Chinese-Indonesian Women in contemporary Indonesia

Abstract

What does it mean to be a Chinese Woman in Indonesia? Throughout Indonesia's history, the cultural identities of Chinese Women are shaped by traces of Indonesian and Chinese cultures, traditions, languages and histories. Expectations with respect to how they should behave and the types of professions that they should pursue have emerged as they make sense of the interlocking histories and cultures. As time moves on, these expectations have evolved to correspond with the changing professional choices and aspirations available to Chinese Women in Indonesia today. Prior to the 1920s, the sex-ratio between Chinese Men and Women was grossly unbalanced because a majority of Chinese Immigrants who immigrated to Indonesia were mostly men. Like their counterparts in the Chinese diaspora, those living in the United States, Canada, South America and other parts of South-East Asia, these early Chinese Immigrants lived the life of a bachelor community, and worked in the mines, railway construction, laundries, plantations, grocery stores, restaurants, and in other occupations too medial for the dominant groups of various societies (cf. Djao, 2003). The spectacular influx of Chinese Immigrants in the 1920s, caused by political turbulence in China after World War I, brought many more Chinese women to Indonesia (Peacock, 1973). Some of these women came to join their husbands who had already settled in the country. Their primary tasks were to care for their husbands and their offspring in a new and unfamiliar place. Not knowing the local language and customs did not deter them from being adept housewives and shopkeepers. They were flexible women who learned quickly how to survive, putting skills that they have learned while growing up in China to help their husbands support their families. It is no wonder that in the early twentieth century, domestic skills such as sewing and cooking, as well as chastity, reticence and excellent manners, were highly regarded for young Chinese Women. These were skills and characteristics that made a young Chinese Woman desirable for her prospective husband and his family. Moreover, they correspond to the four virtues that make up the traditional ideology in a patriarchal Chinese society. In her Seven Lessons for Women, Ban Zhao (born 45-51, died 114-120 CE), a historian, a counselor to Empress Dowager Deng, and a teacher to the imperial ladies as well as Male Scholars in the Eastern Han Dynasty, listed four virtues to define how Chinese Women should act. Ban (1968) listed these virtues as womanly virtue (chastity), womanly words (careful speech), womanly deportment (manners and clean appearance), and womanly work (sewing, cooking and serving guests, etc.). During this period, the social position of the Chinese-Indonesian Woman was measured in relation to her father, oldest brother, husband and son. According to Myra Sidharta (1987), in The Making of the Chinese-Indonesian Woman, the ideal Chinese-Indonesian girl in the early twentieth century was "obedient, timid, reticent and adaptable. Three rules of obedience shape her life: as an unmarried girl, she should obey her father and eldest brother, when married, she should obey her husband, and when widowed, her son" (p. 61). Education opportunities were limited to young Chinese women growing up in that era. Later, when the girls did get the priority to go to school, their brothers still held priority. As time moves on, expectations of Chinese Women have evolved to correspond with the changing professional choices and aspirations available to all women in contemporary Indonesia. This paper explores how Chinese-Indonesian Women come to understand their cultural identity, with special case studies focusing on three exemplary women who have succeeded in their respective professions through their own motivation and efforts: Mari Elka Pangestu, Susi Susanti and Myra Sidharta. The paper also examines how these women have contributed their lives and work to the nation-building process of their country.