TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
'It would be difficult to reach her at night': Female village head in Yogyakarta faces resistance
A female leader is still uncommon n Yogyakarta, a conservative society under a customary sultanate.
Change Size
Female royal aides and the Sultan’s family cook the Apem cake. (The Jakarta Post/Tarko Sudiarno)
A
house in Pandeyan village of Bangunharjo subdistrict, Yogyakarta, was swarmed with visitors on Tuesday. A resident had passed away that day, and like in most close-knit communities, people gathered to pay their last respects to the deceased.
Sitting on the floor of the house that was covered merely by a mat, the residents solemnly listened to a speech delivered by their village head.
"May her family be given the strength to get through their loss," the village head said.
It’s not uncommon for village leaders to attend and even speak at such an occasion, except the Pandeyan village head is a 41-year-old woman named Yuli Lestari, who is also a kindergarten teacher.
A female leader is still uncommon in Yogyakarta. Even Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, the leader of the customary sultanate that rules the province, has drawn the ire of the royal family for naming his daughter, Ratu Mangkubumi, his successor as a sultan and governor. In an Islamic sultanate, a leader is traditionally an imam and only male heirs are favored.
Yuli has had to face the same controversy as the sultan's daughter.
Ahead of her inauguration as village head last week, a group of residents held a protest at the Bangunharjo subdistrict office. They claimed that Yuli was not capable of leading the village because she was a woman.
