Empowering Children, Disempowering Women

Abstract

The development of early childhood care, education, and development programs in Indonesia suggests unexpected linkages between democratization, empowerment, and neoliberal policy regimes. Despite the shift to grassroots organizing and to empowerment as a goal of development, in Indonesia there is tremendous continuity in the use of women's work to provide social welfare at the community level. Ethnographic research illuminates the impact on women's work and their own interpretation of programs to empower children.

Keywords:

• Early Childhood
• Gender
• Development
• Empowerment
• Neoliberal Government
• Indonesia

Acknowledgements

My thanks to Nita Kariani Purwanti who served as interviewer, translator, and colleague for much of this work and Ridzki Samsulhadi who served as translator for some of the interviews. My thanks also to friend and mentor Professor Christine Koggel for her encouragement to continue thinking about empowerment.

Notes

¹Ethnographic research in Yogyakarta began with original fieldwork in 1992. Recent research has included interviews with NGO representatives, early childhood care and education workers, local childhood experts, government education officials, and local women working in these programs.

²The Indonesian national currency is the rupiah (Rp$). At the time of writing, 1 US dollar (US$) was worth Rp$8,500.

³Unless otherwise noted here, interviews were conducted by Nita Kariani Purwanti and translations were provided by Ridzki Samsulhadi.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jan Newberry

Jan Newberry is currently Board of Governors Teaching Chair and Chair of the Anthropology Department at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. She is the author of Back Door Java: State Formation and the Domestic in Working Class Java (Broadview, 2006)