Promoting Gender Awareness in Religious Courts
Religious court judges strongly influence issues related to women's rights and gender equality, and play a significant role in Indonesian communities as the legal interpreters of Islamic family law. We partner with the Women's Studies Center of the State Islamic University in Yogyakarta, Acehnese NGO Putroe Kandee, the Religious Courts, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs to train religious court judges and staff on issues of children's rights and gender equality in Islamic law. By the end of 2009, nearly 700 judges and court staff in East, Central, and West Java, Aceh, West Sumatra, South Sulawesi, and Nusa Tenggara Barat were trained. As the arbiters of legal decisions affecting women, they learned to integrate a stronger gender perspective while adhering to religious principles. In Aceh, the program was paired with building mediation capacity for judges, and judges were also brought to talk directly with women in local communities. For many, this was the first time they'd heard directly from women about their justice-related concerns. One judge who serves as Head of a Religious Court is now a strong advocate of gender-sensitive justice. After completing gender sensitivity training, he handled several divorce cases. In one, a woman filed for divorce. Although not explicitly stated in the Koran, a wife who files for divorce is seen as breaking up the household, and therefore not entitled to anything, including custody of her children or a share of communal property. After the judge completed the training, he said that judges need to consider why a wife files for divorce. In proceedings, he discovered the husband often beat his wife, gambled, and drank. Based on strong witness testimony, the panel of judges found a legal basis to end the marriage and ruled that the husband was obligated to pay support for his wife, for three months, as well as a gift payment—the first of its kind ever in Aceh. This program has helped institutionalize gender awareness within the religious courts system by linking gender awareness to career advancement. Further, the Indonesian Supreme Court is currently reviewing the manuals and guidelines produced for the program, with a view toward applying it nationwide throughout the religious court system in Indonesia.