Women Emancipation

When indonesia was still colonized by the dutch,Women are not allowed to go to school to earn education.They are only allowed to attend the dutch language primary school.That was when Kartini,the women emancipation national hero gained interest to help women to get gender equality.

Kartini attended the dutch language primary school when she wanted to get higher education, it was not allowed at that time due to the rules implied by the dutch.Kartini was allowed by her family to attend school until she was 12 years old,After that she was secluded at home to prepare young girl for their marriage ,It was a common tradition for javanese nobility to young noble girls.During their seclusion ,They are given strict rules to follow in order to be ready for their marriage that was planned by their father.They are not allowed to leave their parent’s house unless they are married.Fortunately,Kartini’s father was a bit lenient than some so he let her to go ot on some conditions for some special events.

During her seclusion,Kartini had read a lot of books,magazines and newspaper that were in dutch such as:  De locomotief newspaper by Pieter Brooshooft,Leestromel magazines and more.She studied on her own and gained interest to fight for the freedom of women in Indonesia.

Kartini died on 17 September 1904 after giving birth to her first son.The Van Deventer family was inspired by Kartini and build schools for women to study and named it “Kartini’s School”.Thefirst school is in Semarang,later there were school for womens build in other provinces.

The first president of Indonesia,President sukarno was moved by Kartini’s dedication to help Indonesia women gain freedom.In 1964,he declared that on Kartini’s Birthday ’21 april’ as Kartini’s day to honor Kartini’s struggle,There were a few critics from the people to President Sukarno due to some reasons but 21 april is still a national holiday to appreciate Kartini and all of Indonesia’s women.

In the present,Kartini is honored as Indonesia’s hero for women emancipation that has a kind and loyal heart yet brave at the same time. WR Supratman (a musician) created the song of ‘Ibu kita Kartini’ to honor Kartini’s kindness for helping indonesia’s women to fight.

These  are the lyrics to ‘Ibu Kita Kartini’ song:

ibu kita Kartini, putri sejati
putri Indonesia, harum namanya

ibu kita Kartini, pendekar bangsa
pendekar kaumnya untuk merdeka

wahai ibu kita Kartini
putri yang mulia
sungguh besar cita-citanya
bagi Indonesia
ibu kita kartini, putri jauhari
putri yang berjasa seindonesia
wahai ibu kita kartini
putri yang mulia
sungguh besar cita-citanya bagi Indonesia

By Nikita Noblesse