Contemporary Discourses of Motherhood and Fatherhood in Ayahbunda, a Middle-Class Indonesian Parenting Magazine

Abstract

There have been few studies of representations of gender in parenting discourses in Indonesia. In this article the authors investigate contemporary modalities of Indonesian parenting, questioning to what extent ideas of the roles of mothers and fathers represented in the middle class Indonesian parenting magazine (Ayahbunda) from 2000–2008 represent a break with conventional gendered parenting ideologies. The discourse analysis of both text and illustrations in Ayahbunda suggests that it promotes idealized, yet expanded gender roles for both women and men of middle-class Indonesian families. As a result the magazine jointly promotes ideas of a “super-mum” and a “super-dad”, which has resonance with patterns in the West. Yet motherhood remains the prescribed core identity of women and the role of protector remains the core identity of fathers.