Gender culture and politics in post-New Order Indonesia

Gender equity has been a key political demand in post-Soeharto Indonesia, with proponents arguing that it is a fundamental underpinning of democratic reform. In the redrawing of political institutions, advocates of gender equity have been able to achieve legislative quotas that have had modest success in improving female political representation. This and other legislative achievements aimed to dismantle the “gender order” that was one of the underpinnings of power of Soeharto’s New Order; a notable change has been the outlawing of domestic violence. But the democratic space of Reformasi and the political arena of regional autonomy have allowed contrary moves: in particular, Islamist groups have pressed claims for strengthening male privilege, in controlling women’s dress and movement in public in the name of Islam. Polygamy has been an issue of contestation, a key symbol of gendered power in the household.