Gender Power Relations in Patriarchal Families: An Analysis of Role Equality in Sriwangi Ulu Village, East OKU, South Sumatra from the Mubadalah Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70211/gils.v1i1.385Keywords:
Gender Power Relations, Patriarchy, Mubadalah, Rural Family, Role EqualityAbstract
Persistent gender inequality in rural Muslim families demonstrates a significant gap between formal commitments to gender justice and everyday household practices shaped by patriarchal norms, customary traditions, and gender-biased religious interpretations. This study investigates the structure of gender power relations within families in Sriwangi Ulu Village, East OKU, South Sumatra, and examines the relevance of the Mubadalah framework articulated by Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir as an alternative ethical and interpretive approach for promoting reciprocal and equitable family relations. Employing a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis involving married couples and community figures, and analyzed using thematic and content-based techniques grounded in reciprocity theory. The findings reveal that household governance remains strongly male dominated across decision-making, economic control, children’s education, and mobility, while women disproportionately shoulder unpaid domestic and care responsibilities with limited authority, indicating the persistence of hierarchical rather than dialogical relations. These patterns demonstrate a systematic misalignment between lived family practices and the principles of reciprocity, partnership, and shared responsibility advocated by Mubadalah. The study contributes theoretically by integrating Islamic gender hermeneutics with sociological analysis to explain how religious reinterpretation can serve as a culturally legitimate mechanism for challenging entrenched patriarchy, and empirically by identifying emerging egalitarian tendencies among younger families that signal potential pathways for transformation. The findings imply that sustainable gender equality in rural contexts requires not only legal protection but also community-based family education, gender-just religious literacy, women’s economic empowerment, and participatory household decision-making to institutionalize reciprocal gender relations at both household and village levels.
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