Reimagining Grassroots Women’s Leadership: Epistemic Agency and Collective Power in Rural Indonesia

Titiek Kartika  Hendrastiti

doi:10.35912/aiplap.v1i1.3916

Reimagining Grassroots Women’s Leadership: Epistemic Agency and Collective Power in Rural Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.35912/aiplap.v1i1.3916

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to explore grassroots women’s leadership as a collective and epistemic process rooted in everyday struggles for justice, care, and survival, focusing on women in rural Indonesia.

Research Methodology: This study utilizes participatory methods and feminist-decolonial analysis, drawing on field experiences and reflections from Her Place, Her Power: Growing Together for Women’s Rights and Agency in Rural Communities. The study examines the leadership of women in rural Indonesian contexts, such as forest-edge, agrarian, and coastal areas.

Results: The findings reveal that rural women develop leadership not as positional authority but as epistemic agency, creating and sharing knowledge based on lived experiences. They challenge exclusionary governance, negotiate recognition, and co-create strategies for gender equality and environmental well-being.

Conclusions: This study concludes that these women’s leadership is relational and transformative, rooted in care ethics, intergenerational solidarity, and community-based learning. Epistemic leadership provides a path toward gender-just and inclusive innovation, suggesting a need to rethink leadership development and knowledge systems.

Limitations: This study is limited to rural Indonesia and may not fully represent the experiences of women in other contexts.

Contributions: This study contributes to the fields of gender studies, rural development, and leadership by offering a new perspective on leadership that values local women as co-producers of transformative change. It provides insights for policymakers, community leaders, and scholars focused on gender equality and sustainable development.

Keywords

Epistemic Agency Feminist Decolonial Approach Gender Justice And Inclusive Innovation Grassroots Women’s Leadership

How to Cite

Hendrastiti, T. K. . (2026). Reimagining Grassroots Women’s Leadership: Epistemic Agency and Collective Power in Rural Indonesia. Advances in Public Law and Policy, 1(1), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.35912/aiplap.v1i1.3916

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References

Abu Lughod, L. (1990). Can there be a feminist ethnography? Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 5(1), 7-27. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07407709008571138
Barter, C., & Renold, E. (1999). The use of vignettes in qualitative research. Social research update, 25(9), 1-6.
Batliwala, S. (2011). Feminist leadership for social transformation: Clearing the conceptual cloud: Crea New Delhi.
Behar, R. (2022). The vulnerable observer: Anthropology that breaks your heart: beacon press.
Cornwall, A. (2008). Unpacking ‘Participation’: models, meanings and practices. Community development journal, 43(3), 269-283. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsn010
Cornwall, A., & Rivas, A.-M. (2015). From ‘gender equality and ‘women’s empowerment’to global justice: reclaiming a transformative agenda for gender and development. Third world quarterly, 36(2), 396-415. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1013341
Crenshaw, K. (2013). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics Feminist legal theories (pp. 23-51): Routledge https://doi.org/10.3917/drs1.108.0465.
de Sousa Santos, B. (2015). Epistemologies of the South: Justice against epistemicide: Routledge.
England, K. V. (1994). Getting personal: Reflexivity, positionality, and feminist research. The professional geographer, 46(1), 80-89. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0033-0124.1994.00080.x
Escobar, A. (2018). Designs for the pluriverse: Radical interdependence, autonomy, and the making of worlds: Duke University Press.
Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing: Oxford university press.
Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development: Harvard university press.
Gosselin, L., & Gauquelin, M. (2025). Rethinking Knowledge Cumulation: Foregrounding Epistemic Justice in Environmental Governance Research. Environmental Policy and Governance, 35(4). doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2168
Harcourt, W. (2023). The politics of knowledge: Feminist strategies for transformation. Dialogues in Human Geography, 13(2), 296-300. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206221144820
Harding, S. (1991). Whose science? Whose knowledge?: Thinking from women's lives: Cornell University Press.
Hendrastiti, T. K., & Irianto, S. (2025). Gerakan Perempuan Tanpa Label: Menemukan Feminis Subaltern Di Indonesia Pra-Reformasi. Jurnal Perempuan, 30(1), 53-61 https://doi.org/10.34309/jp.v30i1.1139.
Hendrastiti, T. K., & Kusdinar, P. A. (2025). Her Place, Her Power: Growing Together for Women’s Rights and Agency in Rural Communities: Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia.
Hendrastiti, T. K., & Kusujiarti, S. (2020). Hidden Narratives: The Struggle of Sumba Women in Saving Fresh Water. Paper presented at the GE2J 2019: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Gender Equality and Ecological Justice, GE2J 2019, 10-11 July 2019, Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.10-7-2019.2298886.
Hendrastiti, T. K., & Setiahadi, R. (2022). Keagenan Perempuan pada Krisis Iklim: Dekolonisasi Metode Feminis. Jurnal Perempuan, 27(3), 203-213 https://doi.org/10.34309/jp.v27i3.714.
Hendrastiti, T. K., Setiahadi, R., Kusujiarti, S., Pratiwi, D., & Safrudi, H. I. (2024). Essential ecosystem area policies as a means to promote participatory and inclusive conservation in forest landscape governance: Centering perspectives of marginalized women in Taman Kili-Kili, Indonesia. Forest and Society, 8(1), 140-153. doi:https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v8i1.28312
Hesse-Biber, S. N. (2013). Feminist research practice: A primer: Sage Publications.
Johnstone, M., & Lee, E. (2021). Epistemic injustice and indigenous women: Toward centering indigeneity in social work. Affilia, 36(3), 376-390. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920985265
Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment. Development and change, 30(3), 435-464. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00125
Lugones, M. (2007). Heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system. Hypatia, 22(1), 186-219. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2007.tb01156.x
McDonough, S. (2013). Decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples by Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Collaborative Anthropologies, 6(1), 458-464. doi:https://doi.org/10.1353/cla.2013.0001
Mohanty, C. T. (2005). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity: Zubaan.
Musante, K., & DeWalt, B. R. (2010). Participant observation: A guide for fieldworkers: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
Narayan, K. (2014). How Native Is a “Native” I Anthropologist? Situated lives (pp. 23-41): Routledge.
Nussbaum, M. C. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach: Harvard University Press.
Pillow, W. (2003). Confession, catharsis, or cure? Rethinking the uses of reflexivity as methodological power in qualitative research. International journal of qualitative studies in education, 16(2), 175-196. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839032000060635
Prawitasari, S., Sinaga, H., & Viajar, V. (2025). Claiming land, sustaining life: Feminist political ecology of women’s collective action in Pari Island. GENDER EQUALITY: International Journal of Child and Gender Studies, 11, 214-230. doi:https://doi.org/10.22373/equality.v11i2.30752
Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power and Eurocentrism in Latin America. International sociology, 15(2), 215-232. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580900015002005
Rahmania, T., Kertamuda, F., Wulandari, S. S., & Marfu, A. (2025). Empowering women for a sustainable future: Integrating gender equality and environmental stewardship. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 11, 101503. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101503
Ritchie, J., Spencer, L., O’connor, W., & Lewis, J. (2003). Carrying out qualitative analysis. London: Sage.
Rose, G. (1997). Situating knowledges: positionality, reflexivities and other tactics. Progress in human geography, 21(3), 305-320. doi:https://doi.org/10.1191/030913297673302122
Tiostanova, M. V., & Mignolo, W. (2012). Learning to unlearn: Decolonial reflections from Eurasia and the Americas: The Ohio State University Press.
Udo, F., Bhanye, J., Daouda Diallo, B., & Naidu, M. (2025). Evaluating the Sustainability of Local Women's Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Durban, South Africa: A Feminist Political Ecology and Intersectionality Perspective. Sustainable Development, 33(3), 3212-3227. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3284

Abu Lughod, L. (1990). Can there be a feminist ethnography? Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 5(1), 7-27. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07407709008571138
Barter, C., & Renold, E. (1999). The use of vignettes in qualitative research. Social research update, 25(9), 1-6.
Batliwala, S. (2011). Feminist leadership for social transformation: Clearing the conceptual cloud: Crea New Delhi.
Behar, R. (2022). The vulnerable observer: Anthropology that breaks your heart: beacon press.
Cornwall, A. (2008). Unpacking ‘Participation’: models, meanings and practices. Community development journal, 43(3), 269-283. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsn010
Cornwall, A., & Rivas, A.-M. (2015). From ‘gender equality and ‘women’s empowerment’to global justice: reclaiming a transformative agenda for gender and development. Third world quarterly, 36(2), 396-415. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1013341
Crenshaw, K. (2013). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics Feminist legal theories (pp. 23-51): Routledge https://doi.org/10.3917/drs1.108.0465.
de Sousa Santos, B. (2015). Epistemologies of the South: Justice against epistemicide: Routledge.
England, K. V. (1994). Getting personal: Reflexivity, positionality, and feminist research. The professional geographer, 46(1), 80-89. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0033-0124.1994.00080.x
Escobar, A. (2018). Designs for the pluriverse: Radical interdependence, autonomy, and the making of worlds: Duke University Press.
Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing: Oxford university press.
Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development: Harvard university press.
Gosselin, L., & Gauquelin, M. (2025). Rethinking Knowledge Cumulation: Foregrounding Epistemic Justice in Environmental Governance Research. Environmental Policy and Governance, 35(4). doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2168
Harcourt, W. (2023). The politics of knowledge: Feminist strategies for transformation. Dialogues in Human Geography, 13(2), 296-300. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206221144820
Harding, S. (1991). Whose science? Whose knowledge?: Thinking from women's lives: Cornell University Press.
Hendrastiti, T. K., & Irianto, S. (2025). Gerakan Perempuan Tanpa Label: Menemukan Feminis Subaltern Di Indonesia Pra-Reformasi. Jurnal Perempuan, 30(1), 53-61 https://doi.org/10.34309/jp.v30i1.1139.
Hendrastiti, T. K., & Kusdinar, P. A. (2025). Her Place, Her Power: Growing Together for Women’s Rights and Agency in Rural Communities: Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia.
Hendrastiti, T. K., & Kusujiarti, S. (2020). Hidden Narratives: The Struggle of Sumba Women in Saving Fresh Water. Paper presented at the GE2J 2019: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Gender Equality and Ecological Justice, GE2J 2019, 10-11 July 2019, Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.10-7-2019.2298886.
Hendrastiti, T. K., & Setiahadi, R. (2022). Keagenan Perempuan pada Krisis Iklim: Dekolonisasi Metode Feminis. Jurnal Perempuan, 27(3), 203-213 https://doi.org/10.34309/jp.v27i3.714.
Hendrastiti, T. K., Setiahadi, R., Kusujiarti, S., Pratiwi, D., & Safrudi, H. I. (2024). Essential ecosystem area policies as a means to promote participatory and inclusive conservation in forest landscape governance: Centering perspectives of marginalized women in Taman Kili-Kili, Indonesia. Forest and Society, 8(1), 140-153. doi:https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v8i1.28312
Hesse-Biber, S. N. (2013). Feminist research practice: A primer: Sage Publications.
Johnstone, M., & Lee, E. (2021). Epistemic injustice and indigenous women: Toward centering indigeneity in social work. Affilia, 36(3), 376-390. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920985265
Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment. Development and change, 30(3), 435-464. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00125
Lugones, M. (2007). Heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system. Hypatia, 22(1), 186-219. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2007.tb01156.x
McDonough, S. (2013). Decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples by Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Collaborative Anthropologies, 6(1), 458-464. doi:https://doi.org/10.1353/cla.2013.0001
Mohanty, C. T. (2005). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity: Zubaan.
Musante, K., & DeWalt, B. R. (2010). Participant observation: A guide for fieldworkers: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
Narayan, K. (2014). How Native Is a “Native” I Anthropologist? Situated lives (pp. 23-41): Routledge.
Nussbaum, M. C. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach: Harvard University Press.
Pillow, W. (2003). Confession, catharsis, or cure? Rethinking the uses of reflexivity as methodological power in qualitative research. International journal of qualitative studies in education, 16(2), 175-196. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839032000060635
Prawitasari, S., Sinaga, H., & Viajar, V. (2025). Claiming land, sustaining life: Feminist political ecology of women’s collective action in Pari Island. GENDER EQUALITY: International Journal of Child and Gender Studies, 11, 214-230. doi:https://doi.org/10.22373/equality.v11i2.30752
Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power and Eurocentrism in Latin America. International sociology, 15(2), 215-232. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580900015002005
Rahmania, T., Kertamuda, F., Wulandari, S. S., & Marfu, A. (2025). Empowering women for a sustainable future: Integrating gender equality and environmental stewardship. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 11, 101503. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101503
Ritchie, J., Spencer, L., O’connor, W., & Lewis, J. (2003). Carrying out qualitative analysis. London: Sage.
Rose, G. (1997). Situating knowledges: positionality, reflexivities and other tactics. Progress in human geography, 21(3), 305-320. doi:https://doi.org/10.1191/030913297673302122
Tiostanova, M. V., & Mignolo, W. (2012). Learning to unlearn: Decolonial reflections from Eurasia and the Americas: The Ohio State University Press.
Udo, F., Bhanye, J., Daouda Diallo, B., & Naidu, M. (2025). Evaluating the Sustainability of Local Women's Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Durban, South Africa: A Feminist Political Ecology and Intersectionality Perspective. Sustainable Development, 33(3), 3212-3227. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3284

Titiek Kartika Hendrastiti

Bali School of SDGs & Akar Global Initiative (AGI), Bali, Indonesia

Advances in Public Law and Policy

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Reimagining Grassroots Women’s Leadership: Epistemic Agency and Collective Power in Rural Indonesia

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