Raden Ajeng Kartini

A respected Javanese emancipist, Kartini was responsible for giving voice to women in Indonesia during a time of injustice to females in society. Every year there is a national holiday on the 21st April for this Javanese lady with foresight and gusto.

Raden Adjeng Kartini or more accurately Raden Ayu Kartini (1879 -1904) was a prominent Javanese and an Indonesian national heroine. She was born in the age when women received little or no education at all because, their parents reasoned, they would end up giving birth and stay in the kitchen all the time, anyway. Kartini rebelled in her quiet way against this injustice and inspired the women of her nation to achieve more than what the society allowed them.

R.A. Kartini was born into an aristrocatic Javanese family; her father Raden Mas Sosroningrat, was the mayor of Jepara. Her mother was the first wife but not the most important one. At this time polygamy was a common practice among the nobility. Kartini therefore experienced first-hand the conflicts and suffering that arise from polygamy. She was against this practice not the least because she had received the European style of education.

Kartini was allowed to visit school until she turned 12 years old. Among other things she learnt to speak Dutch fluently which was unusual for Javanese women at the time. After she turned 12, she was 'secluded' at home, a common practice among Javanese nobility, to prepare young girls for their marriage. It was a form of imprisonment: girls were was not allowed to go out at all until they were married, when authority over them was transferred to their husbands.

Kartini's father gave her certain privileges during seclusion such as embroidery lessons and occasional appearences in public for special events.

Because Kartini could speak Dutch, she learned at home on her own and wrote to her Dutch penpals. One of them, a girl by the name of Rosa Abedanon, was a close supporter of Kartini. Her letters containing her views against the unfair treatment of her folks towards women, were published in the Netherlands.

Kartini's parents married her to the mayor of Rembang who already had three wives. It was against Kartini's sensibility but she eventually agreed to appease her ailing father. Her husband turned out to be relatively liberalfor that era in that he allowed her to keep writing letters to her friends in the Netherlands.

Kartini's only son was born on the September 13, 1904. A few days later, Kartini passed away at the age of 25.