Gendered Power Relations in Everyday Religious Life: Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Legitimating Language

Afifah Liana, Harsuko Riniwati, Fadillah Putra, Imam Arifa’illah Syaiful Huda

Abstract


Religious authority provides moral and spiritual guidance, but in certain relationships, it can be used to judge and restrict women. This study examines how gendered moral-religious power is formed, legitimized, and negotiated in the experiences of young adult Muslim women in Indonesia. The study used an experiential qualitative design informed by a phenomenological sensibility and involved semi-structured interviews with five informants aged 18–29. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Foucault’s concepts of disciplinary and pastoral power, alongside Bourdieu’s concepts of symbolic violence and doxa (common belief), were used to explain how regulation becomes normalized and difficult to resist. Findings show that authority develops through closeness and hierarchical relationships; language of protection and adab normalizes regulation; collective reputation turns objections into loyalty issues; and silencing operates through self-surveillance, though supportive relationships can reopen space for agency. The study contributes a relational model of religious authority, showing how everyday moral language facilitates reputational displacement and shifts the burden of institutional reputation onto women.


Keywords


Religious Power Relations; Foucault; Bourdieu; Religious Authority; Muslim Women

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21043/palastren.v19i2.39333

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