Indonesian Men's Perceptions of Violence Against Women

Abstract

This article explores male perceptions and attitudes toward violence against women in Indonesia. It analyzes interview data from Indonesian men collected as part of a large multimethod Australian government-funded project on masculinities and violence in two Asian countries. Reluctance to talk about violence against women was evident, and the accounts of those men who did respond referred to three justificatory discourses: denial, blaming the victim, and exonerating the male perpetrator. The findings support continuation of government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) projects aimed at both empowering women and reeducating men.

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Violence Against Women
http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/07/16/1077801214543383
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DOI: 10.1177/1077801214543383
published online 18 July 2014Violence Against Women
Pam Nilan, Argyo Demartoto, Alex Broom and John Germov
Indonesian Men's Perceptions of Violence Against Women
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DOI: 10.1177/1077801214543383
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Article
Indonesian Men’s Perceptions
of Violence Against Women
Pam Nilan1, Argyo Demartoto2,
Alex Broom3, and John Germov1
Abstract
This article explores male perceptions and attitudes toward violence against women
in Indonesia. It analyzes interview data from Indonesian men collected as part of a large
multimethod Australian government–funded project on masculinities and violence in
two Asian countries. Reluctance to talk about violence against women was evident,
and the accounts of those men who did respond referred to three justificatory
discourses: denial, blaming the victim, and exonerating the male perpetrator. The
findings support continuation of government and nongovernmental organization
(NGO) projects aimed at both empowering women and reeducating men.
Keywords
Indonesia, violence, women
Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread violations of human
rights. It can include physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse, and cuts
across boundaries of age, race, culture, wealth, and geography. A 2006 World Health
Organization (WHO) study of domestic violence worldwide found “empirically,
across a wide range of settings, that women are more at risk of violence from an inti-
mate partner than from any other type of perpetrator” (Garcia-Moreno, Jansen,
Ellsberg, Heise, & Watts, 2006, p. 1268).
1University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia
2Universitas Sebelas Maret, Solo, Indonesia
3University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia
Corresponding Author:
Pam Nilan, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle, W323, Behavioural
Sciences Bldg., University Drive, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308, Australia.
Email: Pamela.Nilan@newcastle.edu.au
543383VAWXXX10.1177/1077801214543383Violence Against WomenNilan et al.
research-article2014
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2 Violence Against Women
In 1984, Indonesia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which requires countries to take
all appropriate steps to end violence against women (Nilan & Utari, 2008).
Responsibility for implementation of this convention rests with Indonesia’s Ministry
for Women’s Empowerment. Many well-intended government regulations and mea-
sures have since been implemented. These include the 1999 Zero Tolerance Policy and
the 2000 National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. In
2002, ministries for Women’s Affairs, Health, and Social Affairs signed a joint agree-
ment with the national police force to establish multisectoral and integrated services to
victims of gender-based violence. In 2004, Law No. 23 on the Elimination of Domestic
Violence set out procedures to protect victims of domestic violence and punish perpe-
trators. Government-funded organizations such as Komnas Perempuan (National
Commission for Women) directly address violence against women and aim to reedu-
cate the population on women’s human rights (Krisnawaty, Wahid, Hasani, &
Madaniah, 2009). At the grassroots level, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are
active in developed urban areas. For example, the NGO Rifka Annisa in Yogykarta
works both with women as victims of domestic violence (see Hakimi, Hayati,
Marlinawati, Winkvist, & Ellsberg, 2001) and with men as perpetrators of domestic
violence (see Hasyim, Kurniawan, & Hayati, 2011). Both programs acknowledge how
patriarchal traditions, both cultural and religious, enshrine the discourse of women as
weak and inferior to men (Hasyim, Kurniawan, & Hayati, 2011; see also Ilyas, Ariyani,
& Hidayat, 2005). For the program that works directly with men, targeted interven-
tions challenge the assumption that men have the right to lead and discipline women.
However, this is a deep cultural assumption and, given the prevailing discourses of
masculinity in Indonesia, it will not be easily transformed.
Indonesian data on violence against women tend to be scarce and unreliable, yet
“some evidence suggests that violence against women and sexual harassment are com-
mon” (van Klaveren, Tijdens, Hughie-Williams, & Martin, 2010, p. 16; see also
Hakimi et al., 2001; Krisnawaty et al., 2009). For example, a recent study of violence
in the family home in eastern Indonesia concluded that “it is violence in the private
realm, and not the public sphere, that is the most pervasive form of gender-based vio-
lence in Indonesia” (Bennett, Andajani-Sutjahjo, & Idrus, 2011, p. 160). Whereas that
study focused exclusively on women’s accounts, in the current study we analyze men’s
viewpoints on domestic violence, which to date have not received due attention
(Peralta, Tuttle, & Steele, 2010). By focusing on what Indonesian men think about
violence against women, the findings of this study reveal widely held discourses that
challenge efforts to bring about change.
Method
Research Setting
Like many rapidly industrializing nations in the world, unequal gender relations in
Indonesia are changing only very slowly (Nilan & Utari, 2008). A democratic, lower
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Nilan et al. 3
middle-income country with the 4th largest population in the world, more than 85%
Muslim, Indonesia is currently ranked 87 of 134 countries on the Global Gender Gap
Index. On the same index, of 18 countries in Asia, Indonesia is ranked 9th (Hausmann,
Tyson, & Zahidi, 2010). However, on the 2008 Gender Inequality Index, Indonesia
was ranked 100 out of 138 countries and 14th in the group of 18 aforementioned Asian
countries (United Nations Development Program [UNDP], 2010). Such measures
illustrate in simple terms that there are still major gender inequalities and injustices to
be addressed, including substantial and persistent violence against women.
Despite government and nongovernment organization initiatives to reduce violence
against women in Indonesia, the actual reporting of domestic violence remains infre-
quent, and prosecution of such crimes remains low. Furthermore, safe houses and
counseling centers for Indonesian women are few in number (Bennett et al., 2011). In
many parts of Indonesia, traditional values and religious beliefs implicitly or even
explicitly condone violence against women, particularly domestic violence, which
typically is not seen as a crime or even an unusual event (Bennett et al., 2011).
Consequently, neighbors, community leaders, and even local police and government
agencies are reluctant to get involved or charge men with a criminal offense. In 2009,
Komnas Perempuan reported 143,586 cases of physical violence against women,
admitting that the figure only represented a small proportion of the actual cases occur-
ring within the community (“Violence Against Women Highest in City,” 2010).
The 1974 Indonesian Marriage Law, still in place today, states that the husband is
head of the family and protects his wife, who is defined in terms of her domestic role.
Polygamy is allowed and wives must obtain their husband’s consent to get a passport
or to take up night employment. In official New Order discourse, the role of a woman—
kodrat wanita—was to be a wife and mother; that is, modest, docile, and focused on
home and hearth (Robinson, 2001; Utomo, 2005). The role of a man—kodrat pria—
was to be a husband and father, giving firm paternal guidance (Nilan, Donaldson, &
Howson, 2009). Clark (2010) maintains that “the authoritative, masculinist and mono-
lithic discourse of the Suharto era was intolerant of any perceived threats to the hetero-
normative social order,” including, it would seem, any questioning of the role of men
or of violence within the family (p. 15). During the 30 years of the New Order regime
in Indonesia, state violence was normalized (Hüsken & de Jonge, 2002), while non-
state forms of conflict, including domestic and family violence, were officially ban-
ished altogether from public discourse (Sciortino & Smyth, 2002). In other words,
until 1998 there was relative silence on the topic of violence against women.
Most men interviewed in this study would not even talk about violence against
women. Such reluctance seems to be common worldwide. For example, writing in the
United States, Neighbors and colleagues (2010) note that intimate partner violence “is
often a taboo topic” (p. 379) and that men who were prepared to talk about it in inter-
views would usually deny it occurred in their communities, dismissing it as a private
matter, such as a logical outcome of financial stress, or imply it was due to some weak-
ness or fault on the part of the wife or girlfriend. Very few showed awareness that
violence against women is wrong or illegal. Neighbors et al. (2010) confirm a strong
relationship between perpetration of violence and acceptance or justification of
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4 Violence Against Women
violence or hostility toward women. In the typical Indonesian home, the man is head
of the household (Oetomo, 2000) and family members tolerate his authoritarian behav-
ior, even when it involves physical violence.
Research Background
Although masculinity has not been a central focus in research on gender in Indonesia
(Peletz, 2009), since the end of the New Order some valuable work on masculinities
has been produced (see Clark, 2010; Jerome, 2008; Kurnia, 2004; Nilan, 2009; Nilan
et al., 2009; Noszlopy, 2005; Oetomo, 2000; Spiller, 2010; van Wichelen, 2009;
Wulan, 2009). A few studies have considered the link between masculinity and vio-
lence (e.g., Boellstorff, 2004; Clark, 2004; Elmhirst, 2007; Harjito, 2002; Nilan,
Demartoto, & Wibowo, 2011; Wilson, 2012). What emerges from relevant studies in
many different locations across the archipelago is a continuum of violent masculine
practice organized around cultural discourses of honor, respect, and hierarchy (Nilan
et al., 2011). Although these discourses are highly pertinent to violent clashes between
men in the public sphere, they are just as important in the private sphere of relations
with women.
An extensive 2010 study of Javanese men’s attitudes to domestic violence demon-
strates the deeply held conviction of men that men are born the superior sex. For
example, one male interviewee stated simply,
That’s just the reality, what else can we do, we are born as men and we automatically are
proud of ourselves. When we were born as men, both religion and the government
confirm that we automatically become leaders in the family. (Hasyim et al., 2011, p. 41)
The report concluded that “violence against women is a complex phenomenon and
strongly rooted within unequal gender relations, sexuality, self-esteem and social insti-
tutions in the society” (Hasyim et al., 2011, p. 157). Moreover, domestic violence is
rarely reported by the women who suffer it because “family problems are sensitive
problems and taboo to be talked about and intervened, let alone by parties that are not
known” (Hasyim et al., 2011, p. 168).
Another recent study of domestic violence by Bennett et al. (2011) was conducted
with 504 married women from low-income families in the eastern islands of Lombok
and Sumbawa. Of those surveyed, 43.1% reported emotional or physical abuse by
their husband, and 16% stated they were afraid of him. None of the women had ever
reported the abuse to authorities and most felt their experiences were just a “normal”
part of married life. The authors of the study recommend that “research into Indonesian
men’s roles in and experiences of violence in the family is also needed to understand
and address the problem of domestic violence in Indonesia in its full complexity”
(Bennett et al., 2011, p. 158). The current study attempts in part to fill that identified
gap in our understanding of the unequal power relations between Indonesian men and
women that normalize violence against women.
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Nilan et al. 5
Research Design
The interview data considered below were collected as part of a 2.5-year, Australian
government–funded comparative project on masculinity and violence in Indonesia and
India.1 The following definition of violence informed the project:
Any act—physical, verbal or emotional—that is intended to, or results in, harm to another
person or group. For example, verbal abuse, harassment, bullying, intimidation, extortion,
fighting, rioting, assault, rape, torture, manslaughter, murder.
The project was approved to employ a mixed methods approach: first, a survey in
both countries to get a broad sense of men’s engagement with different forms of vio-
lence; and second, interviews with individual men and relevant NGO workers to
obtain a deeper understanding of this engagement. Inevitably, it is difficult to reduce
the findings of a broad-based, mixed methods, comparative study of that magnitude to
a single set of outcomes. The research team made a decision to report on men’s engage-
ment with specific forms of violence by country (see, for example, Broom, Sibbritt,
Nayar, Doron, & Nilan, 2012, on findings for India).
Accordingly, this article does not report on the full project, nor on India, nor on the
full range of men’s engagement with domestic violence, nor on accounts from NGO
workers. Rather, it focuses on Indonesian men’s perceptions of violence toward
women to give readers of this journal a sense of the way Indonesian men of varied
ages, from different walks of life, seem to think about violence against women. While
there were questions asked about violence toward women in both the survey and the
interviews, the data below come only from the semistructured interviews.
The value of the semistructured interview lies in the combination of structure and
flexibility. It is a powerful research tool that yields great depth of information and
understanding (Babbie, 2004). According to Silverman (2006), while project aims
direct the questions asked in semistructured interviews, the technique also allows “some
probing” into deeper meanings due to an informal interviewing style and variable inter-
view time (p. 110). For this project, interview questions were fixed to the extent that
they elicited accounts directly addressing project aims. Yet, at the same time, the ques-
tions were open enough to offer the men freedom for reflection and elaboration of
responses. The relevant question in the second half of the interview schedule was
Apakah sering terjadi kekerasan oleh pria terhadap wanita dan anak-anak dilingkungan
sekitar bapak?
Translation: Are men sometimes violent towards women and children around where you
live, sir?
The polite question in Indonesian allowed men to talk about general trends, opinions,
and events they observed, rather than probing them personally. The men who did answer
the question at any length primarily spoke about violence against women and did not
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6 Violence Against Women
mention children. As indicated above, many men were unwilling to say much on the
topic, so if we had asked a personal question even fewer would probably have responded.
Although it was not specified, most answered by talking about physical violence.
Data Collection
The data come from interviews with 86 Indonesian men aged 17 to 67 years in the five
cities of Jakarta, Pekanbaru, Solo, Makassar, and Mataram. The interviewee code
comprises letters to designate the city (J = Jakarta, P = Pekanbaru, S = Solo, MK =
Makassar, MT = Mataram), and a number to designate sequence of the interview. For
example, S5 means the interviewee was the fifth person interviewed in Solo.
The 86 interviewees came from among those survey respondents who indicated on
the form an interest in being interviewed. They were selected to approximate a range of
ages and backgrounds. Survey respondents had been recruited earlier using a “snowball-
ing” technique similar to that employed by Singleton (2008) for a men’s health study
(see also Atkinson & Flint, 2001; Berg, 2006). The advantage of the snowballing
approach for qualitative research lies in accessing possible interviewees through social
links to obtain useful complementary accounts. Interviews of between 30 and 45 min
were conducted by male postgraduate social science research assistants who were native
speakers. They also transcribed the interviews, which were later coded and then trans-
lated by two of the authors from Indonesian2 into English. Anonymity of interviewees
was preserved. Of the 86 interviews, only 25 contained solid answers to the question on
violence against women. It is from these interviews that we quote below.
Data Analysis
When it came to analyzing the interviews, we followed the qualitative data analysis
approach offered by Ryan and Bernard (2000) of deriving themes through coding,
checking, and cross-checking transcripts. First, the transcripts were independently
read by the researchers to derive potential themes from accounts and comments.
Second, the researchers discussed the themes until consensus was reached. Final cat-
egories for coding were determined by the same method of independent categorization
and subsequent discussion until agreement was achieved. Then each category was
given a unique code. The codes were independently applied to fresh, unmarked tran-
scripts and discussed again. The thematic headings in this article represent the out-
come of the final stage of analysis, when themes were grouped under interpretive
headings that pertain to discourses of justification and explanation.
Interview Data: Men’s Perceptions of Violence Against
Women
It Doesn’t Happen—Or Only Rarely
In the interviews, men were asked about violence against women and children in their
communities. Many were reluctant to answer the question, while others denied any
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Nilan et al. 7
occurrence in their communities. More than a quarter of the sample of 86 said it did
not happen; for example,
There is no violence towards women and children around where I live. (J10, 67, motorbike
transport driver, married, Muslim, Jakarta, August 7, 2010)
I have never seen or heard anything about violence towards women and children here.
(P17, 31, teacher, married, Muslim, Pekanbaru, August 10, 2010)
Violence against women and children? Never around here. Never. I’ve never seen it.
(MT14, 34, security guard and gang member, Hindu, married, Mataram, June 17, 2010)
A soldier from Makassar said it happened elsewhere:
Violence against women and children very rarely happens around here. But it often
happens in the neighborhood where one of my friends lives. (MK8, 31, military, married,
Muslim, Makassar, June 22, 2010)
Similarly, it was implied that domestic and family violence only happened in poorer
areas; for example,
Most of the people who live near me are tertiary educated and hold government positions.
That kind of violence doesn’t usually happen when people are from a higher education
background. It doesn’t happen towards women. (P1, 40, private sector clerk, Muslim,
married, Pekanbaru, August 3, 2010)
In defense of their denial, some men reminded the interviewer that family and
domestic violence were private matters that happened inside the home:
Violence against women and children very rarely happens around where I live. It really
has to do with each private household anyway. (J13, 32, soldier, married, Muslim, Jakarta,
August 10, 2010)
Some men denied physical violence but admitted that other forms of violence
toward women took place:
There is very little physical violence against women here. The most usual form of
violence is snapping at her and reprimanding her. That form of violence is definitely the
most common to be conducted against women whether inside or outside the family.
(MK11, 40, university lecturer, married, Muslim, Makassar, June 19, 2010)
This comment implies that verbal disciplining and abuse of women is a normal part
of life, even in an educated, middle-class community.
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8 Violence Against Women
It’s Only Natural—“She Deserves It”
Perhaps because the interviews were conducted by men from the same city, some
interviewees were quite candid about their views on violence against women. The
most extreme statement was, “If I were to beat my wife, I would have the right because
I was teaching her how to behave properly” (P4, 31, military, Muslim, married,
Pekanbaru, August 4, 2010). In terms of normative gender relations, the man makes
the rules in the home. The soldier above added, “the husband is supposed to be like the
Imam [Muslim preacher] in the family.” If a wife breaks the rules, there can be violent
consequences. This was articulated by the following participant as well as some others
who were interviewed:
Domestic violence happens inside the family. It’s only natural. It happens from time to
time in a family when there is a misunderstanding between husband and wife. Sometimes
it happens if a wife breaks the rules, like coming home late at night is not proper behavior
in a man’s eyes. (P3, 25, trader and motorbike racer, Muslim, single, Pekanbaru, August
8, 2010)
Some religious discourses in Indonesia support the idea of gender equality, whereas
others reinforce the idea that the husband must rule his wife because she is inferior; for
example,
In Islam the ruling says that in the family women are supposed to be protected. However,
the wife is weak and accepts information without filtering it. She also dismisses
information in the same way, without filtering it. But if the woman has the proper
understanding of what a wife should be, God willing, this will lead to clear communication
and not mutual cursing at each other. I mean that’s why it happens. (MT3, 28, political
party activist, Muslim, unmarried, Mataram, June 20, 2010)
Economic Stress Causes Domestic Violence
There was a very strong discourse that financial difficulties in the household cause
domestic violence. If the man cannot fulfill his role as provider, the woman complains.
J9 explained, “The husband brings home his pay from work, but it is only a little, and
his wife wants more than that” (J9, 48, bus driver and ex-prisoner, married, Muslim,
Jakarta, August 9, 2010). Pressures on the man lead to violent outbursts: “Violence is
especially likely for those men who are unemployed and are weighed down by the
demands of the wife” (P14, 25, NGO employee, Muslim, unmarried, Pekanbaru, July
16, 2010). Many explanations focused on how the economic system puts a man under
pressure and causes him to vent his anger at his wife; for example,
I think the main factor causing violence in the household is economic. Like now rice is
expensive, cigarettes are expensive. Work is difficult. It is the case that the man gets
angry . . . if he is unemployed then violence could happen in the end. Domestic violence
happens because of financial difficulties. (J9, 48, bus driver and ex-prisoner, married,
Muslim, Jakarta, August 9, 2010)
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Nilan et al. 9
One interviewee gave the example of a man murdering his wife. He did not earn
enough income, so she would not provide marital “services” any more:
The violence can get as bad as murder. Take the example of the husband who murdered
his wife . . . the economic situation of the husband and the wife caused the problem
between them. I suggest that the problem is that the husband did not improve his situation
but stayed at the same low economic level, so the wife was not willing any more to serve
her husband. (MT9, 50, regional government member, Mataram, July 5, 2010)
Some other accounts also emphasized the domestic conflict that can occur when a
wife earns more than her husband:
You have domestic violence in a household. The man says, “My wife leaves early
forgetting to care for the children, she doesn’t cook, clean and so on. When she comes
home I am angry because her wages are higher than mine.” That’s a trigger for divorce.
That couple will certainly get divorced because if a man economically supports his wife
they never get divorced. But not in this case . . . because that kind of woman has a big ego,
especially if her earnings are high. (P12, 35, NGO worker, Muslim, married, Pekanbaru,
August 2, 2010)
Extramarital Affairs
Extramarital affairs were sometimes nominated as reasons that domestic violence took
place: “It happens either because the husband is cheating on his wife or the wife is
cheating on her husband” (J15, 45, security police, married, Muslim, Jakarta, August
2, 2010). In a frequent scenario, male infidelity creates conflict between the couple:
“The husband has been unfaithful, so she gives him hell” (MK2, 38, security police,
married, Muslim, Makassar, June 25, 2010).
Although it seems to be primarily husbands in Indonesia who have extramarital
affairs rather than wives, women are frequently suspected of infidelity. Speaking once
again of the man who murdered his wife, it was surmised by MT9 that
She might have been having an affair and that made him violent when he heard about it.
This could not be clarified as true or not. In Islam, we might say that nothing was
confirmed by his testimony [tabayyun], so the truth is still sought about that woman.
(MT9, 50, regional government member, Mataram, July 5, 2010)
Violence Against Women Outside Marriage
So far, the discussion has focused on violence against women in the home. There were
also comments about violence against women in the public sphere. Several interview-
ees inferred that social mixing between unrelated young men and women leads to
violence: “Young men and women gathering together and talking and then that later
leads to violence” (P19, 41, market trader, married, Muslim, Pekanbaru, August 9,
2010). The implication is that when young men and women mix, men are unable to
control their violent sexual urges:
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10 Violence Against Women
The biggest cause of violent incidents here at the mall, well actually it happened only
yesterday, is male–female relationships. There was a problem here yesterday with a girl
and a guy. The guy did something violent to her, he sexually assaulted the girl. (P20, 34,
mall security guard, married, Christian, Pekanbaru, August 9, 2010)
Other examples in a similar vein were also given, such as, “one of my friends
forced his ex-girlfriend to kiss him” and “sex workers experience a lot of violence”
(MT11, 32, director of NGO, Mataram, June 20, 2010). Quarrels between romantic
and courting couples were also reported; for example,
A young man and a young woman who belonged to a local youth organization were
involved in a romantic relationship that ended up with a broken heart and the man was
rather rough with the woman. (J16, 27, assistant lecturer, unmarried, Muslim, Jakarta,
August 3, 2010)
In many accounts, the interviewees mentioned that verbal violence against women
is a private and personal matter, so it was not appropriate to interfere:
It is most often verbal, like a man speaking to his girlfriend in an abusive manner until the
woman starts crying and that winds him up even more. No one wants to get involved even
though this verbal violence is taking place in the public street. It’s just a difference of
opinion, finally it turns into a quarrel. The man flies into a rage and starts verbally abusing
and swearing at the woman. When someone quarrels and gets very emotionally worked
up like that I can understand how he uses very bad words and insults the woman. (MK9,
32, political party activist, married, Muslim, Makassar, June 23, 2010)
Violence against women was also indicated on university campuses; for example,
“there is some violence towards women on campus that I know about” (MK3, 25,
university student, unmarried, Muslim, Makassar, June 16, 2010). Furthermore, it
seems the world of business is also a site for violence against women, given that male
bosses may well regard their female employees rather like their wives:
Violence happens in the private world of business. Say we have a company director . . .
if a woman tempts him, later he hits out at his secretary, if she is slow-moving and brings
a dirty plate, or fails to offer him a cigarette. (P12, 35, NGO worker, Muslim, married,
Pekanbaru, August 2, 2010)
Awareness
Despite the weight of negative evidence in the interview data assembled above, some
of the interviewees did demonstrate awareness that violence against women was wide-
spread and either unfair or illegal; for example,
The predominant form of violence takes place in the home. Violence in the home can be
dealt with under Law Number 23 (2002) for the Protection of Children. Then there is Law
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Nilan et al. 11
Number 23 (2004) that includes domestic violence against women, and Presidential
Decree Number 65 (2005) that set up a national commission on violence. (P12, 35,
community worker, Muslim, married, Pekanbaru, August 2, 2010)
It is probable that men who work in certain kinds of institutions or occupations do
have more awareness of laws that prohibit violence against women:
Domestic violence? That would not be carried out by any man who knew about the
regulations against it. It is possible such a man who would conduct violence on members
of his family might not be aware of the rules and regulations. It sometimes happens like
that. (MK2, 38, security police, married, Muslim, Makassar, June 25, 2010)
Some men were hopeful that the laws would reduce physical violence against
women: “There are certainly beatings. . . . Now we have laws against violence, so I
hope and pray that that will make people more readily condemn violence” (S7, 50,
political party secretary, married, Muslim, Solo, July 28, 2009). Some admitted that
Indonesian cultures traditionally favor men over women:
Our culture has always been patriarchal, so that the man holds the authority. Men have a
higher social status compared to women. Patriarchal culture greatly influences all aspects
of life in the home. (MK11, 40, university lecturer, married, Muslim, Makassar, June 19,
2010)
Other men acknowledged the cultural prohibition of men using physical violence
against women and girls: “It is really taboo to strike women and female children” (P1,
40, private sector clerk, Muslim, married, Pekanbaru, August 3, 2010). Even one local
gang member, fond of fighting with other men, was able to identify verbal abuse of a
woman as violence:
It is violence if a guy yells at his girlfriend that she is a whore, a prostitute. That often
happens to women. (MK1, 28, gang member, unmarried, Muslim, Makassar, June 20,
2010)
Discussion
The overview of interview themes above has painted a rather dark picture of Indonesian
men’s normalized attitudes toward violence against women. Yet, there was some evi-
dence in the interviews that awareness is starting to develop among men that violence
against women is morally wrong, and in fact is a criminal offense. Generally speaking,
the men who were prepared to acknowledge that violence against women happened
and who talked about it indicated in some small way that they recognized gender-
based violence as a problem, as something that perhaps should not be happening in
Indonesian society. Nevertheless, the overall impression is that patriarchal attitudes
are slow to change. This discussion pulls together the interview themes to consider
some of the main discourses of violence against women.
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12 Violence Against Women
The Discourse of Denial
We propose that Indonesian men may be silent on the topic of violence against women
because (a) violence against women is a topic to be avoided; (b) they are ashamed that
such practices occur; (c) violence is so normalized it doesn’t register as a significant
social event; (d) they are protecting the reputation of their community, ethnicity, or
religion; or (e) they just literally do not see or hear it. Perhaps the clue here is the com-
ment by J13, who followed his denial by saying that it is a private matter of house-
holds. This confirms the claim by van Klaveren et al. (2010) that “domestic violence
is considered a private matter and incidents are underreported” (p. 16).
Most Indonesians, even in urban areas, live close to their neighbors in socially
bonded communities. Even if he is concerned about abuse next door, a man might well
be reluctant to interfere in his neighbor’s household because that would threaten the
status and honor of the man in question, and might lead to reciprocal violence against
the neighbor and his own household, or to other forms of retribution. The best tactic
for maintaining neighborhood harmony is not to notice and not interfere in family or
domestic violence, unless it becomes extreme. Silence and denial are key tactics for
avoiding recognition that domestic violence takes place.
The Discourse of Blaming the Woman
In her description of tactics for hiding and diminishing male violence against women,
Romito (2008) identifies the tactic of blaming the victim: “It is the abused woman who
provokes the beating: she argues, disobeys, cooks badly, is untidy and refuses sex” (p.
52). In this discourse, the woman, who is in need of correction, provokes the man’s
anger. Similarly, a study of battering men in the United States found that men tended
to believe that a woman’s perceived flaws, including nagging and laziness, justify their
violent actions (Mullaney, 2007; see also Dobash & Dobash, 2011). A study of gender-
based violence in the province of Aceh, where Sharia law has been implemented,
found that both men and women blamed women for acts of sexual violence perpe-
trated against them. It seemed to be presumed that the woman must have done some-
thing to provoke the attack (United Nations Food Program [UNFPA], 2005). As
indicated in the interview data, women are often suspected of having affairs and this
seems to justify men using violence against them. It seems women are always under a
cloud of moral suspicion (see Dobash & Dobash, 2011).
The men who articulated the discourse of blaming the woman in the interviews did
not necessarily intend to personally offer justifications for violence against women;
they were primarily seeking to explain how it came about. They are nevertheless
describing justificatory tactics used by men that they recognize in their own communi-
ties, families, and circles of friends and acquaintances. Cited provocations to male
violence included coming home late, being “weak,” refusing to “serve” the husband,
demanding more household income, working, neglecting household duties, being
accused of having an affair, being angry over a husband’s infidelity, and nagging. In
the public sphere, women’s implied provocations to male violence included being a
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Nilan et al. 13
sex worker, failing to meet the demands of the boss, breaking up a relationship, mixing
with unrelated males, going to the mall, and crying.
In one of the accounts above, the interviewee explained that the man did not fulfill
his side of the marriage contract (see Pateman, 1988)—that of the breadwinner—so
the wife would not fulfill her contractual obligations, to serve him sexually and meet
his household needs. His murderous anger leading to her death is depicted in this
account as a logical outcome of his diminished status in the household. The account
here is similar to justifications given by men in the study by Dobash and Dobash
(2011) of men in the United Kingdom who murder their wives.
In the accounts of interviewees, women were often represented as in need of cor-
rection, including reprimands, verbal abuse, and beatings, to make them behave “prop-
erly” as wives, girlfriends, and employees. Studies in other parts of the world have
produced similar results; for example, in the United Kingdom, “violence is viewed as
acceptable when women are defined as ‘out of line’ with the man’s notions of the
appropriate behavior for a wife, mother, or housekeeper” (Dobash & Dobash, 2011, p.
114). The “proper” behavior of a wife was implied in interview comments about what
women do wrong to provoke male violence. Although there was diversity in the par-
ticipants’ accounts, broadly the expectation seems to be that the idealized Indonesian
wife should obey her husband, put his needs above her own, serve him in all ways,
maintain a well-ordered household, and never criticize or demand anything. That is,
she should forgive his infidelity and be content with what he provides. This matches
the New Order discourse of kodrat wanita, indicating that although Indonesia has
moved rapidly into the 21st century, with a current economic growth rate of 6.5%, the
gender order has been much slower to change.
Solvang (2002) makes the point that in Indonesian cities, women who are on the
street after 9:00 p.m. are likely to be “seen as bad women (perempuan nakal)” (p. 88).
The same point is made by Nilan and Utari (2008) about the work of Indonesian
women journalists and media workers. Association with prostitution is so strongly
assumed that wives must obtain their husband’s consent to take up night employment.
In some areas where local Sharia law has been introduced, women are simply not
allowed to go out at night. In short, women must work hard at keeping their moral
status above suspicion because they, much more so than men, are responsible for
maintaining the honor of their families (Idrus & Bennett, 2003). If they move about
outside the home with the permission of their husbands, they avoid the risk of public
suspicion and shame. Consequently, to maintain respectability, many women defer to
their husbands to take responsibility for their movements in the public sphere.
Such cultural practices and values problematize what constitutes “violence” within
the family context. For example, the eastern Indonesia study by Bennett et al. (2011)
found that social control of women in the home was not regarded by the majority of
women as a form of domestic violence. They believed the husband had the right to
deny his wife permission to leave the home and to specify the hours she could be away.
The authors suggest that this “stems from local interpretations of Islam. Women often
explained that according to religion (Islam), a husband’s permission is ideally required
before a wife leaves the home” (Bennett et al., 2011, p. 155).
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14 Violence Against Women
The other tactic identified by Romito (2008) for hiding and diminishing male vio-
lence against women is dehumanizing the woman. Men who are violent toward women
humiliate and denigrate them using labels that objectify and dehumanize them, for
example, “since they are ‘whores’ you can do what you want with them, they deserve
beating” (Romito, 2008, p. 49). Several men we interviewed referred to instances of men
abusing their girlfriends in public, calling them whores. As another man mentioned, sex
workers experience a great deal of violence. The moral gender order in Indonesia con-
structs women who are even suspected of having sex outside marriage or engaging in
“free” social behavior as contemptible and beyond the normal bounds of civil society,
providing yet another justificatory discourse for violence against women. In a sense, the
social construction of the “wife” is also a dehumanized category in regard to male vio-
lence because the actual woman, her feelings, and personal aspirations are less important
than her success or otherwise in the functional role of serving the husband.
The Discourse of the Man as Victim
In a study of battering men in the United States, Peralta et al. (2010) point to
Messerschmidt’s (1993) proposition that men who are disenfranchised due to socio-
economic disadvantage feel emasculated because they cannot fulfill the traditional
role of men. In this context, the intimate domain is where control can be regained and
masculinity reestablished through exerting power, including the use of violence, over
the female partner. This premise seems particularly applicable in Indonesia. Indeed, it
was the most popular normalized discourse among the men we interviewed.
In the justificatory discourse of the man as victim, something external to the man
and the woman explains his violence against her, through the idea that “the behavior
of the man is the result of deep frustration and anxiety” (Romito, 2008, p. 55).
Mullaney’s (2007) U.S. study found that violent men often defer responsibility for
their actions onto some external set of factors: “the batterer believes the source of the
real problem to be external to him entirely” (p. 224, emphasis in original). Although
there was some limited mention of alcohol (being drunk) as an external factor, the
most common discourse pointed to low socioeconomic status and financial stress.
Once again, the men who mentioned these factors were not necessarily seeking to
justify men’s violent actions, but sought to give an explanation. What they said reveals
significant justifying discourses prevalent in Indonesian society and culture.
The logic was that violence against women only happened in poor areas, expressing
the idea that poverty causes men to be violent toward women. Many others mentioned
financial stress in the household, from a husband’s insufficient income, to work pres-
sure, to a wife earning more than her husband. Men are constructed as the victims here,
oppressed by financial stress in their role as husband and breadwinner. In their inter-
views with battering men in the United States, Peralta et al. (2010) gained the impres-
sion that because they felt economically marginalized, the men
had a need to be in control of not only their own lives but also their partners’ lives as well . . .
The use of violence was a way for participants to express to their partners and to the
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Nilan et al. 15
community at large that control over intimate partners and their social situations were in
fact maintained. (pp. 400-401)
The core assumption in this justificatory discourse is once again that the man can-
not help his behavior. He is driven to conduct domestic violence by forces external to
himself. However, violence against women always involves choice on the part of men.
Looking Toward the Future
The state of gender relations in Indonesia at present is in flux. Although education
statistics, labor market trends, and women’s public profile indicate that the status of
women has improved and is continuing to improve, in the private sphere of marriage
and family relations extremely conservative gender roles still seem to prevail. Muslim
religious discourse emphasizes the moral purity of women, but not of men, although
there are strong feminist voices in some Muslim women’s groups. In the popular imag-
ination and in some public rhetoric, women still tend to be blamed for the violence of
men toward them, as this article demonstrates, and that discourse is hard to shift.
This article has focused on the viewpoints of Indonesian men specifically, so it is
appropriate to end with a brief consideration of contemporary social trends and dis-
courses in Indonesia that may or may not alter men’s attitudes toward violence against
women. For the sake of brevity, only three trends will be considered. The first is that
there is undoubtedly greater awareness now of violence against women as a crime. For
example, under the Zero Tolerance Policy on domestic violence, training workshops
are required for public servants in many government sectors, and guidelines have been
developed for police and medical staff (Bennett et al., 2011).
The second trend is the steady rise of literate women entering the labor market dur-
ing the current decade of strong economic growth. The Indonesian female labor par-
ticipation rate in 2008 was 53% and is estimated to have risen further since then.
Population growth is slowing and there is a relatively low fertility rate (van Klaveren
et al., 2010). Indonesian female workers now earn on average almost 50% of male
earnings and women make up the majority of international temporary labor migrants.
Yet the dual phenomena of reduced childbearing and increased labor force participa-
tion for women do not necessarily imply a decrease in violence against women, as we
saw in some of the interview accounts. In fact, it may achieve the reverse. In Indonesia,
higher education and high income for women constitute both protective factors and
risk factors for domestic violence (Idrus & Bennett, 2003), depending on the circum-
stances. A well-educated woman in a high-paid job can afford to leave an abusive
husband and engage a lawyer to protect both her rights and her children. However, “in
some instances, male jealousy over a wife’s higher educational and financial status
within marriage has been found to compound domestic violence” (Idrus & Bennett,
2003, p. 43), as the account by P12 above indicates.
Nevertheless, the trend does signal a shift in urban areas (now accounting for more
than half the population), toward double-income households as a means of gaining
family prosperity and a desirable lifestyle. The objective of a double-income
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16 Violence Against Women
household implicitly favors the “partnership” model of marriage, particularly given
the high cost of housing, motor vehicles, home help, and education, where the income
of the wife is crucial. The residual discourse of the ideal submissive wife confined to
the home under the rule of the husband still lingers, and is favored in fundamentalist
religious discourse. However, this “ideal” is implicitly challenged by the new set of
economic and labor market circumstances, one in which the female-dominated ser-
vices sector is growing most rapidly. Spousal partnership within a dual-income house-
hold implies a different gender order of marriage, which may encourage men to
reevaluate whether they have the right to command and discipline their working wives,
and whether it ultimately favors their interests to bully and dominate.
The third trend in the opposite direction is the discourse of hypermasculinity, which
favors the objectification of women and the elevation of dominance and violence as
qualities to be admired. The discourse of tough, hard, aggressive, and invulnerable
masculinity was strongly developed in the militarized State of the New Order, and is
mediated in Indonesia today through civil militias, jihadi rhetoric, and forms of enter-
tainment and popular culture resources for men, including online combat games and
interactive sites. Writing of gendered British colonialism in India, Nandy (1988)
emphasized the primarily reactionary nature of hypermasculinity, an exaggerated ideal
that arises when local masculine identities are threatened or jeopardized by some form
of imperialism. Hypermasculine discourses reclaim the mastery of manhood through
denigration and distancing from the self of anything associated with the feminine. For
example, as van Wichelen (2009) demonstrates in her account of the new polygamy
trend in Indonesia, this amounts to a reaffirmation of hypermasculine discourse in
Indonesia, distancing pro-polygamy men from both the West and from any similarity
to women and their affective needs within marriage.
Conclusion
This article has analyzed data on violence against women from interviews with
Indonesian men as part of a larger project on masculinities and violence in Indonesia
and India. Three main justificatory discourses were evident. The first is one of denial:
“it doesn’t happen around here.” In crowded Indonesian cities, where everyone but the
rich lives at very close quarters, it is perhaps preferable not to see or hear domestic
violence as a means of maintaining neighborhood harmony. Men are also sensitive
about their family honor and do not appreciate outside intervention from neighbors.
The threat of physical violence between men in the defense of honor is always
present.
The second discourse was one of blaming the woman if a man is violent toward her,
a significant discourse favored by religious conservatives, both Muslim and Christian,
in a country where sectarian religious identity claims have never been so important as
they are at present. The third discourse was to construct the man as the victim of finan-
cial stress or loss of status in relation to a working wife. This implies that Indonesian
men cannot readily control their emotions and are easily angered, especially if they
feel their honor and authority as a man are threatened.
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Nilan et al. 17
The implications for policy and practice in light of these findings point to the con-
tinued role of government authorities in creating meaningful dialogue and public
awareness, especially through joint initiatives taken by the Indonesian ministries for
Women’s Affairs, Health, and Social Affairs in conjunction with the Ministry of
Religion. The findings of this research also point to the highly significant work of
relevant NGOs in working with women as victims of gendered violence and with men
who want to change. As these NGOs depend largely on overseas donor funding, inter-
national aid agencies need to continue to direct their funds to projects that favor the
empowerment of women and the reeducation of men.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article: Funding for this research was provided by an Australian
Development Research Award—AusAID, Australia.
Notes
1. See http://www.newcastle.edu.au/school/hss/research/research-grants/masculinities-and-
violence.html. The project was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the
University of Newcastle. Surveys were collected from 1,004 men in Indonesia and 1,000
men in India. Interviews were conducted with 86 men in Indonesia and 59 men in India.
Interviews were also conducted with 18 nongovernmental organization (NGO) workers in
Indonesia and 21 NGO workers in India.
2. Bahasa Indonesia.
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Author Biographies
Pam Nilan is a professor of sociology at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is an expe-
rienced youth sociologist who has worked in Australia, Vietnam, Fiji, and Indonesia on projects
concerned with gender. Her current research endeavors are focused in Indonesia. She has pub-
lished numerous articles in refereed journals and contributed many book chapters to edited
collections. She has published four books with other authors. She is currently the treasurer of the
Asia-Pacific Sociological Association.
Argyo Demartoto is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Sebelas Maret in Solo,
Central Java, Indonesia, and convener of the sociology master’s program. He holds a PhD from
Gajah Mada University in Yogykarta, Central Java, Indonesia. He has published extensively in
Indonesian on social welfare, disability, gender and masculinity, and HIV/AIDS. He has pub-
lished in English on violence and masculinities in Indonesia.
Alex Broom is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Queensland and an
Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow. His research interests are in health sociol-
ogy, masculinities, men’s health, complementary and alternative medicine, social theory, medi-
cal sociology, palliative care, and developing countries health research. He has recently pub-
lished eight books.
John Germov is professor of sociology at the University of Newcastle, Australia and pro-vice-
chancellor of the Faculty of Education and Arts. He is president of the Australasian Council of
Deans of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (DASSH). His research interests span public
health policy, workplace change, youth and health behavior, alcohol consumption and harm
minimization, and the history of sociology. He has published 17 books.
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