Women and Education in Indonesia

At the beginning of the twentieth century, women's movements began to spread among both nationalist and religious organisations. Around the same time, as a consequence of the Dutch Ethical Policy, schools for girls were introduced, particularly in Java. Although opportunities for women in the Indonesian Archipelago to participate in a modern schooling system date back to the end of the nineteenth century, they increased significantly in the first quarter of the twentieth century. This coincided with the time the Dutch colonial government introduced what was known as the Ethical Policy. Some enlightened people in the Netherlands felt compelled to repay the ‘debt of honour’ to the East Indies by improving the living conditions of the local people and providing education for the natives. The most significant part of the project was the establishment of schools for native Indonesians and the admission of boys and girls from aristocratic families to Dutch Western-style schools. As a result of the Ethical Policy, a new class of educated people emerged, including women, who were later to spearhead the struggle for national liberation and the betterment of the lot of the native people. Among them were the founders of various other types of schools for natives in different places in Indonesia.

In 1904, Dewi Sartika from West Java, who devoted her life to the advancement of women's education, established a school for women in Bandung. Her school was a major success and prompted the colonial government to establish various other schools for girls in different areas, among them Tasikmalaya in 1913 and Sumedang in 1916, nearly all of them in Java. During this same period, the educational institutions that had previously catered only for male students began to accept some female pupils. After the opening of the Law Faculty in Batavia in 1924, a few Javanese and ethnic Chinese women enrolled almost immediately. Among the most significant schools in this period was the Taman Siswa, established in Yogyakarta in 1922 by a leading Indonesian educationalist, Ki Hajar Dewantara. This school was the first important educational organisation run by Indonesia's nationalists, and it did admit some female pupils.