Gender - Indonesia at Melbourne

Military-cleric alliance may fuel new anti-LGBTQ sentiment in Indonesia

Analysis, Gender, Human Rights, Religion, Security

Whatever political games are at play on this issue, efforts to frame LGBTQ people as a non-military threat and efforts to criminalise sexuality will only open more avenues for persecution, mostly for the underprivileged. It will likely be used as a pretext for security forces to further encroach on people’s privacy. In this scenario, everyone, not just the LGBTQ community, is at risk.

In ‘spiritual’ Bali, women are not getting mental health care

Gender, Health, Society

Bali is world-famous as a centre of cultural and spiritual tourism that offers visitors spiritual healing and inner/outer balance - the ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ phenomenon. But the mental health of the Balinese is rarely talked about, especially when women are afflicted.

Talking Indonesia: gender transformation in rural Java

Gender, Society, Talking Indonesia

In this episode, recorded in the spirit of International Women's Day, Dr Clara Siagian chats with Dr Linda Susilowati about generational shifts in rural Javanese women's lives, the enduring weight of 'kodrat' (predetermined nature) and 'kewajiban' (obligation), and how Julia Suryakusuma's concept of State Ibuism appears in contemporary Indonesia.

Bench Lacemaking students likely at Keradjinan Amai Satia, Kotogadang, 1915. (KITLV shelfmark 5557), http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:787418

Talking Indonesia: women writers in the colonial era

Gender, History

Soenting Melajoe was the first newspaper for women published in West Sumatra during the colonial era in the Dutch East Indies. Bronwyn Beech Jones's PhD looks at how women and girls from Sumatra articulated their experiences and conceived of themselves, their communities and aspirations in Malay language periodicals published between 1912 and 1929.

Campaign costs impeding women’s political representation in Indonesia

2024 Indonesian Elections, Gender, Politics

There are several factors frustrating women’s political representation including voter beliefs about women’s leadership, gendered processes of candidate selection in political parties and the low numbers of women holding senior positions in the civil service. However, the possibility of improving women’s political representation in the upcoming February 2024 elections will also depend on overcoming arguably the biggest impediment to their election: money.

Why is Indonesia still failing victims of domestic violence?

Gender, Law

There were about 18,000 reports of violence in Indonesia from January 1 to September 2023. Women were the victims in 16,000 of these and around 11,000 cases related to acts of domestic violence. So where has Indonesia gone wrong in protecting women and children from domestic violence?

https://www.antaranews.com/foto/3490728/arus-mudik-di-bandara-soekarno-hatta

Talking Indonesia: religion, gender and migrant worker identity

Gender, Migration, Talking Indonesia

The World Bank estimated in 2016 that over 8.9 billion US dollars flowed back to Indonesia via remittances. However, it is limiting to view the experiences of overseas workers purely in economic terms. Lis Kramer's guest today, Dr Lailatul Fitriyah, has researched and published on the migrant worker experience through an intersectional lens, focusing on how gender and religion shape the lived experiences of women working overseas.

Shinta Ratri, champion of inclusive theology, dies at 60

Gender, Religion, Top Stories

The prominent leader of an Islamic school for trans women died on 1 February.

Best of 2022

Arts, Economy, Elections, Foreign Policy, Gender, Human Rights, Law, Media, Politics, Society, Talking Indonesia, Top Stories

Indonesia at Melbourne will again be taking a short break over the New Year period. Here we present the articles and episodes that attracted your attention in 2022. We look forward to seeing you again in early 2023!

Posted in: Gender