The portrait of gender justice and injustice in the Islamic teaching text-book and Muhammadiyah teachers’ responses

Abstract

The paper investigates the textbook on Islamic teaching officially published for
Muhammadiyah Senior Secondary Schools. It examines whether the textbook
promotes gender justice or injustice. In addition, how the teachers think about
the gender discourse is also explored. The study seems important to carry out by
taking account of whether the trend of gender discourses which has taken place
for some decades in the public is substantially accommodated in the Muhammadiyah
schools’ curriculum. Moreover, the teachers’ responses to the existing gender
issues as included in the textbook may be crucial to shape since they are transla-tors of the text offered. To clarify this issue, the paper uses content analysis of
the textbook and analyses the result of interview with several Muhammadiyah
senior secondary schools’ teachers in Yogyakarta. The result of this study shows
that even if the content of the official textbook generally emphasizes gender
justice, in some cases, it promotes gender injustice and stereotypes. The expla-nation of men’s social roles in the whole Muslims’ history tends to be widely
explored whereas that of the possibility of women’s roles is paid less attention.
On the other hand, in other parts of the textbook, there is an explanation of  the The paper investigates the textbook on Islamic teaching officially published for
Muhammadiyah Senior Secondary Schools. It examines whether the textbook
promotes gender justice or injustice. In addition, how the teachers think about
the gender discourse is also explored. The study seems important to carry out by
taking account of whether the trend of gender discourses which has taken place
for some decades in the public is substantially accommodated in the Muhammadiyah
schools’ curriculum. Moreover, the teachers’ responses to the existing gender
issues as included in the textbook may be crucial to shape since they are transla-tors of the text offered. To clarify this issue, the paper uses content analysis of
the textbook and analyses the result of interview with several Muhammadiyah
senior secondary schools’ teachers in Yogyakarta. The result of this study shows
that even if the content of the official textbook generally emphasizes gender
justice, in some cases, it promotes gender injustice and stereotypes. The expla-nation of men’s social roles in the whole Muslims’ history tends to be widely
explored whereas that of the possibility of women’s roles is paid less attention.
On the other hand, in other parts of the textbook, there is an explanation of  the
IJIMS, Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies, Volume 3, Number 1, June  2012: 149-173
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importance of democratic attitudes for Muslims in the framework of societal re-lations. In the sense, the elaboration of the possibility of men and women to
participate in the public is theologically explained. With regard to the teachers’
responses, the writing indicates that they generally agree with the notion of the
need for women and men to share and possibly contribute in the public as long
as the women in particular do not deny their domestic roles. They seem trying to
examine the content of the textbook ranging from rational up to theological con-siderations. To conclude, the textbook  contains gender justice and injustice ori-entations which have been responded variously by the teachers.
Kajian ini menelaah buku teks tentang ajaran Islam yang resmi diterbitkan untuk
Sekolah Menengah Atas Muhammadiyah. Kajian ini menguji apakah buku teks
tersebut mempromosikan keadilan atau ketidakadilan gender. Di samping itu,
kajian ini mengeksplorasi bagaimana para guru berpikir mengenai wacana gen-der. Kajian ini penting untuk mempertimbangkan apakah kecenderungan wacana
gender yang telah terjadi beberapa dekade ini secara substantif diakomodasi
oleh kurikulum sekolah-sekolah Muhammadiyah. Lebih jauh, respon para guru
terhadap persoalan-persoalan gender yang ada sebagaimana termuat dalam
buku teks menjadi penting karena mereka merupaka para penerjemah dari buku
teks tersebut. Untuk mencapai itu semua, kajian ini menggunakan analisis isi
atas buku teks dan menelaah hasil wawancara dengan beberapa guru Sekolah
Menengah Atas Muhammadiyah di Yogyakarta. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahwa
meskipun secara umum muatan buku teks resmi menekankan keadilan gender,
dalam beberapa hal, juga mempromosikan ketidakadilan gender dan prasangka.
Penjelasan  mengenai  peran  sosial  lelaki  dalam  keseluruhan  sejarah  Muslim
cenderung memperoleh paparan luas, sementara peran sosial perempuan kurang
memperoleh perhatian. Di sisi lain, sebagian buku teks juga menjelaskan tentang
pentingnya sikap demokratis bagi Muslim dalam kerangka hubungan-hubungan
sosial. Dalam  hal ini, elaborasi mengenai peluang lelaki dan perempuan untuk
berpartisipasi  dalam  ruang  publik  telah  dijelaskan  secara  teologis.  Dengan
memperhatikan respon paraguru, kajian ini menunjukkan bahwa mereka umumnya
sepakat dengan paham mengenai erlunya perempuan dan lelaki berbagi dan
mungkin berkontribusi  dalam ruang publik sejauh perempuan tidak menolak
peran domestik mereka. Mereka agaknya mencoba menguji muatan buku teks
melalui pertimbangan rasional hingga teologis. Akhrinya, buku teks bermuatan orientasi keadilan ketidakadilan gender yang telah direspon secara berbeda oleh
para guru.