Pesantrens for Girls in Changing Times

Though women are said to occupy an important position in Islam, societal taboos often prevent women from assuming an active role. Several girls-only pesantrens (Islamic boarding schools) are trying to counter such views by teaching their students gender equality, emancipation and diversity. Efforts to elevate women's position and their role in society were topics of discussion at the Indonesian Women Ulema Congress in Cirebon, West Java, late April. The Congress attempted to bring the woman's voice into mainstream interpretations of Islam thus far dominated by male clerics.