Women, Media, and Power in Indonesia

This book demonstrates the crucial link between gender and structures of power in democratic Indonesia, and the role of the online news media in regulating this relationship of power. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a theoretical framework, and social actor analysis as the methodological approach, this book examines the discursive representation of three prominent female Indonesian political figures in the mainstream Indonesian online news media in a period of social-political transition. It presents newfound linguistic evidence in the form of discourse strategies that reflect the women's dynamic relationship with power. More broadly, the critical analysis of the news discourse becomes a way of uncovering and evaluating implicit barriers and opportunities affecting women's political participation in Indonesia and other Asian political contexts, Indonesia's process of democratisation, and the influential role of the online news media in shaping and reflecting political discourse.

Jane Ahlstrand is an Indonesian Studies lecturer in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, at the University of New England, Australia

1. Introduction 2. Women and Political Power in Indonesia 3. News Media and Democracy in Indonesia 4. Niche, yet Constrained, Power: Navigating Women's Political Leadership in Kompas.com 5. Between the Individual and the Institution: Augmenting Power in an Established Hierarchy 6. Courting Controversy: Women as Icons of Contestation 7. Gender and News Media Discourse: Populism, Authoritarianism and Democratic Transition