Fatima Mernissi’s thought and women’s leadership in twenty-first-century Indonesia: A qualitative content analysis

Women’s leadership in twenty-first-century Indonesia continues to face tensions among democratic recognition, affirmative action policies, and patriarchal religious interpretations. This study examines Fatima Mernissi’s thoughts on women’s leadership and its conceptual resonance with the dynamics of women’s leadership in contemporary Indonesia. Employing library research, the study adopts a historical-interpretive approach and Krippendorff’s qualitative content analysis. The data comprise Mernissi’s works, academic literature, electoral regulations, and documents on women’s political representation, all selected for their substantive relevance. The analysis involved coding, categorization, thematic interpretation, and source triangulation. The findings demonstrate that Mernissi legitimizes women’s leadership through three foundations: normative equality, critical examination of hadith transmission chains and historical contexts, and historical legitimacy derived from the leadership of Bilqis and the political agency of Aisha. Women’s representation in the Indonesian House of Representatives increased from 9.20% in the 1999–2004 term to 20.52% in 2019–2024. However, this increase has not resulted in substantive equality and reveals a persistent gap between affirmative action at the candidate-nomination stage and actual electoral outcomes. The study concludes that Mernissi’s thought conceptually resonates with the development of women’s leadership in Indonesia, although it does not constitute a direct causal influence. Theoretically, this study integrates Islamic feminism, hadith criticism, women’s historical agency, and political representation. In practical terms, the findings underscore the importance of equitable political recruitment, women’s leadership development, access to political resources, gender-responsive religious education, and the transformation of patriarchal culture.