Conservatism still a 'major hurdle' in gender equality

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Muslim clerics continue to be one of the major stumbling blocks in gender equality in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim country, hence moderate Muslim leaders need to do more to change the conservative mind-set.

Legislator and former state minister for women's empowerment Khofifah Indar Parawansa said Indonesia could learn from Iran, whose president was active in pushing for revolutionary change among conservative ulema and society.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami was praised for his intervention in relations between husband and wife, placing them on an equal footing in marriage instead of recognizing the man as the sole breadwinner and head of the family.

"He has promoted training for civil registration office heads, so that they can indoctrinate new families. Khatami has also gathered all the ulema to 'brainwash' their mind-set, and consolidate non-governmental organizations to spread the campaign," Khofifah said at a book launch and discussion of Kembang Setaman Perkawinan (The Garden of Marriage) on Thursday.

The policy has proven effective in improving women's position in marriage and society in Iran. Women's representation in parliament there, for instance, reached 16 percent.

Here, according to Khofifah, there are too many rules and regulations, but poor implementation to boost gender equity has made it ineffective.

Patriarchal religious teachings entrenched in the society also strengthen women's subordination, and even domestic violence, as a husband is taught that he is allowed to hit his wife if she is disobedient.

As the result, domestic violence is still rampant and women remains second-class citizens and among the vulnerable groups in the country.

Khofifah cited as an example the maternal death rate in the country, one of the highest in Asia, which is often due to indecisive pregnant wives.

"They know something is wrong with their pregnancy, yet they do not dare make a decision to go to the hospital because their husbands aren't home," she said.

She added that it has been a goliath task to approach ulema and train them to be more gender sensitive. Many of them even refused to come to the training, or were furious and called the activists "infidels".

Former first lady Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid encountered such a reaction when her team wrote a book, a critical analysis on Uqud Al-Lujjayn, the book on Islamic law which is taught in Islamic boarding schools all over in the country. She and many women activists perceived the old book as negating women.

"The content of the book may be relevant to the situation centuries ago when women were helpless. But now, it's no longer relevant. However, many ulema became angry and called us apostates who want to tarnish Islamic teachings," Sinta told the same discussion.

According to Muslim scholar M. Sobary, such a powerful institution as the ulema must also clash with another powerful institution, namely the government.

"Authority must be faced with authority. That's why, for instance, only people with a respected position such as a former first lady dares to defy the ulema," he said.

Khofifah admitted that it was very difficult to fight against conservative ulema but the campaign to introduce them to gender sensitive issues was important. "If it fails now, we're aiming for the next generation."