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Masriyah Amva: Spreading the word on equality
Courtesy of AJIMasriyah, head of pesantren (Islamic boarding school) Kebon Jambu in Cirebon, West Java, has been recognized with the prestigious SK Trimurti award from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) for her continuous efforts and struggles
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Courtesy of AJI
Masriyah, head of pesantren (Islamic boarding school) Kebon Jambu in Cirebon, West Java, has been recognized with the prestigious SK Trimurti award from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) for her continuous efforts and struggles.
AJI lauded Masriyah for her effort in breaking with patriarchal traditions and in struggling in an environment bogged down by religious fundamentalism. The pesantren environment was a difficult arena in which to fight for gender equality and pluralism, but she remained constant in her struggle, the AJI board of judges said in its award note.
The SK Trimurti award is named after a female journalist born in the Dutch colonial era who became a minister of labor in the Sukarno administration. Trimurti's firm stance against colonialism had landed her in prison several times and led to her being tortured.
Previous winners of the SK Trimurti award include the deputy chair of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) Masruchah and Constitutional Court judge Maria Farida Indrati.
'I consider this to be an extraordinary blessing. I would use this award as a tool to speak louder on women's empowerment and gender equality. I have to keep getting better,' Masriyah said after receiving the award last week in Jakarta.
Masriyah's rise began with the threat of fall looming on her family and pesantren after her Muslim preacher husband, Kyai Muhammad, died in 2012.
In the weeks after his death, Masriyah was deeply perturbed because the demise of a pesantren central figure would lead to the crumbling of the school, which then consisted of 500 male and female students.
'In the traditional pesantren, leadership is in the hands of men. At that time, the man that I had died; the 'power' of the school died,' the 53-year-old woman said.
'Like all faithful persons would do, I prayed to God for help,' she said. A few months later, she braved the situation by gathering the male students in a mosque and stepped forward to lead them ' a very unorthodox move to make by a female in the culture.
'I told them that I have found a replacement for Akang [the student's affectionate nickname for her husband]. 'In the place of Akang, Allah will lead us forward. Allah will make us excellent in everything',' she said.
Her students accepted her and from then on she effectively lead the pesantren, which now has grown to accommodate 1,200 students.
Since early on, gender equality was an important element in her teachings. Masriyah said that gender equality was even more relevant among the people in her community.
'Many students' parents are single mothers, left to struggle and raise their children alone by their irresponsible husbands. If they don't have power, they don't have anyone else to rely on,' she said, answering fellow Muslim clerics and leaders who criticized her for taking up the lead and for her teachings.
'Women need to be empowered for the benefit of the family and the nation. We are not becoming strong to challenge men. What is there to be afraid of?' asked Masriyah, who has published five books of poetry and prose about her experience.
Marisyah was also grateful of her upbringing in a family of respected kyais ' both of her grandfathers, Kyai Haji Amin and Kyai Haji Abdul Hannan, were revered clerics.
She said that when she was born, her parents Kyai Haji Amrin Hannan and Hajjah Fariatul 'Aini, were saddened and worried because her older siblings were female and they had expected a son.
'My grandparents and parents were worried about my future because I am woman. They then decided to raise me like they would raise a man,' she said.
'I had to study as a man and attain the powers of a man. I was not allowed to accept suitors unless I had reached a higher academic level. They wanted me to become a scholar, even though I am a woman.'
In her teachings, both to her students and communities around the pesantren, Masriyah campaigned for gender equality and pluralism by example and through telling stories of everyday problems.
'I never use the words 'gender equality' and 'pluralism' because there are those who resist them,' she says. 'I use instead simple words and everyday stories to convey my teachings.'
