Being Shi'ite Women in Indonesia's Sunni-Populated Community

Abstract

This paper analyses the existence of Shi'ite women in Indonesia as a religious minority group. Although studies of numerous aspects of women's lives and organizations in an Indonesian context are increasing, there have been few on issues of religion and women, particularly on women from minority religious groups. It is only in the last few years that scholars have paid more attention to women's divisions of Muslim organizations, focusing mainly on Sunni Muslim women's organizations such as Aisyiyyah, Muslimat NU, Persistri and Al-Irsyad. However, information on gender and women's roles in minority religious groups is still hard to find. The paper fills this gap by working towards a better understanding of the position and the role of Shi'ite women in their Shi'ite community and within the Indonesian community in general. The subject of the study is Fathimiyyah, the women's division of Ikatan Jamaah Ahlul Bait Indonesia (IJABI, the Indonesian Council of Ahlul Bayt Associations), an Indonesian Shi'ite organization founded in 2000.