Muslim Women Learning About Empowerment
Alex Walls | January 30, 2011
Muslim students learning about sex and health using anatomical models. (Photo supplied)
The Center for Education and Information on Islam and Women’s Rights Issues (Rahima) is trying to change this by empowering them and offering people a better understanding of the religion.
The group was formed in 2000 by former members of the Indonesian Society for Pesantren and Community Development (P3M), a nongovernmental organization promoting reproductive health in boarding schools.
Aditiana Dewi Eridani, Rahima’s co-founder and director, said they broke away because they objected to the P3M director’s polygamous practices.
“It was really a contradiction to the struggle for women’s rights,” she said.
Aditiana and 18 others — including women’s rights advocates and an official from the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) — formed Rahima hoping to promote women’s rights from an Islamic viewpoint.
A large part of this initiative is the center’s reproductive health program, where participants learn about sex, health and taking control of their bodies.
Rahima hosts reproductive health conferences for students between the ages of 15 and 20, as well as workshops for similar advocacy groups.
The center’s curriculum features three topics: gender perspectives, sexual and reproductive health and how Islam looks at both issues. Teaching aids include aprons with scientifically labeled genitals and wooden molds that many Westerners would be familiar with from their high school sex education classes. The center’s course takes several days to complete and participants meet again a few months later to talk about their views.
Rahima also publishes educational booklets complete with cartoons exploring sexual desire, wet dreams and sexually transmitted diseases.
“Young women trainees are very surprised when they see a picture or model of a penis for the first time,” Aditiana said.
But looking at the photos of smiling students at the center, amid the anatomically correct aprons and cartoon characters blushing in sex booklets, it’s easy to see learning about sex is no onerous task. Overall, the workshops look fun.
However, this comes with some problems. Rahima has ruffled more than a few feathers with to its reproductive health classes.
A few years ago, members of the center received an e-mail asking why they “bothered trying to save whores who should be left to rot in hell.”
The center has also been criticized by conservative groups for its interpretation of Islam. Muslim leaders have denounced the women’s rights group, but Aditiana says they simply take these attacks in stride to avoid fueling tensions.
However, the antagonism prevents Rahima from holding lessons at pensantrens, or Islamic boarding schools. Aditiana said it was crucial to reach the youth — both boys and girls — but not every pesantren was willing to open its doors to sex comics and aprons with uteruses printed on them.
Still, several schools have allowed its students to attend Rahima conferences.
Prior to the workshops, the center’s members conduct surveys about the participants’ level of knowledge about sex.
“How does pregnancy occur?” and “What is an STD?” are some of the questions asked of students.
Rahima has found that many students are sexually active but have very little knowledge about sex or even basic hygiene, with some respondents not knowing to change their underwear regularly.
“Some female students only changed their underwear once every two days,” Aditiana said.
But the more important idea the center wants to teach students is that women and men are equal, according to Islamic teachings. “We believe the Koran is Allah’s word, but we realize that until now, it’s mostly interpreted by men,” Aditiana said.
“No wonder then that the male perspective in Koranic interpretation is very strong,” she added.
The director said hadith, or Muslim tradition, should foster gender equality. This means women should not be confined to domestic duties, but should be able to pursue their passions.
“We are trying to deliver this message to Rahima’s community, that it’s OK for women to work not only in domestic affairs,” Aditiana said.
These ideas have appealed to many Rahima workshop participants over the years. Nihayatul Wafiroh said she was so inspired by the classes she attended in 2002 that she joined the center as a teacher.
“Rahima not only taught me but its members also supported me and kept in touch with me,” she said.
She said she admired Rahima for confronting issues about sexuality — still a taboo subject in Indonesia.
“Both men and women do not have a lot of information about reproductive health,” she said. “Female orgasms are unheard of and subjects like contraception, rights or even how to stay healthy are new for many students.”
Now, she helps the center disseminate information about health and rights among pesantren students, many of whom came from rural areas.
Even though each class is designed for dozens of participants and not all pesantrens are open to these workshops, Rahima is counting on word-of-mouth to spread teachings. In fact, as their homework, Rahima asks participants to tell their friends what they learned.
“If we discuss gender perspectives, we discuss human rights, and the students have to know about their rights,” Nihayatula said. “Then they can stick up for themselves, for what they want. They can have more opportunities to establish what they want.”