Indonesian Women and Local Politics

This book addresses factors behind the rise and victory of Javanese Muslim women political leaders in direct local elections in post-Suharto Indonesia. By using gender perspectives, this book reveals that the role of Islam, gender, and networks are decisive to their political victory. The Islamic belief on female leadership at the local level, exemplified by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) as the dominant religious organization in Java, provides a strong religious foundation for Javanese Muslim women politicians to assume political leadership. Ability to use their gender in combination with the idea and practice of Islamic piety, and to use religio-political support and male/female base networks in political campaign, is significant. Analysis of the Javanese Muslim women political leaders’ commitment on women’s issues, however, reveals that having a female leader does not guarantee that they will exhibit women’s perspectives in their policies.