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Abstract

One of the educational development problems is the gap in the quality of education between regions and community groups, as well as gender. This article has examined gender, religion, patriarchy and the educational discrimination faced by coastal women who are a part of the Madura culture in East Java. This study employed a qualitative approach by interviewing 70 informants who consisted of school dropouts, the parents of daughters who had dropped out, teachers, and community leaders. This study found there to be several key findings. In the Madura culture, the concept of gender for women is always associated with the domestic roles. Madurese women experience cultural and structural pressure regarding gender equality, especially for the women coming from poor families. The patriarchal culture is perpetuated through religious dogma and it has become a way of life and a code of conduct. The phenomenon of gender inequality faced by women in Indonesian society, such as in the coastal regions of East Java, cannot be separated from the existence of a patriarchal culture which is a way of life and a code of conduct. Coastal women do not only experience cultural pressure due to the patriarchal culture but they also experience structural pressure. This is because most of them come from poor families. Gender equality is difficult to achieve, particularly for Madurese women living on the coast due to their low socioeconomic status. The relevant empowerment model in the coastal communities related to gender inequality in education. This could start by reconstructing the thoughts of the coastal communities about gender through the existing socio-religious institutions, both formal and informal. In addition, there must be an economic empowerment of the coastal families. This is so then the daughters no longer become victims who must bear the economic burden of the family by dropping out of school or entering into early marriage.

Author Biography

Sudarso works at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga.

Phillipus Edy Keban works at the Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga.

Siti Mas’udah works at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga.

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