IS4 Webinar | “I have a right to a better imam”: Women, divorce, and Islam in Indonesia

Join Associate Professor Rachel Rinaldo to reflect on the progressive influence of Islamic courts on longer term shifts in gender practices and relations in Indonesia.

How do Islamic courts and family laws matter for Muslim women’s ability to negotiate marriages and divorces, particularly in an era when women are increasingly educated and often demanding more from their societies? And how does the institutionalization of Muslim family law matter more for gender more broadly?

In this talk, Associate Professor Rachel Rinaldo discusses her recent research on divorced Indonesian Muslim women. Professor Rinaldo finds that the institutionalization of Islamic courts in Indonesia has enabled women to get out of marriages with clear legal status and rights, but this does not necessarily promote more egalitarian understandings of gender. Nevertheless, by facilitating women’s exit from unhappy marriages, Islamic courts may be contributing to longer term shifts in gender practices and relations.

About the IS4 Series:
Sponsored by the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC), the Cornell Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), this virtual seminar series brings together social science experts from across the globe to discuss pressing issues facing Indonesia.

Timezones
Thursday 29 September 2022
7am PT / 10am ET / 4pm CET / 9pm WIB

Registration
Register here.