Feminist Knowledge, Self-Empowerment and Sisterhood, and Safe Space: How the “Perempuan Berkisah” Community Group Empowers Indonesian Women in the Pandemic Era

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Abstract

This research aims to understand how the Perempuan Berkisah community group
empowers women during the pandemic in Indonesia and how to critically interpret the
phenomenon of women’s empowerment. The research employed a content analysis method
investigating Perempuan Berkisah’s Instagram account and interviewing and distributing a
questionnaire to the community’s founder, committees, and general members. This study analyzed
the kinds of empowerment narratives offered, identified the dynamic narratives on the Instagram
account since its first establishment in 2019, and critically read the results of Instagram feed
content analysis and interviews about women’s empowerment. This research revealed three
elements to build a women’s empowerment narrative: feminist knowledge, selfhood and
sisterhood, and a safe space. The concept of empowerment offered is empowerment focusing on
efforts to help, strengthen, and support other women instead of empowering alone and leaving
other women behind. This research also analyzed missing or absent elements in women’s
empowerment narratives of Perempuan Berkisah’s Instagram account. The findings discovered
insufficient narratives of men, formal structure statements, and dialogues with groups with
different points of view. This insufficiency interprets the internalization of neoliberal values
emphasizing individual responsibility to accelerate or develop oneself as an individual or part of a
community; consequently, it neglects the state responsibility to create gender equality in society.
This research contributes to a study on online feminist activism, women’s community, and women
and the pandemic, especially in Indonesia.
Original languageEnglish
Article number10
Number of pages24
JournalJournal of International Women's Studies
Volume22
Issue number12
Publication statusPublished - 23 Nov 2021

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