Introduction
The previous chapter highlighted how local women’s NGOs and activists have responded to the implementation of Islamic law in Aceh. As discussed, women activists and women’s NGOs in Aceh developed and mobilized to become women’s movements with the objective of broadening women’s opportunities to take up public roles and promote women’s status and gender equality within an Islamic framework.
They start having conversations on equality, and on women’s economic, civic and political rights. They weigh up what they should take and what they should reject from the secular Western/feminist movements. Some women activists still find it problematic to combine Islamic teachings and Aceh’s cultural values with international norms, in particular, women’s rights. They are engaged in a conversation about what they think will fit with their own tradition and culture, which are strongly entrenched in Islam.This chapter is a case study of one local women’s NGO in Aceh. It aims to demonstrate how this NGO and its activists respond to the implementation of Islamic law. It will show that MISPI (Mitra Sejati Perempuan Indonesia or the True Partner of Indonesian Women) responds by introducing Acehnese women to the notion of equality, rights in Islam through a wide range of programmes and activities. MISPI understands that there is resistance from some segments of Acehnese societies to new ideas such as gender equality and women’s rights. In particular, MISPI is aware of the resistance from religious authorities who are unwilling to approve women’s advances in public life. Understanding this situation, it chose to develop networks with male-dominated religious authorities or Ulama represented by the MPU, patriarchal gender-insensitive government officials including members of the local legislature, and the broader religious community at the grassroots. Even though MISPI works closely with government institutions, it has not abandoned its principles, and continues to criticize policies that it sees as gender-biased and discriminatory towards women.
Instead, MISPI’s strategy of developing networks with government institutions and religious authorities should be seen as part of women’s agency taking active roles in the public sphere.This chapter intends to confirm that MISPI’s strategy and agency has mirrored what Waylen (1996) has argued about women’s political participation and agency in promoting social change. The strategy of working with government is, in many ways, empowering, and enables women’s organizations to actively engage in public (Waylen 1996, 19–20). This chapter shows that different systems represent different kinds of patriarchal bargains for women, including different rules of the game and the differing strategies women can use to maximize women’s security and life options (Kandiyoti 1988). This understanding, according to Kandiyoti, helps explain ‘why some women act in certain ways, which may superficially seem to be in conflict with their long term interests’. This chapter will show that even though MISPI works closely with government institutions, it has not abandoned its principles in promoting reform of Islamic law in Aceh and introducing awareness of women’s equality and status in Islam.
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