IIAS Newsletter 8

25 - 29 September 1995
Leiden, The Netherlands
Third International Conference on Indonesian Women's Studies
Tenth KITLV International Workshop on Indonesian Studies

Indonesian Women in the Household and Beyond

The aim of the conference Indonesian Women in the Household and Beyond: reconstructing the boundaries was
to examine critically the usefulness of the 'household' concept within the culturally diverse context of Indonesia, an
area which has been the focus of classical household and kinship studies for many decades but which still needs to
be the subject of more critical feminist inquiry. By

By Ratna Saptari

Within classical social science literature various inherent assumptions have been associated with the household. It
has often been seen as consisting of individuals working for the 'common good', in which relations between
members are harmonious and in unity; it is often linked with only one type of family form namely the nuclear family;
and its function is designed to prepare the way for the smooth entry of its members into society, either as economic,
political, or social actors. The urgency of the theme for the Indonesian context was also felt because of the
universalizing tendencies of government policies and projects which still consider 'the household' - as a nuclear
family (with women as housewives and mothers) take the only existing form. It was hoped that the participants in the
conference would explore and highlight our own biases as academics as well as those of policy makers in dealing
with the various forms of householding.
Part of the discussion concentrated on the dominant ideologies and policies regarding households and women's
roles. Elsbeth Locher Scholten looked at how male colonial authorities perceived Javanese households through a bi-
focal lens: peasant households were seen as units of production and priyayi households as units of socialization.
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 Mieke Schouten concentrated on the convergence of the ideology of the Protestant missionaries, the Dutch colonial
government, and the ideas current in Victorian Europe.
The biases reflected in government policies in the New Order period were scrutinized by Mies Grijns, Lia Sciortino,
and Ines Smyth. Grijns argued that the biases underlying the planning of the coconut nuclear estate system in West
Java, in a community where households vary in size and composition, were heady prescriptions for the failure of the
programme. Sciortino and Smyth stated that gender bias by the state, basing itself strongly on Javanese values
imbued with the concept of harmony in society and family precluded any discussion of domestic violence.
Government policies did not always prove detrimental to women as Anke Niehof states. Niehof concentrated on
income-generating policies and argued that women do benefit from income-generation programmes since they can
use their income according to their own priorities. In coming to this conclusion she stresses that 'the domestic' and
'public' should not be separated when looking at the meaning of women's income.
The views of women (and men) of the elite and the discourse on representations of women was examined in both a
historical and a contemporary light. Susan Blackburn and Barbara Hatley, concentrating on journals and novels in
different periods in history, concluded that despite restrictive norms on the household and women's roles, women
themselves showed their inventiveness and explored alternative views and ways for giving vent to their expression.
The prevailing view of the nuclear family as the universal form in Indonesia is also suggested by the middle-class
intellectuals of the contemporary period and this affects how husband-wife relationships are perceived (Sita van
Bemmelen). Focus on elite women and their ability to manipulate social networks for the enhancement of their
positions was provided by Madelon Djajadiningrat (Javanese court women); Gigi Weix (women cigarette
entrepreneurs); Frieda Dharmaperwira and Marleen Nolten (elite women of two generations, one living in Indonesia
one abroad).

Domestic structures
Debates about the usefulness of the household as a methodological tool were brought out unequivocally by the
presentations concentrating on the domestic structures themselves. Most of the papers argued that households were
not useful for an analysis of domestic structures nor for analysing women's position in them. In Ambon, Frans and
Keebet Benda Beckmann stressed that different networks were established for different needs, so that co-
residential units beyond nuclear families were more significant than household units. This was also the case for Bali
where communal courtyards provided the basis for core networks in undertaking daily reproduction (Ayami
Nakatani) and where polygynous relations determined the types of cooperation or conflict occurring between
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 domestic units (Megan Jennaway). This was equally applicable to the Bhuket of West Kalimantan (Shanthi
Thambiah). For Minangkabau, West Sumatra (Joke van Reenen, Carol Davis, Bill Watson, and Martini Jufri), the
importance of individual networks rather than households was stressed, in the execution of the daily needs of
individuals. Conversely, Juliette Koning argued that in her case study, the Javanese community of Central Java,
households were becoming more nuclearized and inward-looking as members are exposed more to urban life
styles. It was agreed by most of the authors that domestic responsibility, although ideologically placed on women's
shoulders, was always subject to negotiation and the actual roles of women cannot be assumed beforehand.
Although it was clear that dichotomies between 'external' and 'internal' relations between and within households were
difficult to maintain, some papers could be grouped according to their emphasis on the interplay between 'external'
forces and gender relations 'within' households. Patrilineal kinship systems and patriarchal family values were
constraining for women but, as in the case of the Toba Batak, Janet Rodenburg argues it was the women's ability to
manage households and farms that made it possible for men to migrate. In contrast, Tina Yusmadiana and Yusmaini
stressed that kinship systems more or less shaped the nature of women's autonomy. In between these two views,
Becky Elmhirst admitted that gender ascriptions were open to negotiation but that different ideas (those held by the
Lampungese community and the Javenese migrants) on the role of a daughter's contribution to the household
shaped their respective employment patterns.
Focusing on the linkages between labour demand and labour supply my own paper looked at how households
contract and expand following the needs of the cigarette industry in East Java and the ambiguous position of women
workers in the different age groups in the face of these changes. The role of women becomes highly ambiguous
when the workplace converges with the home and thus the 'external' and 'internal' become one, as in the case of the
homeworkers in East Java (Brigitte Holzner) and also in Flores (Willemijn de Jong). This ambiguity was also
examined by Danilyn Rutherford in Biak, Irian Jaya, where she concentrated more on changes in womens roles
and rituals in the face of rapid, and often dramatic social changes. In focusing on the rapid changes among the
Dayak, Kalimantan Nita Kariani plainly showed the detrimental effects these have on domestic structures and
women in particular.
At the end of the conference it was recognized that the process in breaking conceptual boundaries was much more
intricate than at first envisioned and many conceptual strands had to be left unexplored, despite the fact that five
days had been reserved for the conference including the open day and the closed sessions (with keynote speech by
Diane Wolf from the University of California, Davis). Twenty-nine participants from seven countries came to present
their papers. Twelve papers have been selected for a future book publication. The conference, which took place in
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 their papers. Twelve papers have been selected for a future book publication. The conference, which took place in
Leiden, was a joint undertaking of the WIVS (Interdisiplinary Forum on Indonesian Womens Studies) and the
KITLV.

For further information contact

Ratna Saptari/Juliette Koning
WIVS
Projects Division TCZOAO
University of Leiden
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

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