Fighting Discrimination Against Women: The Spirit of Muslim Feminism in Ki Hadjar Dewantara's Madjallah Wasita [1889-1959]

Authors

  • M. Nurdin Zuhdi Universitas Aisyiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70992/6059w817

Keywords:

Gender Justice, Humanity, Women, Ki Hadjar Dewantara, Islam.Women.

Abstract

This study is significant for understanding Ki Hadjar Dewantara's (KHD) contribution to the fight for women's rights, particularly through his writings in Wasita magazines (1928-1935). During this period, public awareness of women's rights was limited, and patriarchal traditions were deeply rooted in Indonesian society. The focus of this study is to analyze KHD's thoughts on women, as reflected in Wasita, and their impact on the development of women's thought in Indonesia. The research method employed a qualitative approach, analyzing texts published in Wasita magazines. The results show that KHD emphasized three main points: first, the importance of returning women to their natural role as mothers, which is considered as the foundation for maintaining moral values ​​and customs. Second, higher education for women is the key to national progress. Third, women's right to participate in the public domains, including obtaining decent work, while still observing norms of decency and security. KHD's thoughts in Wasita demonstrate an understanding far ahead of his time and are a valuable contribution to the fight for equal rights between women and men in Indonesia

References

Ahmed, Leila. (1992). Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

Akalay, I. Y. (2022). Secularism and the Muslim Women Question: A Critique of Secularism as a Frame of Reference for Gender Equality. Journal of Gender, Culture and Society, 2(1), 57–67.

Arifin, A. Z. (2022). Revisiting Literacy Jihad Programs of 'Aisyiyah in Yogyakarta: Women-Empowering Model. Religions, 13(6), 523.

https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060523

Bakri, Syamsul. (2021). Women’s Leadership in Islam: A Historical Perspective of a Hadith. Indonesian Journal of Islamic Literature and Muslim Society, 5(2), 219-234. (SciLit)

Boentarsono dkk. Ki B. (2015). Buku Saku Tamansiswa: Badan Perjuangan Kebudayaan dan Pembangunan Masyarakat, Yogyakarta: UST Press.

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (1928 ). “Kodrat Perempuan”, dalam Wasita Desember, Jilid 1 No. 3

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (1928). “Pengaruh Perempuan Pada Barang dan Tempat Kelilingnya”, dalam Wasita Desember, Jilid 1 No. 3.

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (1928). “Perempuan dalam Dunia Pendidikan”, dalam Wasita Desember, Jilid 1 No. 3.

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (1928). “Perempuan dan Sport”, dalam Wasita Desember, Jilid 1 No. 3.

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (1935). “Kemajuan Adab Perempuan: Kongres Jakarta dan Protes Semarang”, dalam Wasita Agustus, Th. 1 No. 7.

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (1935). “Lapangan Kerja Bagi Perempuan”, dalam Wasita Okt./Nop. Th. Ke-1 No. 9/10.

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (1935). “Perempuan di Dalam Pertumbuhan Adab” dalam Wasita, Juli, Th. 1, No. 6.

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (2013). Kebudayaan II: Pemikiran, Konsepsi, Keteladanan, Sikap Merdeka, Yogyakarta: UST Press.

Dewantara, Ki Hadjar. (2013). Pendidikan I: Pemikiran, Konsepsi, Keteladanan, Sikap Merdeka, Yogyakarta: UST Press.

El-Saadawi, Nawal. (1983). Women at Point Zero, London: Zed Book Ltd..

El-Saadawi, Nawal. (2006). Perempuan di Titik Nol, cet. 9, Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia.

Engineer, Asghar Ali. (1990). The Qur’an Women & Modern Society, New Delhi: Sterling Publisher Limited.

Engineer, Asghar Ali. (1994). Hak-Hak Perempuan Dalam Islam, terj. Farid Wajidi dan Cici Farkha Assegaf, Yogyakarta: LSPPA Yayasan Prakarsa.

Fatmawati; Rahma Amir; Rahmawati; Firman Muhammad Arif; & Muhammad Shuhufi. (2024). The Women’s Leadership: Orientation from a Legal and Islamic Sharia Perspective. Jurnal IUS Kajian Hukum dan Keadilan, 12(2), 345-356. https://doi.org/10.29303/ius.v12i2.1345 (Jurnalius)

Firdawaty, L., Munji, A., Sukandi, A., Bukhari, N., & Apriani, I. (2023). Husein Muhammad’s Thoughts on Gender Equality in Islamic Inheritance Law. Al-Adalah, 19(2). https://doi.org/10.24042/adalah.v19i2.13123

Fuad, A. F. N. (2021). Female Religious Authority among Tarbiyah Communities in Contemporary Indonesia. Archipel, (101), 187–207. https://journals.openedition.org/archipel/2657

Gunawan Abdi. (2024). Women’s Leadership and the Law of Choosing Women Leaders in the Perspective of Islamic Law and Positive Law. ISNU Nine-Star Multidisciplinary Journal, 1(3), 276-285. https://doi.org/10.70826/ins9mj.v1i3.509 (Journal Isnu Sumut)

Handoko Ja'far & Taufik Rigo. (2023/2024). Empirical Facts of Educational Chances for Women in Islamic World: Past and Present. Walisongo: Jurnal Penelitian Sosial Keagamaan, 25(2). https://doi.org/10.21580/ws.25.2.1250 (Walisongo Journal)

Hornbacher-Schönleber, S. (2024). Ambivalent Subjectivities: Young Women in Leftist Muslim Activism in Java. American Behavioral Scientist. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642241261045

Kamila, T. N., & Asrini, V. I. (2024). The Role of Women in the Dakwah of Muhammadiyah. EDU Soshum: Jurnal Pendidikan Sosial dan Humaniora, 12(2), 105–115.

https://edusoshum.org/index.php/EDU/article/view/75

Karimullah, S. S., & Aliyah, S. R. (2023). Feminist Criticism of Traditional Understanding of Women's Roles in Islam. An-Nisa Journal of Gender Studies, 16(2).

Maraulang, M. (2025). KH. Ahmad Dahlan and the Muhammadiyah Movement. IJAE: International Journal of Asia Education, 6(1), 12–25.

https://journal.uin-alauddin.ac.id/index.php/IJAE/article/view/29452

Mernissi, Fatima. (1975). Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. New York: Schocken Books.

Mernissi, Fatima. (1991). Woman and Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry, terj. Yaziar Radianti, Bandung: Pustaka.

Mernissi, Fatima. (1994). Al-Shulthanat Al-Munsiyyat: Nisa Ra’isat Dawlah Fi Al-Islam, Damsyiq: Dar al-Hasad wa al-Tauzi.

Mernissi, Fatima. (1994). Islam dan Demokrasi, Antologi Ketakutan, Yogyakarta: LKiS.

Muhammadiyah (2023). The Theology of Al-Ma'un: Ahmad Dahlan's Vision for Social Justice.

https://muhammadiyah.or.id/the-theology-of-al-maun-ahmad-dahlans-vision-for-social-justice

Mulia, S. M. (2007). Muslimah Reformis: Perempuan Pembaru Keagamaan. Jakarta: Mizan.

Mulia, Siti Musdah. (2007). Islam dan Inspirasi Kesetaraan Gender, Yogyakarta: Kibar Press.

Permana, S. (2023). Kesetaraan Gender dalam Ijtihād Hukum Waris di Indonesia: Gender Equality in Inheritance Law Ijtihād in Indonesia. Asy-Syari’ah, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.15575/as.v20i2.3210

Religions. (2024). Ancient Feminine Archetypes in Shi‘i Islam. Religions, 15(2), 149. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/2/149

Rizky Amelia; Rachel Sabina Azzahra; Zayyan Tsabitah Panjaitan; Layla Witra; Nurul Fattah Pohan. (2024). Kepemimpinan Perempuan Dalam Perspektif Fiqh Siyasah. Tabayyun: Journal of Islamic Studies. (Tabayanu Journal)

Rusydiana, N. R. U., Virga, R. L., & Muadom, M. A. (2025). Contesting Female Religious Authority in Digital Space: A Hermeneutical Study of Reactions to Amina Wadud’s Friday Prayer Leadership. Tajdid: Journal of Islamic Renewal, 24(1).

Safitri, H. H., & Khumaedy, A. (2023). Gender Equality in the Distribution of Inheritance Property from Al-Qur'an and Mawaris Fiqh’s Perspective. Mutawasith: Jurnal Hukum Islam, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.47971/mjhi.v7i1.765

Shihab, M. Quraish. (1999). “Kata Pengantar Kesetaraan Jender dalam Islam”, dalam Nasaruddin Umar, Argumen Kesetaraan Jender Perspektif al-Qur’an, Jakarta: Paramadina.

Smith, B. J., Hamdi, S., & Muzayyin, A. (2023). Female Sufi Guides and the Murshida Fatwa in Indonesian Sufism: Murshidas in a Sufi Order in Lombok. Contemporary Islam, 17(2), 213–234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-023-00522-z

Smith-Hefner, N. J. (2008). Women Shaping Islam: Reading the Qur’an in Indonesia. Journal of Asian Studies, 67(4), 1203–1230.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911808001896

Suharsono, A., Prasetyoningsih, N., & Usman, S. (2024). Women’s Inheritance Rights in Indonesia from the Perspective of the Triangular Concept of Legal Pluralism. El-Mashlahah: Jurnal Hukum Islam. https://doi.org/10.23971/el-mashlahah.v%25vi%25i.7657

Suswandari, & Suwarno. (2010). K.H. Ahmad Dahlan’s (1869–1923) Thought and His Struggle for the Abolition of Feudalism Through Reformation of Islamic Education. Historia: International Journal of History Education, 11(2), 147–157.

https://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/historia/article/view/2892

The Role of Indonesian Women Ulama Congress (KUPI) in the Search for Gender Equality-Based Islamic Law. (2024). Adalah: Buletin Hukum dan Keadilan, 8(1), 45–60.

Vaessen, Rachel Anne. (2006). “Humour, Halters and Humiliation: Wife Sale as Theatre and Self-divorce”, Thesis In the Departement of History, Simon Fraser University.

Wadud, Amina. (1992). Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective. New York / Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wadud, Amina. (1992). Qur’an and Women: Rereading Sacred Text From a Woman’s Perspective, Kuala Lumpur: Fajar Bakti.

Wadud, Amina. (2003). Al-Qur’an dan Perempuan, dalam Charles Kurzman (ed.), Jakarta: Paramadina.

Wahyuni, Budi. (2007). “Keterpurukan Perempuan dalam Bingkai Agama dan Demokrasi: Sebuah Catatan pengalaman” dalam M. Subkhi Ridho (ed.), Perempuan Agama dan Demokrasi, Yogyakarta: LSIP.

Wahyuni, Siti. (2007). Perempuan dalam Perspektif Islam. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Zara, M. Y. (2021). Soeara ‘Aisjijah Magazine and the Preparation of Indonesian Muslim Women. Journal of Indonesian Islam, 15(2), 345–368.

https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2021.15.2.345-368

Zubaidi, S., Arifah, F. N., & Sansayto, I. M. (2025). Divine Justice and Gender Equity in Islam: A Qur’anic Analysis of Inheritance and Women’s Testimony. Al-Bayan: Jurnal Studi Ilmu Al-Qur’an dan Tafsir, 10(1), 54-66. https://doi.org/10.15575/al-bayan.v10i1.43822

Zuhdi, M. Nurdin. (2012). “Kritik terhadap Pemikiran Gerakan Revivalisme Islam di Indonesia”, dalam Akademika Jurnal Pemikiran Islam, Vol. XVII, No. 02.

Zuhdi, M. Nurdin. (2010). “Perempuan dalam Revivalisme: Gerakan Revivalisme Islam dan Politik Anti Feminisme di Indonesia,” Musawa Jurnal Studi Gender dan Islam, Vol. 9, No. 2, Juli.

Downloads

Published

2025-06-21

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Fighting Discrimination Against Women: The Spirit of Muslim Feminism in Ki Hadjar Dewantara’s Madjallah Wasita [1889-1959]. (2025). Journal Discrimination and Injustice, 1(1), 75-90. https://doi.org/10.70992/6059w817