In the struggle to protect their freedom and human rights, women in Indonesia may face yet another threat. It is called ‘talibanization’. The word takes after the radical fundamentalist Islamic group in Afghanistan and in parts of Pakistan, whose ideology places women in a restricted and subordinate position.

The Taliban emerged and developed its own political context  in its own time. As such, it may be hard to be duplicated in other places. But its ideology can spread anywhere because such a religious-based ideology is not bound by context, time or history.

One particular legacy of the Taliban is its fundamental belief that women’s place is in the home. Women are viewed as a source of social and moral problems (fitna) in the public space, particularly when the world is seen to be in a disruptive state and no longer in line with the social order the Taliban believes in. Therefore, keeping the women at home or restricting their movements by enforcing regulations like wearing the burqa or the hijab, is seen as a temporary solution to address their perceived moral bankruptcy.

In 2019-2020, our research institute, Rumah KitaB, conducted a study on “women and fundamentalism” in Jakarta and the West Java cities of Bandung, Depok and Bekasi, as well as in the Central Java city of Solo. The research revealed the growing influence of the “Taliban” ideology, which seeks to restrict the movement and thinking of women. It also showed that the greatest threat to women in Indonesia is the way such thinking permeates religious ideas and views. All in the name of creating social and moral order in a society based on the Taliban ideology.

The study noted that efforts to coerce women to return to the home have grown stronger. Those propagating Taliban beliefs say the structure of society has  deviated from the Islamic ideal. They believe that by taking an active public role, women have disrupted social life – morally, mentally, economically and in the pursuit of prosperity. Thus, by returning to the home and reverting to their inherent nature (fitrah) as wives and mothers, women can be the saviors of the Muslim community.

Such narratives are being disseminated via religious fora and the media, rendering women’s options more difficult. Accordingly, they must choose between working or staying at home. In short, women must always take into account the norms of morality and gender. Such restrictions can only lead to the marginalization of women.

Experts see terrorism and radicalism as the major threats to national security. However, this study clearly shows that an equally serious threat facing Muslim women in Indonesia would be the loss of their freedom to think, to voice their opinions and express themselves, all because of certain religious zealotry. This worrying development is not an idle notion. It is based on fundamentalist teachings currently being disseminated in various pengajian (religious study groups) sessions. The faithful are being told that women must be controlled by men in order to protect “themselves and the world” from temptation (fitna).

These views gain further credence when they are advocated by such organizations as Love for the Family Alliance (ALIA). They believe family life has been disrupted because women prioritize their careers over their families and religious values. Their logic is that in adhering to these fundamentalist principles, women become safer and more pious. It has always been the opinion of these groups that violence against women is caused by women themselves. For them, this happens when wives disobey their husbands, or when husbands show a lack in faith. In fact, based on this logic, AILA has stood against the proposed the Eradication of Sexual Violence Bill.

This thinking goes against the grain of the age-old tradition of Islam in Indonesia, an Islam that is open to women having a public role. Even in pesantrens, where religious narratives stress women’s role in the home, women are free to engage in capacity-building, to organize, and even to become leaders of boarding houses. This is because Islamic teachings at pesantrens and other more enlightened entities recognize methods of reading texts that enable participants to distinguish between teachings that constitute principles and thus unchangeable from those which are special and can be changed.

True, we have yet to see indications of coercion in this process of women’s talibanization. But one cannot ignore the relentless permeation of the “family resilience” ideology as family values become institutionalized via the media, soap operas and in schools.

It is clear that the talibanization of women is taking place before our very eyes and is being accepted in some quarters as a solution to the moral, social, economic and political crises we face today. Advocates of this ideology feel there is no other solution than to control the morals of women by keeping them at home under the control of male figures – a patriarchal culture reinforced by fundamentalist religious views.

Lies Marcoes is researcher at Rumah KitaB Research Institute, an alumnus of the State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN/UIN) in Jakarta. 

*This article is excerpted from the original, published in The Jakarta Post on 7 August 2021.