Journal Review

Journal Review – Siting Islamic Feminism: The Indonesian Congress of Women Islamic Scholars and the Challenge of Challenging Patriarchal Authority

Author: David Kloss¹, Nor Ismah²

In this article, Kloos and Isma (2023) elucidate the progressive step to advocate women’s authority in slam and advancing women’s rights and gender equality in the religious perspective through Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia (KUPI). Kloos and Isma explore the Islamic feminism theory, religious women’s authority, intersectionality, knowledge exchange, and local and global social movements to emphasize how KUPI challenges male supremacy and patriarchy in Islam by collecting Muslim women scholars and women’s activists to discuss the authority role of women in religion to strengthen women and their rights. This conference was claimed to be the expansion of global Islam feminism, which resonates in the local context and has potential as an impactful social movement. Moreover, KUPI was seen as the medium of public communication, where secular and religious knowledge inform and shape each other, highlighting the struggle for authority in the Indonesian public sphere and emerging Islam feminism as the act of activism and thought.