This thesis is an ethnographic study of five women???s organisations in Malang, Indonesia. The contemporary significance of local women???s organisations in the lives of kampung women in Indonesia is revealed through an investigation of the relationship between the Indonesian state, local communities and women. This study sets contemporary women???s organisations in the context of their changing historical role and relationship with the state. Women???s organisations have been a part of the Indonesian political and social landscape since the early twentieth century. They played an important role in mobilising women during the struggle for independence. Under Sukarno???s policy of Guided Democracy, restrictions were placed on the political mobilising role of all organisations, including those for women. These restrictions were taken much further under Suharto???s New Order government when many were proscribed. Only state-approved and controlled organisations were accepted. The New Order era essentially undermined the credibility of women???s organisations as vehicles for promoting women???s interests, instead they were generally regarded as ???tools of the state???. Indonesianists and feminists have been especially critical of state-run women???s organisations arguing they have offered Indonesian women ???no path to female power???. This perception of state-sponsored women???s organisations has continued in the post-Suharto era even though their links to the state have changed radically. They now exist alongside a range of NGOs, religious and social women???s organisations. The crucial question that this thesis addresses is why these state-sponsored organisations continue to exist and what motivates women???s participation in these organisations? Through membership in local women???s organisations women enter into a complex relationship with the state, local society and the socio-religious and political institutions within the wider society. The membership status women enjoy provides them with opportunities to engage in a social bargain. Through this bargaining process, local women make social, religious, personal and romantic gains for themselves. The results of the social bargaining process depend largely on the particular organisation to which women belong but they remain strongly oriented towards their local kampung worlds. The thesis provides an alternative way of thinking about the complex role that women???s organisations play in Indonesian society and what function they may continue to have within Indonesia???s post-Suharto future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/258539 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Martin, Kirsty, School of Sociology, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Sociology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Kirsty Martin, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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