Media representations of gender: The marginalization of female Muslim scholars in Indonesia

The purpose of this study is to reveal the media's insensitivity to female Muslim scholars (ustadzah) in Indonesia by showing the media's tendency to support the dominance of patriarchal culture and use male-centered perspectives when understanding social and religious issues. This article applies critical discourse analysis to explore the media representation of ustadzah in Indonesia, with a focus on representations of certain actors and subjects. The processes of inclusion and exclusion are analyzed in detail. Ustadzah are rarely involved in Indonesian social discourses. Although Indonesians tend to learn about Islamic scholars and scholars through the media, ustadzah have a limited media presence. As such, religious discourse in Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim-majority country - is dominated by those male scholars whose sermons are frequently televised. The typology of female Muslim scholars produced by this study (controversial scholars, incompetent scholars, and commercial scholars) provides an analytical tool for understanding the media's construction of gender. It shows that, even as times change, patriarchal culture and power structures continue to dominate Indonesian social life and media. Although the media has long been described as a pillar of democracy, its practices are ironically quite different: it is very authoritarian and pro-status quo. The media is used as a tool to legitimize the power and dominance of patriarchal culture. Even though women are widely involved in the public sector, they are still considered the second sex. © 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.