Supra-Village Politics and the Diminishing Presence of Women's Empowerment in Indonesian Villages
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15575/jpan.v18i2.55501Keywords:
Supra-village politics, village governance, women’s empowerment, decentralization, clientelism, patronage networks, PKK, political economyAbstract
The establishment of village autonomy in Indonesia, as formalized through the Village Law (Law No. 6/2014), is frequently portrayed as a cornerstone for fostering self-reliant and independently governed rural communities. However, empirical evidence indicates that this autonomy is significantly circumscribed by actors and political forces operating beyond the village level, including bureaucratic hierarchies, political party structures, and patronage systems, all of which shape village development priorities. This article argues that the decline of women's empowerment initiatives within Indonesian villages is not merely an inadvertent administrative oversight but a structural consequence of supra-village political dynamics. Utilizing qualitative research conducted across multiple regions between 2021 and 2022, complemented by document analysis and secondary literature, this study identifies three primary channels through which village elites secure external resources: engagement with local district heads (bupati/walikota), appeals to senior bureaucratic officials, and lobbying of political parties or legislative actors. These lobbying practices reveal deeply entrenched clientelistic relationships that privilege programs with political returns, while marginalizing gender-responsive initiatives. Women's empowerment programs, previously supported through PKK frameworks and informal women's collectives, have been co-opted, weakened, or reduced to tokenistic forms of participation. Drawing on theories of supra-village politics, critiques of decentralization, and feminist political economy, this article demonstrates that women's empowerment has not been eliminated but has been politically reconfigured into non-transformative forms of administrative compliance. The study concludes by proposing structural reforms in fiscal governance, political accountability, and gender mainstreaming to restore substantive pathways for women's agency in rural development processes.
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