Abstract
This paper examines how the patriarchal understanding of “women’s empowerment” in Indonesia instrumentalizes the notion of Ibu, a social construction of womanhood based on a societally determined idea of domestication and productivity. Through the establishment of a saving and lending cooperative, a group of Chinese Benteng women was subjected to a neoliberal development project that operated on the basis of a market-driven society and promoted a “gender mainstreaming” discourse to enhance this participatory project. They were introduced by a women’s NGO as their broker. The notion of “women’s empowerment” inspired a governmental operation aimed at these women, promoting the particular qualities of the dutiful housewife, devoted mother, and socially active member of Indonesian society. These characters were distinguished by their high level of devotion to community volunteering and to the state’s apolitical project, thus depoliticizing and deradicalizing the feminist view of women’s empowerment; this was simultaneously balanced with the promotion of the traditional gender roles of wife and mother. Such a discourse also molds women’s desires to voluntarily subscribe to such a social construction of womanhood and, at the same time, circumvents objections to any form of women’s subordination reproduced by the same rhetoric of “women’s empowerment”. By employing an ethnographic methodology, this article argues that the patriarchal view of “women’s empowerment” emerged as a deceitful doctrine to prompt Chinese Benteng women into internalizing certain qualities according to the gendered conception of womanhood in Indonesia. This article concludes that the patronizing and dominating aspects of State Ibuism have normalized Indonesian society’s expectations and desires with regard to women’s empowerment.
Highlights
The discussion of women’s involvement in development has been a fundamental aspect of the policy-making process
Indonesian women’s needs are commonly defined by the state, which decides how women should be involved in development based on national priorities
Some feminist scholars have noted that state-engineered programs were intended to take down the critical and radical women’s movement of the previous period [14,42,43], including banning and dissolving liberal organizations such as Gerwani (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia), the Indonesia’s Women’s Movement, established in 1950s
Summary
The discussion of women’s involvement in development has been a fundamental aspect of the policy-making process. In addition to the increasing use of “women’s empowerment” as a bottom-up discourse, which initially emerged as an alternative to the top-down model, the term is often seen as a way to increase women’s participation. “women’s empowerment” has been exhaustively exploited by different agencies at various levels to win development contracts, especially for projects that aim to emancipate women [1]—and in Indonesia this is no different. Indonesia’s development language is frequently associated with “gender mainstreaming policies” that intend to increase women’s participation through “empowerment” and subsequently have them contribute to national growth. Sustainability 2021, 13, 3559 an urgent need to insert “women” into the strategic national agenda by institutionalizing “women’s empowerment” as a gender mainstreaming strategy [2,3,4,5], conceiving “women”.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
