Symbols Of Empowerment:

Transformational Leadership In Women’s Education In

Southeast Asia

Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879 – 1904)In Indonesia

Malala Yousafzai(1997 - )In Pakistan

Indonesia Pakistan

Parallels In Social /Historical Context

• Both countries have long, cross-cultural contexts• Buddhism• Hinduism• Islam• Christianity

• Both countries have long history of colonialism• Indonesia – Dutch, 1603 – 1947• India/Pakistan – British, 1602 – 1947

• Both countries resisted European domination• Indonesia – Java Wars(1704 – 1830), Aceh War (1870 – 1914)• India – Maratha Wars (1815 – 1825), Sepoy Mutiny (1857 – 1858),

Afghan Wars (1830 – 1878)

• Both experienced Company rule• Indonesia – Dutch East India Company (1602 – 1800)• India – British East India Company (1602 – 1858)

• Both dealt with Islamic resurgence and efforts to contain it• Indonesia – (to ca, 1910)

• “Culture System – (1830 – 1870) – 6c’s• Eduard Douwes Dekker, Multatuli, 1860

Eduard Douwes Dekker

(1820 – 1887)Also known as

Multatuli

Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company

• Ethical Policy (1900 – 1940)• Conrad Theodor van Deventer (1857 – 1915)

Conrad Theodor van Deventer in his study (1915)

Dutch imperial imagery representing the Dutch East Indies (1916). The Text reads “Our most precious Jewel”

Wilhelmina of Netherlands wearing her coronation robe in 1898. (1880 -1962; reign 1890 – 1948)

• Queen Wilhelmina (1890 – 1940) “Honor Debt”

• Association Theory – Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1889 – 1906)

Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje

(1857 - 1936) A Dutch scholar of

Islam.

Pilgrims from Aceh on their way to Mecca. Picture taken by Snouck Hurgronje in the Dutch Consulate in Jeddah, 1884.

Mosque in the Dutch East Indies, 1900.

• Kartini’s Support System and Friends• Both women known and honored in their own lifetimes – influence• Both had parental/family support

Kartini Siblings“Three Sisters”

Kartini’s Support System: Family and Friends• Aristocratic roots

• Sent to Dutch school (ELS)• Fluent in Dutch – new horizons• Seclusion at 12, 1892 – 1896; “Sheer hell”• Read and wrote to “Subversives”

(Socialists, reformers, liberals, pacifists)• Read Multatuli• Read Frederik Willem van Eeden (1860 – 1932)

• Little Johannes

Frederik Willem van Eeden (1860 – 1932)

• Read Cecile de Jong van Beek en Donk (1866 – 1944)• Hilda van Suylenburg (1897)

• Read Bertha von Suttner (1843 – 1914)• Pacifist, social critic• Lay Down Your Arms (1889)

• Nobel Peace Prize, 1905• Read Louis Couperus (1863 – 1923)

• Novelist, poet• Hidden Force (1900)

Cecile de Jong van Beek en Donk (1866 – 1944)

Bertha von Suttner (1843 – 1914)

Louis Couperus (1863 – 1923)

• Read Pandita Ramabai (1858 – 1922)• Hindu scholar, social reformer; author• “I shook with excitement, so it’s not only while

women who are able to take care of themselves- a brown Indian women can make herself free and independent, too” (Letters, 21 July 1902)

• Corresponded with Estella Zeehandelaar, 1899 – 1904• Feminist, socialist

• Wrote about plight of wood carvers (“Forgotten Corner”)

• Wrote “Report on Language, Country and Peopleof East Indies”

Pandita Ramabai

(1858 – 1922)

• Impact of Abendanon – support and subversion• Kartini as success of “Ethical Policy”?• From Darkness Into Light, 1911

• Kartini’s marriage, 1903 – “a betrayal of her calling”?Kartini with

Joyodiningrat

Jacques Henri Abendanon(1900 – 1905)

Kartini School in Jakarta Opening of the Kartini School in Buitzenborg (Bogor) May 1915

Katrini School building in Buitenzorg (opened 1918)

Class

Kartini: Impact and Legacy Contested• “Educate the Javanese”, 1903

• Dutch• 1903 J. Slingenberg asked Kartini about aims and types of education for

Indonesians• No woman’s opinion ever previously sought• Ethical Policy would fail unless Indonesians made capable of coping with and

participating in the new world of western technology• New leaders should assimilate new concepts for masses• Article not included in 1911, 1920 Letters• Printed 1964, stresses women’s role in resolution of social problems

• Kartini Foundation, 1913• Applauded by Dutch advocates of Ethical Policy• Curriculum

• Continuing Dutch language instruction• Javanese language and literature• Geography and history• Drawing and aesthetics• Home economics and gardening• Arithmetic and simple bookkeeping• Practical and fine needlework• Principles of hygiene and first aid• Principles of education• Singing and principles of musical theory

Kartini’s “Success”?

• Dewi Sartika (1884 – 1947)• First school for women, 1904• “Wife Eminency School”, 1910 (“School

of Virtuous Women”)• Won service medal from Dutch

government, 1929• Kartini’s sisters

• Rukmani - training hospital for nurses, midwives, wrote texts

• Soematri – co-author of government report on welfare, 1914

Dewi Sartika (1884 – 1947)

• WWI (1914 - 1918)• Depression (1929 – 1941)• WWII (1936 – 1945)• Independence For Indonesia (1948)

• “Old Order’ Sukarno (Pramoedya Toer)” Guided Democracy, 1959 – 1965

• Populist hero of common people• Could transcend classes and values

Sukarno (1901 – 1970)Photo from 1949

Pramoedya Ananta Toer1925- 2006

Sukarno with Fatmawati and five of their children. Clockwise from center: Sukarno, Sukmawati, Fatmawati, Guruh, Megawati, Guntur, Rachmawati.

• “New Order” Suharto (1965 – 1998)• Noble woman with sense of responsibility

for peasants• “Ibu” (mother of Nation) as appendage to

men, procreate children, housekeepers, members of Indonesian society

Suharto (1921 – 2008)Photo from 1993

Suharto with his wife and six children in 1967.

• Focus of education, 1959 – 1998 was Pancasila• One God• Humanitarianism• National unity• Democracy• Social justice

• “Progress” in Indonesia?• Al Jazeera in English “Why Indonesia’s Education System Is Among The

Worst In The World” (2013)• Rank last of 50 nations measuring literacy, test results, graduation rates• 1/3 of students complete basic education• System plagued by poor teaching• Emphasize rigid obedience, rote learning• Unqualified teachers; teacher absenteeism, 20%; work outside classroom

for additional income

• Corruption – 40% budget siphoned off before it reaches classroom• Government proposes to abolish or postpone teaching of science,

geography and English in elementary school, instead promote national identity and patriotism

• 15 year-old students scored 2nd from bottom in math, science, reading average Indonesian 15 year-old, four years behind 15 year-old Singaporean

• Cheating scandals, selling exam answers• Tertiary education, of 400 university rankings, only three Indonesian

colleges made it, ranking 360, 369, 395• Low enrollment rates in tertiary education (13.28%) and secondary (51.35%)

– Southeast Asia averages 27.4% and 65.2% respectively• Constitution demands 20% state budget on education but does not – 17%,

but only 3% GDP

• Effort now for teacher evaluation based on student performance• Of 400 teacher training institutions, 40 considered “good” by Secretary of

Education• Definition of literacy “Any person over 15 who can with understanding, read

and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life.”• Archipelago has 18,000 islands, 700 languages• Working to establish 500 community colleges over four years• Barriers to women:

• Gender – biased textbooks• Gender – stereotyping – “voluntary discrimination”• Inadequate programs to promote gender equality• Inadequate gender awareness• Early marriage

• Aletta Jacobs, Dutch feminist, first woman MD in Netherlands pioneer in birth control• Toured Indonesia with Carrie Chapman Catt in 1912

• Part of International women’s Suffrage Alliance• Urged reform for women in Indonesia, especially

education• Narrow/vocational curriculum• Make education for women to make them

independent as individuals and prepare them for meaningful roles in society

Aletta Jacobs(1854 – 1929)

Pakistan

• Pakistan (ca. 2015)• “White Man’s Burden”• Hindu/Muslim schism – Muslim League

• Mohammad Iqbal• Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

(1876 -1948)1st Governor-General

of Pakistan

• Partition Riots, 1947 - 2 million deaths

Partition Images, 1947

• Islamic Republic, 1956• Islamic political

resurgence – banned• Bangladesh Secession, 1972

• General Zia-ul-Haq (1924 – 1988) – Muslim resurgence, 1977 - 1988• Amadi discrimination• Sharia law

• General Pervez Musharraf (1943 – 2008)

• In power (1993 – 2008)• Recognized Taliban

government of Mullah Mohammad Omar in Afghanistan, 1999

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

(1924 – 1988)

Pervez Musharraf

(1943 – 2008)November 2004

• Named for Pashtun hero in war vs. British• Parents marriage not arranged – “love”• Father Ziauddin outspoken vs. Zia-ul-Haq

• Sent to government high school – modern education

• Father began his own school

Malala’s Support and Social Context/Success?

Malala and Family Malala

Malalai of Maiwand

• Musharaf corruption• Outrage vs. USA invasion of Afghanistan• Honor killings• Madrassas built

• Earthquake, 2005• 73,000 dead; 123,000 injured; 6400 schools

destroyed, 11,000 orphans• Taliban active in relief efforts• Maulana Fazlullah – reactionary, murders, schools

destroyed• Ziauddin openly critical of Fazlullah• Malala: “How dare the Taliban take away my basic

right to an education.”• Malala gave interviews on radio and T.V.

Maulana Qazi Fazlullah (1974 – 2015?)

In swat, Pakistan, 2008

• Ziauddin debated Taliban leaders – asked for protection from death threats• BBC diary of life under Taliban – Gul Makai pseudonym• 2009 documentary of Malala• 2011 Malala won Pakistan First National Peace Prize

• Warned of death threat• Bus ride: “Who is Malala?”

First picture: Brave Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by a

Taliban gunman in Pakistan, clutches a teddy bear in her bed at the Queen

Elizabeth Hospital.

• Ziauddin’s school enlarged – 70 teachers

• 42 international awards (2011 – 2015), including shared Nobel Peace a Prize

• Biography, biopic – uses celebrity status to defend those who have little option but to remain subservient do tradition

• As perceived by some in Pakistan:• All Pakistan Private Schools

Federation banned her book as “ disrespecting Islam”

• Condemned as agent of the West

Malala accepting her Nobel Peace Prize December 10, 2014.

• Is CIA spy• Violence persists – schools bombed, teachers murdered, school buses attacked• Discrepancies in each literacy:

• Rural (28%), urban (96%) – 70% population is rural• Old (55 – 64 = 38%; 45-54 = 46%) young (25 – 44 = 57%; 15 – 24 = 72%)• Tribal areas for girls rate is 9.5%

• Government spends 2.2% GNP on education • Primary enrollment = 60% girls; 84% boys• Secondary enrollment = 32% girls; 46% boys• Shortage of teachers, poorly – equipped schools, outdated curriculum

• Many Pakistani teachers reject evolution• College graduates (9% men, 3.5% women)• Definition of literacy: “One who can read and write clear print in any language;

one who can read a newspaper and write a simple letter.”

The Problems Persist

• November 10 UN declared as Malala Day – Taliban made her a global hero

Members of Women2Gether and Amina Womens Group, Birmingham based group working to

empower women.

Malala’s Contested Legacy

Malala with her family in the hospital.

• “Alarming State of Education in Pakistan”• Government claims literacy rate of 46% for men, 26% for women

• Other sources state literacy rate is 26% for men, 12% for women• Social and cultural barriers, especially in tribal areas

• Education forbidden on religious grounds misinterpretation of Islam (Taliban)

• Poverty – girls must work to support families

Assessment of Transformational Leadership Style of Kartini and Malala In Their Own Words

• As a visionary, creative, active leader• Kartini:

• Letter to Resident’s wife Ms. Ovink-Soer whose husband was transferred: “…I wish you wore back with us. Your daughters miss you so much. I miss the talks with you, when I used to tell [you] au the rebellions thoughts that came into my head and laid bare the feelings of my restless heart.”

• Committed to New Thinking, learning, actions• Kartini:

• “I would do the humblest work, thankfully and joyfully, if by it I could be independent…Why did God give us talents and not the opportunity to make use of them?” (Letters, 42)

Raden Adjeng Kartini and her book.

• Malala:• “ I think of it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they come to kill

me, I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right.”

• Defends Amadi (as Muslims) despite government position (bio, 91)

Malala with her back packet ready to head for school.

• Intellectual stimulation• Kartini:

• Her voracious reading, her writings about Arabs, folk crafts (wood carvers, batik weavers, cultures of East Indies) one of Indonesia's first intellectuals

• Letters

• Malala:• Her blogs, diary, autobiography

Malala and her autobiographies

• Kartini: • “If the child I carry under my heart is a girl, what

shall I wish for her? I shall wish that she live a rich, full life and that she complete the work her mother has begun. She shall never be compelled to do anything abhorrent to her deepest feelings. What she does must be of her own free will. She shall have a mother that watches over her inmost being, and a father who will never force her in anything. It will make no difference to him and his daughter remains unmarried her whole life long; what will count will be that she shall always keep her esteem and affection for us.” (Letters, 204)

• Create a vision of what they aspire to be and communicate it to others politically

• Malala:• Malala Fund website: “Post photo of you and favorite book and tell

world leaders to fund the real weapon for change – education.”• Would leaders have money to fund primary and secondary education

around the world but [instead] spend it on military. If they stopped spending on that for eight days, we would have $39 Billion needed to provide 12 years of free, quality education to all children on the planet.

“Innocent victims are killed in those acts, (drone strikes) and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus our efforts on education, it will make a big impact”

• Met with Obama family - told him to stop drone strikes

• Malala: Celebrated her birthday (12 July in 2015), by opening a school in Lebanon for 200 girls, ages 14-18: “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world’s children, I demand of the world’s leaders, we must invest in books instead of bullets.”

Malala Yousafzai (L) cuts a ribbon at a school for Syrian

refugee girls in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley July 12, 2015. Yousafzai celebrated her 18th birthday in Lebanon on Sunday by opening the school and called on world leaders to invest in “books not

bullets.” Photo by Jamal Saidi/Reuters

• Goal is to transform her followers needs, redirect their perceptions

• Kartini• “ I want to live a hundred years. This life is so

short. There is much work waiting to be done… and I am not yet able to start” (Letters, 48-49)

• Malala:• “Traditions are not sent from Heaven, they are not sent from God. It is we

who make cultures and we have the right to change it and we should change it”

Malala Yousafzai speaks at the 'Girl Summit 2014' in Walworth

Academy on July 22, 2014 in London, England where she made the above statement.

• Kartini: feminist• “Educate The Javanese” – emphasizes role of women in

resolving Indonesia’s problems.• Was asked to do this by high ranting member of Ministry

of Colonies – no women’s opinion had ever been sought before

• “Raise the Javanese women in mind and spirit and you will have a rigorous fellow worker for the great, wonderful task: the civilization of a people which numbers millions! Give Java energetic, intelligent mothers and the raising up of a people will be a matter of time only”

• Put much effort into role of motherhood, actual and spiritual, yet struggled to be independent and autonomous

• Not aggressive feminism, but perceives the fundamental issues and refuses to accept double standard… and yet -• “I would love to have children, but above all things, I would never

follow the unhappy custom of putting boys before girls…I should teach my children, boys and girls, to regard one another as equal human beings and give them the same education…

I should not allow my girls… to study as though she had no other desire in life…

I should let down the bars which have so foolishly been erected between the sexes. I am convinced when this is done, much good will come of it, especially to the men…

I wish to form an alliance with our enlightened and progressive men, to seek their friendship and cooperation with us. We are not giving battle to men, but to old moss-grown edicts and conventions (Letters, 83, 66)

• Malala:• Malala Day is not my day. Today is the day of every women, every

boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights.”

• Belief in victory of her cause written three months before death:• Kartini:

• “The freedom of women is inevitable; it is coming, but we cannot hasten it. The course of destiny cannot be turned aside, but in the end the triumph has been foreordained. We shall not be living to see it, but what will that matter. We have helped to break the path that leads to it, and that is a glorious privilege (Letters, 226).

• Malala:• July 12, 2013 at age 16 at United Nations

“Malala Day”• “The terrorists thought they would change

my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.. I am not against anyone, neither am I here to speak in terms of revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group.”

Malala speaking at the UN

Viewpoint: A teenage activist recently shot and critically wounded by the Taliban risked her life to attend school –

and these children are similarly always in danger.

I am here to speak of the right of education for every child. I want education for all the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all terrorists and extremists.”

Malala in 2015

Conclusion

West also has a history of exploitation and indiscretion, gender insensitivity – neglect of women's’ rights is a global issue, but signs of progress are appearing through such pioneers as Kartini and Malala. Recall it took 80 years for woman to get the vote in the United States. The struggle for full equality is not yet over. One symbol of progress is the recent Academy Award for Pakistan’s Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s “Girl In The River”.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (1978- ) poses in the press room with the award for best documentary short subject for “A Girl

in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

After seeing the picture the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, the same man who praised the efforts of Malala Yousafzai, outlawed “Honor Killings” in his country. Hence to obtain a better future for women everywhere requires solidarity with all those who resist violence, misogyny and xenophobia.

Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif with Malala

Yousafzai