Indonesian schoolgirls face ‘harassment’ amid growing pressure to wear the hijab
- The religious attire has become enshrined in the country’s culture – with devastating effects on the mental health of some women and girls forced to wear it
- Due to ambiguous government policy, about 75 per cent of Indonesia’s Muslim female population today wear the hijab, while only 5 per cent did in the late 1990s
Rini Widiastuti, a classical Javanese dance teacher, has for years been pushing back against what she calls the “hijabisation” of Indonesian women and girls.
While she and her family are Muslims, the increasing number of women wearing the hijab – the Muslim headscarf known locally as jilbab – either voluntarily or due to social pressure, worries her.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), about 75 per cent of Muslim women in Indonesia today wear the hijab, up from only 5 per cent in the late 1990s, as Islamic identity politics spreads across the nation.
The trend has not escaped even schoolgirls, an issue which has led Widiastuti to cross swords with authorities on several occasions.
In 2014, she clashed with her granddaughter’s primary school for forcing girls to wear the jilbab. When Widiastuti moved the girl to another school closer to home five years later, she received a letter from the head teacher informing her of “compulsory Muslim attire”.
To protest, Widiastuti shared the letter on social media, which garnered widespread attention and worked to her advantage. “My granddaughter was allowed to attend school without wearing the hijab afterwards, but I had earned a lot of enmity from my neighbours and other parents as a result.”