Contextualizing the global and remaking the local: Islam and women's rights in Indonesia

How has the global discourse on women's rights affected gender equality in a Muslim majority country, where "an Islamic religious heritage is (regarded as) one of the most powerful barriers to the rising tide of gender equality" (Inglehart and Norris 2003, 49)? Muslim women's activism in Indonesia offers a useful lens to examine how discourses on Islam and women's rights are adapted and combined to shape normative attitudes and policies related to gender equality.;Through an examination of elite and organizational discourses, and policies related to Islam and women's rights, I will demonstrate the mutual construction of global and local ideas and legal frameworks on gender equality. I argue that local discourse and policy on gender relations and women's rights in Indonesia have been influenced and inspired by global women's activism, but, at the same time, Indonesian women activists have utilized discursive rhetoric and logic, legal frameworks and strategic resources that appeal to local cultural, religious and nationalistic trends.;My exploration of the issue includes three case studies: in the first one, shifts in attitudes towards rights-based principles amongst Muslim women activists created positive change in Muslim women's organizational discourse, but had a negligible effect on policy outcome; in the second, women's rights discourse was adapted to suit the local context which then led to positive reforms on women's rights policy; in the third one, discourse and policy related to Islamic conservatism were moderated through an application of ideas on individual rights and social justice. Together these three case studies will illustrate the role of Muslim women activists as they negotiate and bargain with both secular women's groups and Islamic institutions, apply women's rights ideas, and frame women's rights discourse in Islamic vernacular to create social and political change. I argue that Muslim women activists are intermediary actors, or actors in the middle, who participate in both Islamic and women's rights discourses and are affiliated with both Islamic and women's rights networks. As intermediary actors, Muslim women activists mediate between universal rights discourses that promote freedom and equality, and Islamic legal tradition and practices that support male authority over women.