So when working with Indonesian feminists, they shared valuable critiques toward marriage in Indonesia. The critique primarily focused on how the state has codified Islam's version of patriarchy into national law. I'll attempt to summarise their critiques below.
Important to know, while the overarching Law No. 1 of 1974 on Marriage regulates all citizens regardless of faith, it is heavily influenced by Islamic family law templates. For Muslims, these rules were further entrenched by the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI) in 1991. Together, these legal frameworks create a dual standard that Indonesian feminists have spent decades trying to dismantle.
The core feminist critiques of how Muslim marriage and national marriage laws operate in Indonesia center on several key issues:
1. Feminist legal scholars frequently critique Article 31(3) of the 1974 Marriage Law, which legally defines the husband as the "Head of the Family" (Kepala Keluarga) and the wife as the "Housewife" (Ibu Rumah Tangga). This locks women into a domestic sphere and gives husbands ultimate legal authority. Critics argue this systemic bias (often called "State Ibuism") weakens a woman's bargaining power in financial matters, employment, and marital disputes, while legally validating the idea that a wife must submit to the husband's wishes.
2. Under the KHI, the procedural hurdles to ending a marriage are highly unequal. A husband can initiate a divorce through Cerai Talak (asking the court to witness his declaration of divorce). A wife, however, must file for Cerai Gugat (lawsuit for divorce) and carries a heavy burden of proof to demonstrate severe legal grounds, such as abuse, desertion, or total financial neglect. Feminists argue this asymmetry forces women to stay in abusive or unhappy marriages far longer than men.
3. Unlike the Indonesian Civil Code (which bans polygamy for non-Muslims), the 1974 Marriage Law permits Muslim polygamy under strict court conditions. A husband can take multiple wives if his first wife cannot fulfill her duties, becomes severely ill, or cannot bear children. He must obtain court approval and the first wife's written consent. Indonesian feminists argue that these clauses treat women as functional commodities rather than equal human beings. Also, the requirement for a "first wife's consent" is frequently bypassed through emotional coercion or via unregistered marriages (Nikah Siri), leaving secondary wives and their children without many of the legal protections afforded to registered marriages.
4. The KHI explicitly contains the concept of Nusyuz, which occurs when a wife is deemed "disobedient" to her husband's lawful demands. If a court labels a wife nusyuz (which historically included refusing sex or leaving the house without permission), the husband is legally absolved of his duty to provide her with financial support (nafkah). Feminists argue that nusyuz functions as a tool of legal and financial coercion and, at worst, undermines the practical protection afforded by marital rape laws. It weaponises state law to punish women who assert autonomy by refusing unwanted sex or leaving abusive relationships.
5. Indonesian feminists gain legislative victory via Law No. 16 of 2019, which amended one part of the 1974 Act and successfully raised the minimum legal marriage age for girls from 16 to 19, matching the requirement for boys. But even with this reform, child marriage persists through court-granted exemptions (dispensasi nikah), which families routinely apply for at the local level.
With the newly implemented 2026 Penal Code (KUHP), the legal landscape became even more complicated. While laws like the Sexual Violence Crimes Law (UU TPKS) criminalise marital rape (which again, in many contexts is undermined by nusyuz), the new code simultaneously criminalises all consensual sex outside of marriage (perzinaan) and cohabitation between unmarried couples. Because these laws rely on complaints filed by close relatives (such as parents, children, or spouses), critics argue it hands additional systemic leverage to patriarchal family networks.
