Linda Susilowati: Gender Transformation in Rural Java

Rural Java has changed enormously over the past half-century. Girls now finish school, women hold community leadership positions, and dual incomes have become the norm rather than the exception. And yet, many Javanese women will tell you they still cook every meal, manage the household, and show up visibly as devoted wives, on top of everything else. It is this gap between what has changed and what has not that drives the research of Dr Linda Susilowati, a lecturer at Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana in Salatiga. Drawing on her doctoral fieldwork in Wonogiri, Central Java with over two hundred women, men, and community members across generations, Linda traces how gender roles have been renegotiated, and how cultural expectations have proven far more resilient than economic or infrastructural change alone. In this episode, recorded in the spirit of International Women’s Day, Dr Clara Siagian chats with Linda about generational shifts in rural Javanese women’s lives, the enduring weight of kodrat (predetermined nature) and kewajiban (obligation), and how Julia Suryakusuma’s concept of State Ibuism appears in contemporary Indonesia. In 2026, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Clara Siagian from the University of College London, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales, Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.