Women and Sharia Law in Northern Indonesia

This book examines the lives of women in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where Islamic law was introduced in 1999. It outlines how women have had to face the formalisation of conservative understandings of sharia law in regulations and new state institutions. They have responded by forming non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have shaped local discourse on women’s rights, equality and status in Islam, enabling women to take active roles in influencing processes of democratisation and Islamisation. The book shows that although the formal introduction of Islamic law in Aceh has placed restrictions on women’s freedom, paradoxically it has not prevented them from engaging in public life.