Regulation of Muslim Marriage in Indonesia: Political Challenges Across the Public/Private Divide

The regulation of marriage—women’s marital rights—has been a key focus of political contention for Indonesian women activists since the colonial period (the Netherlands East Indies). Demands for a secular marriage law that would ensure women’s rights emerged in Indonesia at the turn of the twentieth century, alongside other turn-of-the-century constructs This chapter unpacks the changing nature of the institution of marriage in Indonesia and contemporary demands for legal reform. which are drawing on forms of religious discourse in addition to secular arguments The analysis uses on the approach to studying gender relations in Southeast Asia that I presented at for Judith Schlehe’s conference and co-edited volume on Methodology and Research Practice in Southeast Asian Studies. Hence the paper addresses areas critical to her scholarship: religion (Islam) and gender relations.