The inspirational tale of a women’s rights’ activist from Indonesia, translated…
The Indonesian nurses’ aides I knew had been posting their activities on FB a lot lately. After my inquiries, the response was a person’s name, “Kartini”, sounded like they’re hosting a birthday party for someone, but as I’d looked up the name, I’d found, that Kartini was a famous person in history, and that she was an idol, for many modern Indonesian women too.
Kartini was born on April 21, 1879, back then, the status of women in Indonesia was very low, they’re not allowed to go to school to get an education, nor could they go outside as they wished to, like the purpose of them being born, was to marry some man, then have babies, and take care of the babies, and their husbands, and everything that happens outside their home, they have no participation in.
Kartini who was born in a noble family, was raised as such, and so she’d gotten an education, learned to speak Dutch fluently in school, and was educated in European literature, as well as feminism too. And still, her education ended at the age of twelve, in the social pressures, Kartini was forced to stop going to school, just like other women who were like her.
As she’d left school, Kartini didn’t stop learning, she’d borrowed the books from her friends and families, to teach herself, and continued writing to her foreign correspondences, and through the letters, she’d found, that the women from foreign countries had a higher status than women in Indonesia, and she’d hoped that Indonesian women can have the high statuses compared to the women abroad, and so she’d started writing articles on the newspapers, in the magazines, to speak up about gender equality………and, all of her “wayward beliefs” had caused her to get attacked by the men in the population, while the women in the population were completely supportive of her, for being so outspoken.
Kartini became a teacher as an adult, shed’ married in 1903, with the support of her father and her husband, she’d started an all-female school in Indonesian history close to her home, to teach women how to read and write; but unfortunately, as she got pregnant the following year, she was diagnosed with something, and shortly after she’d given birth, she’d passed away, at the young age of twenty-five.
Although Kartini died young, but her beliefs had affected millions of Indonesian women, who’d started stepping up and out, demanding more rights, and as the all-female schools were being set up, they’d used “Kartini” for the name of the schools, and the Indonesian government set Kartini’s birthday, April 21, as a national holiday, and every year, the women would get all dressed up, and through an assortment of activities, to commemorate this frontierswoman of women’s rights movement.
Up to this very day, all these female Indonesian women who’d gone abroad to work, should also be viewed as heroines by their nation’s people too. These migrant workers took Kartini Day to everywhere in the world today, for instance, in Taiwan, there would be hosting of celebration of her birthday all over Taiwan, in Taipei, as well as Taichung too.
I was lucky enough, to witness the events at the underground shopping strips in Taipei, seeing how the women who’d worked as household maids or nurses’ aides get dressed up, put on their makeup, and walked the cat walk like they were, models. On this day, status didn’t matter, they’re no longer the migrant worker that were called to and from, but strong women who’d shown their confidence to the rest of the world, just like Kartini had done back then, being able to live out that beautiful self, despite their life situations.
And so, despite how this woman, Kartini was born a noble, she was still discriminated against because she was a woman, and she’d fought for the rights of her own gender locally, and, now, she is remembered, by the Indonesian community all over the world.