Kartini | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Raden Adjeng Kartini | |
| Born | (1879-04-21)21 April 1879 |
| Died | 17 September 1904(1904-09-17) (aged 25) Rembang, Dutch East Indies |
| Other names | Raden Adjeng Kartini |
| Known for | Women's emancipation; national heroine |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Soesalit Djojoadhiningrat |
| Parents |
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| Signature | |
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Raden Adjeng Kartini, also known asRaden Ayu Kartini (21 April 1879 – 17 September 1904),[a] was a prominentIndonesian advocate ofwomen's rights andfemale education.
She was born into an aristocraticJavanese family in theDutch East Indies (present-dayIndonesia). After attending a Dutch-language primary school, she wanted to pursue further education, but Javanese women at the time were barred from higher education. Instead, Kartini entered a period of seclusion mandated for teenage girls until they married. She acquired knowledge by reading books and by corresponding with Indonesian and Dutch people. Her father allowed her to go into the community beginning in 1896, although she remained an unmarried single woman. She opposed thePurdah-like seclusion of teenage girls andpolygamy.
She met various officials and influential people, including J.H. Abendanon. She began the tradition amongst three of her sisters to found and operate schools. After she died, schools were established by a foundation founded in the Netherlands. Some of her Indonesian friends also establishedKartini Schools.
After her death, her sisters continued her advocacy of educating girls and women. Kartini's letters were published in a Dutch magazine and eventually, in 1911, as the works:Door Duisternis tot Licht (From Dark Comes Light) and an English version,Letters of a Javanese Princess.
In 1964, Kartini was declared as aNational Hero of Indonesia,[2] and her birthday is now celebrated in Indonesia asKartini Day in her honor.
During Kartini's life, Indonesia became an important Dutch colony with natural resources of rubber and oil and the production of tobacco that attracted more Dutch immigrants than any other Dutch colonial possession.[3] The Dutch sought to control the entire Indonesian archipelago, which they did by the 20th century. In the meantime, there were technological advancements with the opening of theSuez Canal in 1869, the laying of telegraph lines, and the construction of railroads, which brought the colony into the modern age.[3] As more Dutch people immigrated to Indonesia, more private businesses were founded, and educational opportunities opened up for the Indonesian noble class, when Dutch schools were opened up for immigrants. The feminist movement in the Netherlands began to spread to the traditional Indonesian culture.[3]Polygny was common amongst Indonesian aristocrats. Muslims could have up to four wives. Common wives had littleclout in their husband's households. They often supported themselves and lived in separate buildings from their husband.[4] Women generally had little influence in the patriarchal Indonesian society. Men's social standing was determined by the number of wives they had.[5]
Kartini was born 21 April 1879, inJava, Indonesia, in the village of Mayong.[6][7] Her parents were Raden Adipati Sosroningrat,[8] a member of thepriyayi (Javanese gentry), and Ngasirah, the daughter of a religious scholar. Her father worked for theDutch colonial empire of theDutch East Indies[6][7] as the administrative head of north-central Java.[1] In 1880, he became theRegent ofJepara, which meant that, in all likelihood, Kartini would marry another Regent.[9]
Her mother, Ngasirah, was 14 and a commoner when she married Sosroningrat. Her parents were NyaiHaji Siti Aminah, who had apilgrimage toMecca, and Kyai Modirono, likely devout Muslims.[5] Ngasirah was Sosroningrat's first wife, with whom he had eight children.[8] His next wife was the aristocratic Raden Ayu Sosroningrat, with whom he had three daughters. Regents were expected to marry nobility. Kartini called her step-mother "mother", rather than her birth mothers.[10]
Kartini was the fifth child and second-eldest daughter in a family of eleven, including half-siblings. She was born into a family with a strong intellectual tradition. Her grandfather, Pangeran Ario Tjondronegoro IV, became a regent at the age of 25,[11] while Kartini's older brother, Sosrokartono, was an accomplishedlinguist.[12]
Kartini attended a Dutch school, which was her initiation to theWestern world, beginning at the age of six.[7] She was among the first Indonesian children to attend a European school and was treated poorly by teachers and fellow students. Over time, though, she was recognized for her intelligence.[13] Kartini was a fluent speaker of the Dutch language. Most Indonesian girls spokeMalay.[14] While at Dutch school, she also studied with Marie Ovink-Soer, the wife of another regent, who gave Kartini sewing lessons and taught her aboutfeminist viewpoints.[7] She remained in Dutch school until she was a teenager when she experienced thepurdah-like "sheltered existence deemed appropriate to a young female noble",[7][15] from 1891 to 1895.[6] During this period, she was expected to be meek and compliant with rigid cultural rules and etiquette. She learned to cook and do other household chores. She madebatik fabric and her clothing.[16] Uncomfortable with the hierarchical dictates, Kartini was considerate of her subordinates and did not expect servants, commoners, or her younger siblings to treat her according to the cultural traditions.[17] She was particularly annoyed when women berated or talked in a rebuking manner about young girls, the lowest on the hierarchical ladder.[17] Kartini stood up her ground for all of the females to go to school
During her seclusion, Kartini read feminist and political publications, including that ofPandita Ramabai Sarasvati. She said of the activist for outcastes and women, "So it's not only white women who are able to take care of themselves-a brown woman can make herself free and independent too."[17]
Kartini and her sisters, Kardinah and Roekmini, were allowed one way they could escape the seclusion periodically. They visited Marie Ovink-Soer for piano and handicrafts training.[18]
Kartini was fluent in Dutch and acquired several Dutch pen pals. One of them was a girl named Rosa Abendanon, who later became a close friend.[7] Kartini shared her opinions about feminism and her concern about traditional Javanese practices with her friends from Dutch school and Ovink-Soer. She was particularly concerned that Javanese girls were often denied an education and forced into marriage when they were young.[7] She believed that education was important to develop oneself and to prepare for motherhood and was against arranged marriages andpolygamy.[6] Kartini believed that women should be free to make decisions themselves.[7]
Beginning in 1896, Kartini was given permission by her father to occasionally leave the room in which she was secluded to visit a village of wood carvers, attend the consecration of a protestant church, and other special occasions.[18] The more that she became acquainted with life outside her home, the more that she became interested in the concerns of other Indonesians. Some of her articles were published during this time. Members of her family and noble Indonesian and Dutch people considered the unmarried Kartini's activities in the community a scandal.[18]
In 1898, a ball was held to celebrate theInauguration ofWilhelmina of the Netherlands. Unusual for the time, Kartini and her closest two unmarried sisters were invited to attend the ball with their father, which Kartini saw as a recognition of her leadership and as a representative for single women.[19] She decided that educational courses in character should be given to students due to the "deceit and hypocrisy" exhibited by Europeans and Asians at the ball.[19]
By the time that Kartini reached the age of 16, she was expected to marry. Rather than being addressed to society as a woman looking to marry, she was introduced as a single woman. She had no intention of marrying at that age. By 20, her viewpoint had changed. In a letter, she stated, "Some day it will, it must happen, that I shall leave home with a husband who is a stranger to me."[20]
Raden Adipati Djojo Adiningrat (also known as Raden Adipati JoyodiningratRembang) was a widowed progressive leader. He learned about Kartini and approached her father to discuss the possibility of an arranged marriage. The couple agreed that Kartini would continue her plans for the school.[7][21] Kartini married Joyodiningrat on 8 November 1903. There was a 26-year age difference between Kartini and her husband. She became the fourth wife of Joyodiningrat, who had 12 children at the time. Her marriage precluded her from accepting a scholarship.[7] Soon after her marriage, Kartini became pregnant and was optimistic about the life her child would have. She continued to work at the school during her pregnancy. Her son Raden Mas Singgih was born on 13 September 1904.[22] Kartini died on 17 September 1904, four days after giving birth to her only child. She was buried at Bulu Village, Rembang.[7]
Kartini wrote letters extensively about matters important to her, including art, politics, education, public health, economic welfare, and literature. The letters were sent to her Dutch friends, including J.H. Abendanon, the Minister for Culture, Religion, and Industry in the East Indies, and his family.[23]
Kartini corresponded with Estelle (Stella) Zeehandelaar, who answered her pen-pal ad in theDaily Lily in 1900. Unlike Kartini, who had been secluded for many years, Stella was a 25-year-old woman fromAmsterdam who supported herself.[24] Kartini wrote about her feelings about marriage, polygyny, traditionalmores, and education. She also wrote about her relationship with her father and how she planned to improve herself.[25] She met Abendanon, who sought to improve educational opportunities for girls, also in 1900.[25] She began to correspond with Mevrouw (Mrs.) Abendanon-Mandri. Their letters provide insight into the changes in her life and in colonial Indonesian life.[26]
Seven years after Kartini's death, Abendanon collected, edited, and published her letters. The book titledDoor Duisternis tot Licht (From Dark Comes Light) was published in 1911.[27] She was the first Indonesian whose opinions were published in Dutch and popular among Dutch-speaking Indonesians and Europeans.[23] This publication was edited to exclude references to colonial figures, Islamic beliefs, and Javanese culture, and the English translation made further changes.[28] The book was translated intoEnglish by Agnes L. Symmers asLetters of a Javanese Princess[29] published in 1920.[28] The English book focused on Symmers' view of an Oriental woman in love, focusing on her personal life, and excluding letters that showed her as an intelligent forward-thinking woman.[30] Books were published for Indonesians, a version inMalay in 1922 and another Malay version in 1951 byArmijn Pane, excluding some Kartini's most important letters.[1] In 1960,UNESCO published 19 of Kartini's letters in French.[30] The letters are available atLeiden University Libraries and can also be consulted digitally.[31] A complete English translation of all of Kartini's letters was published in 2014 by Joost Coté inKartini: The Complete Writings 1898-1904 along with articles and other writings by her.[32]
On 11 April 2025,UNESCO inscribed the Kartini letters and archive, held atLeiden University Libraries,Nationaal Archief andNational Archives of Indonesia, in itsMemory of the World Register affirming their world significance and outstanding universal value.[33][34][35]
Kartini coordinated efforts between a group of Indonesian artists and Europeans in the East and West association. Europeans provided funding for an art shop to create carved wood pieces. Kartini operated a school.[30]
Kartini believed that women were paramount in the process of improving the lives of Indonesian men and women, and because of that, she developed an education plan for girls that had the same academics and character-building instruction as for boys but also included hygiene, first aid, and money management.[36] Kartini was particularly concerned about the lack of medical care for Indonesians, and female Indonesians in particular. So much so that she considered attending medical school.[36]
Kartini was introduced toHenri van Kol, a member of parliament, in August 1902, who offered to help her realize her plan to study teaching and first aid in the Netherlands. The goal was to have the knowledge to open a school, teach, and be the school's headmistress. He contacted the States General on her behalf. Kartini received a scholarship, but many people in her life were concerned about her leaving Java.[37]
Kartini, with her husband's support, opened up a school for women in Rembang's Regency Office complex.[7] She operated the school by herself, teaching 10 girls four days a week.[38] In 1903, she wrote a report to the government entitledEducate the Javanese Now that discussed the significance of receiving a quality education and offered some recommended methods for achieving it.[15]
Following Kartini's death, a foundation was established in the Netherlands to continue Kartini's vision for building and operating schools. Indonesian women also openedKartini Schools from 1913 and into the 1930s in Java.[22] Students of the schools included Java's first female graduate of medical school, and another woman was its first law graduate. Women asserted themselves to create productive lives of their own making. In 1945, equal rights for women was written into Indonesia's first constitution.[39]
Her sisters continued the legacy of operating schools, including Rockmini. Kardinah also wrote textbooks and established a medical school. Soematri also focused on vocational education for women.[39]
Kartini Letters and Archive: the struggle for gender equality. Submitters: Indonesia and the Netherlands (Kingdom of the). The documents form an integral basis for understanding the life and ideas of Raden Ajeng Kartini (1879-1904).
This collection is described in Collection guide Jacques Henry Abendanon (letters Kartini) (ubl249).Digital version of the Kartini Letters.
Posthumous publications:
Media related toKartini at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or aboutKartini atWikisource| International | |
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