chance as they would work as their liberation agency to resist their parents control over their own personal life. Eventually, they become more aware of their rights given to them as human being that are equally the same as men.
Young women in Indonesia have the tendency to keep Islamic values as strong as they could but at the same time they would not let the religious restrictions to limit what they are struggling for. They would rather accommodate these conflicting beliefs in balance rather than contest to one another. Instinctively, they accept their gender role as wives and mothers as their natural destiny.
Islamic revivalism has transformed the Islamising society from within the society itself.
The existence of opportunity for feminist scholars to contest religious authoritative standards has become one of the inevitably features of the revival itself where they would search for more modern contextual interpretation of Quran. Those young women see the necessity of their liberation as the survival thinking in order to anticipate and prepare the social changes in
Indonesia instead of satisfy their own fulfillment. In doing this, they are not willing to let go of their religious faith. Platzdasch (2000 ; Robinson 2008) says, “the struggle of Muslim women for liberation has become one, if not the most apparent symbol of Islam’s problematic position, as it struggles both to protect its tradition and adjust to the challenges of modern times.” So in this sense, the Islamizing modern Indonesia finally I would suggest that gender movement in
Indonesia is rather going to be more conservative direction as the majority of the people would maintain (protect) the moral and religious values within the society.

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