Feminist identity and the conceptualisation of gender issues in Islam : Muslim gender elites in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Women activists, both in the West and the East, are reluctant to self-identify as feminists (a) given the various understandings of the term 'feminist'; and, (b) due to its positive and negative connotations. Among Muslim gender activists, the debate centres not only on 'feminist identity' but also on the conceptualisation of gender issues in Islam. Sometimes their understandings are not only different but contrast strongly with one another. One factor that influences the ways in which people understand gender issues in Islam and deal with the associated controversy is the approach they take when reading and interpreting Islamic texts. Some Muslims interpret them textually while others approach them contextually. Some work has been done on gender activists by others from organisations outside of universities who have expressed their ideas about particular gender issues; but, no comprehensive work has been done on Indonesian gender activists in universities. Therefore, this research is designed to fill the gap between the issues of feminism and Islam that obtain among gender activists and scholars at universities. This research, in effect, discusses two highly controversial notions, i.e., feminist identity and the conceptualisations of contentious gender issues in Islam of Muslim Gender Studies Elites. The thesis' major tasks are to investigate 'feminist' identity among Muslim gender activists in Indonesia's university-based Centres for Women's Studies (PSWs/Pusat Studi Wanita) or Centres for Gender Studies (PSGs/Pusat Studi Gender), to explore what the term 'feminist' means to university people who identify as feminist and to those who do not and why some reject that identity, and to ascertain their understandings of Western feminism. This research shows that for strategic reasons, some respondents opt not to publicly identify as 'feminist'. Self-identification as 'feminist' carries a higher risk for women than for men. For those Muslim women who identify as 'feminist', the most preferred label is 'Muslim Feminist', whereas among non-feminists it is 'Gender Activist'. The second task is to discuss the variety of understandings of contentious gender issues in Islam. The research reveals the most and least contentious issues among Muslim gender studies elites in PSWs/PSGs. As well, it shows that while almost all of the respondents evinced progressive views regarding gender issues that are not taken to the religious court, they were less progressive vis-a-vis issues related to ritual (ibadah) activity. Respondents' progressive views and non-progressive views on polygamy and women's status were relatively equal. The only gender issue towards which male and female respondents' attitudes showed significant difference was polygamy, which is more problematic for women than for men. Respondents who advocated moderate and progressive views were to some degree close to the feminist positions. While most respondents argued that their gender equality values were not imported from Western feminism, they admitted that many Western feminist concepts and strategies had influenced and shaped their thought and their strategies for dealing with women and gender issues in Indonesia. They agreed that Western feminists are able to raise awareness of gender issues, strengthen feminist identity, and build up faith in Islam among their Muslim counterparts. This research employs an admixture of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The respondents were recruited from six PSWs/PSGs in six universities in Yogyakarta: three were religious-based and three were secular. The respondents numbered 165, including 70 males and 95 females, 105 from religious based universities and 60 from secular universities. All had been involved in PSWs/PSGs and identified as Muslims. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 respondents across all categories. In order to provide the context in which gender activists and scholars at universities play their roles within gender equality movements in Indonesia, I documented the social and historical background of the gender equality movement in Indonesia, details of the Constitution and the functioning of the Centres.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	English