Gender Inequality and the Oppression of Women within Minangkabau Matrilineal Society: A Case Study of the Management of ulayat Forest Land in Nagari Bonjol, Dharmasraya District, West Sumatra Province, Indonesia

Introduction

Gender inequality between women and men is closely related to notions of legitimacy and correctness. In family behavior, inequalities between women and men (and between girls and boys) are often accepted as natural or appropriate (Sen, 1985). Meanwhile, gender inequality as a result of a male bias can be commonly found within the development process, and may be seen as the end product of development (Branisa, Klasen, & Ziegler, 2013). In a matrilineal community of the Minangkabau people in Indonesia, however, the development brings no room for women to speak out and be heard.

The Minangkabau people, who live in West Sumatra Province, Indonesia, currently comprise the largest matrilineal society on earth (Metje, 1995). According to some anthropologists, their traditional social and political organization seemingly reflects a state of “pure matriliny” (Thomas & Benda-Beckmann, 1985). Within their matrilineal system, Minangkabau women occupy a distinctive place (Alim, 1994). The Minangkabau social structure is guided by adat, a behavioral code and worldview that sets the rules on matriliny in terms of village organization, group membership, residence, and the inheritance of property (Naim, 1979). adat in the most general sense means “the way of life.” Sometimes translated by “customs,” adat comprises law, morals, customs, and conceptions (Benda-Beckmann & Benda-Beckmann, 2006, p.213). Among the Minangkabau, property such as ulayat land, pusakotinggi and rumah gadang (Minangkabau traditional house) are inherited through the female line (Hanani, 2013).

Minangkabau people categorize property into pusako and ulayat, pusako meaning inherited property such as agricultural land, and ulayat referring to communal property within a matrilineal unit. ulayat land is reserved for members of a matrilineal social unit, and is intended for future agricultural expansion. Usually, a communal member has a right to access ulayat land, and the land is controlled by adat functionaries as rights holders. ulayat denotes village land or territory, and may be comprised of land, forest, water, and grazing land. ulayat land is communal land owned jointly by its owners, and is distributed among the founding clans of the village, then administrated by the heads of these clans (Holleman, 1981). ulayat land or communal land, as a de facto right, is defined as an interaction pattern built outside the realm of formal law, and includes hakulayat, a set of rules and community regulations inherited from ancestors and enforced by the community (Larson, 2012). hakulayat includes water, land, and air, and is commonly seen as equivalent to tanahulayat, since Minangkabau society perceives water, land, and air as inseparable elements (LBH Padang, 2005). There are three types of Tanah ulayat: (a) ulaya Nagarit (Nagari or village communal land) that belongs to the community as a whole; (b) ulayatsuku (clan communal land) which consists of sub-clans and the size of which depends on the number of members; and (c) ulayatkaum (sub-clan communal land) (Warman, 2006).

According to Nasroen (1971), ulayat can only be owned as a collective and not personally. However, controlling and governing the ulayat land is undertaken by the headman or customary ruler (Narullah, 1999; LBH Padang, 2005). ulayat is passed down through the generations, and the rights to its use pass to the women. The controller of rights over the communal land is the mamakkepalawaris (MKW) (Navis, 1986). A principal aspect of ulayat is that it cannot be traded, but can only be mortgaged under particular circumstances (Rajo-Panghulu, 1978).

In contrast to a patrilineal society, in which women have less rights and privilege over resources, resource management in the Minangkabau’s matrilineal society is very different, as women have the right to inherit natural resources. So, from a gender issue perspective, is it possible for gender inequality to exist within the Minangkabau matrilineal system?

The men continue to have relatively greater authority within Minangkabau society, including with regard to regulating property rights, as the adat functions are managed by men. But their authority is limited only to managing the communal properties. Women’s limited power regarding the management of ulayat creates a gender disparity"¹(Mikkola & Miles, 2007), though this does not reflect a particular case of gender inequality when managing natural resources, as is commonly the case in developing countries; in Minangkabau society, gender inequality refers to inequality in conditions among women and men for realizing their full human rights (Chaudhry & Rahman, 2009). Such inequality occurs in both matrilineal and patrilineal systems.

This deviation from the norm within the Minangkabau matrilineal system occurs in terms of managing natural resources such as the ulayat in Nagari Bonjol, specifically within Melayu Clan. The clan owns ulayatsuku, incorporating 33,550 ha of ulayat forest (communal forest), the actual sized of ulayat forest within the Melayu clan is not really known as such, because it uses only natural boundaries (Mutolib, Yonariza, Mahdi, & Ismono, 2015). Ideally, the rights to access ulayat forest land should be possessed by all clan members, with its management based on Minangkabau customary rules. However, an inconsistency exists in the management of the ulayat forest of the Melayu clan, one that runs counter to the custom. The ulayat rulers sell forest land for their own personal interest in spite of the Minangkabau custom that forbids the selling of ulayat land."² This paper aims to answer the question: Is the ulayat forest management system used in Nagari Bonjol by the Melayu clan fair to women? Why does inequality towards women exist in the management of communal forest land within the Melayu clan of Nagari Bonjol? The study analyzes women’s position and role in the management of ulayat as part of the Minangkabau’s matrilineal system. This research would seem to be important due to the limited literature that exists on gender inequality among matrilineal societies. The presence of gender inequality within the study society will be demonstrated using three pieces of evidence: the process governing how ulayat forest is sold, the Nucleus Estate Small Holder Plantation (NESHP) plot distribution process, and the discrepancy in rights that exists between men and women in managing the ulayat forest.

Methodology

Study Area

Nagari Bonjol covers an area of 268.83 km² (more or less 10% of Dharmasraya district). According to the Indonesian government, there are 33,000 ha of remaining production forest located in Nagari Bonjol. This constitutes state forest, in which the government has exercised various forest management models. In 1972, the management of this forest was placed under a forest concessioner who was able to exploit 66,000 ha of production forest. During this forest concession period, the Bonjol community had no access to forest resources. Then, in 2002 the government terminated the forest concession, and the forest area, dominated by secondary forest, was divided into two parts: permanent production forest and oil palm plantations. Use permits were issued to three oil palm plantation companies, as well as to Nucleus Estate Smallholder Oil Palm Plantation (NESHP). Meanwhile, the remaining forest was then also divided into two management systems: industrial plantation forest (HTI) and Dipterocarpaceae Enrichment Management (Meranti Development Model, MDM). The HTI was granted to a private company while MDM was granted to a state forest company (Inhutani). During this forest management transition, the Nagari Bonjol matrilineal community, and especially the Melayu Clan, regained control over the forest land, as their ulayat land, so the companies had to gain permission from the adat functionaries if they wished to access the forest land. Meanwhile, although use permits were granted to two forestry companies, the remaining forest was encroached upon by locals with the permission of the adat functionaries. Access to ulayat land by non-community members through land transactions was then facilitated by adat functionaries as the rights holders. By 2014 there was only 20% of secondary forest left which was degraded. As a result, the government introduced a new forest management model called Forest Management Unit (FMU) within the production forest. Unfortunately, the FMU has to deal with locals to access the forest, since most of the forest land is occupied ulayat.

Following the Minangkabau’s matrilineal system, each nagari has to have at least four clans to facilitate clan exogamy. Nagari Bonjol has five clans: (a) Melayu; (b) Piliang; (c) Patopang; (d) Chaniago; and (e) Talao. Traditionally, Nagari Bonjol was part of Nagari Abai Siat, but as part of administrative reforms in 1979, Nagari Abai Siat was split into several desas ─a Javanese model of village administration─one of which was Desa Bonjol. However, in 2000 the Desa administration was abolished when the central government adopted a decentralization policy. In West Sumatra Province, such decentralization was seen as a way to revitalize the Nagari administrative system. In the case of Desa Bonjol, the community was not returned to be a part of Nagari Abai Siat, but instead emerged as a new Nagari. All Melayu clan ulayat were integrated into territory inside the new Nagari Bonjol. As part of the revitalization of the Nagari administration, therefore, Nagari Bonjol emerged as new Nagari, and this coincided with a vacuum developing in terms of forest management. This situation led to a new form of control being introduced over the ulayat forest land.

Since 2000, the Melayu clan has continued to clear ulayat land, for as mentioned earlier, a forest management vacuum has led to such land clearing. Adat functionaries have also given access to non-clan or non-Nagari members, and especially influential individuals. Hence, there has been collaboration between adat functionaries and public figures, the aim being to legitimate access to such forest land, which is still considered state forest. Giving access to non-members is actually not a Minangkabau custom, as access to ulayat is meant to be exclusive to clan or nagari members. Selling ulayat land to non-members has also been triggered by the relatively large amount of land available when compared to the local population, as there are only 572 households to access 33,000 ha of ulayat forest. This study intends to describe the gender inequality that exists within the ulayat land sale process.

Results

Selling ulayat Forest Land

Under Minangkabau customs, ulayat forest land is communally owned. Therefore, it is forbidden from being sold. However, much of this land in the study area has recently been sold by the Melayu clan leaders. It is difficult to pinpoint a specific reason for this, but in earlier times the land was sold at a low price to high-ranking military personel and government officials. It is also clear the ulayat rights holders had close links with these influential figures, facilitating the land sales. Unfortunately, the proceeds from the sale of this land were retained by the rights holders for their own benefit. The women, on the other hand, with no rights to manage the forest land, are not involved in making decisions related to the fate of the forest land, and in fact only three men have this authority, but the sales process itself involves two others figures at the nagari level. Table 1 shows that only the men hold the power and authority to manage the ulayat forest.

Table 1.

Parties Involved in the Sale of Ulayat Forest Land

The price of land varies according to its position in the forest and the slope (Mutolib et al., 2015), but a price that is considered cheap ranges between IDR 2,500,000 and 10,000,000 per hectare (USD 200 to USD 800)."⁵ The size of the land sold varies between 20 and 500 ha (Mutolib et al., 2015). At such a cheap price, this forest land has become an attractive proposition for outsiders. The buyers come from various professions and backgrounds outside the Dharmasraya District. There is no limit on how much land can be bought; all buyers are allowed to buy different sizes, though in Indonesia or in the case of the Dhamasraya, it is only public figures who can buy large pieces of land. One key informant, who happens to be an MKW, described some of those who have bought ulayat forest land from him, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2.

Ulayat Forest Bought by Officials and Outsiders

Low Level of Education

One of the key factors leading to inequality between men and women is education level (Otto, 2010; Goldblatt & Freedman, 2015). Klasen (2002) reported that a low level of education among women has a negative economic impact. The more educated women are, the more they are exposed to gender-equal ideas and environments, and the educational process itself implicitly influences women to become more exposed to gender equality concepts (Lee, 2003; Ahn, 2011). The Nagari Bonjol community considers education to be unimportant, though a few finish junior and senior school. Our snapshot survey revealed the level of education among women in Nagari Bonjol, as shown in Table 3.

Table 3.

Women’s Education Level in Nagari Bonjol

Table 3 shows how low the level of women’s education in Nagari Bonjol is much lower than in rural areas in Indonesia in general. Most women do not finish elementary school and rarely attend junior or senior high school. This low level of education discourages Melayu women from fighting against the sale of ulayat forest, and facilitates the manipulation of the NESHP plot distribution process by the male ulayat rulers. Even though the women are disadvantaged by these activities, they keep any grievances to themselves, and have insufficient knowledge or courage to take on the rulers.

In addition to the low level of the women’s education, Nagari Bonjol society also follows a culture of early marriage. Knowles, Lorgelly, and Owen (2002) stated that women’s education level affects marriage ages and birth rates. The low level of education means that men in Nagari Bonjol get married between 18 and 20, while the women get married at an even earlier age, around 18 years old. Also, marriage in Nagari Bonjol is still dominated by marriage to partners from the same Nagari. Often, marriage is within hamlet as long as they do not belong to the same clan, as the Minangkabau ethnic group has adopted a clan exogamy system. The low level of education and marriage at a young age results in higher levels of poverty and a lack of development. This means the community can only rely on its land to sustain livelihoods. For the women, the low level of education and early marriages create a vicious circle in which they are moving further and further away from gender equality. This happens because the society still relies on natural resources that are fully controlled by the men.

Discussion

In practice, the management of ulayat forest by the Melayu clan in Dharmasraya deviates from its own customary rules, and also differs from the rules followed by the Minangkabau group in general. This deviation is apparent in the way the forest is managed by the Melayu clan’s leaders. Such a deviation, however, should not be used as a reference point; to generalize about the management of ulayat land among the Minangkabauas a whole, since there are plenty of Minangkabau people who manage ulayat land according to the customary rules (Rochmayanto, Sasmita, & Jannetta, 2004; Gadis, 2011). Furthermore, the oppression of women during the management of ulayat forest under Melayu clan in Nagari Bonjol, Dharmasraya should also not be used to generalize women’s position in Minangkabau society. Normally, women in Minangkabau society have quite a prominent position, as proved by the use of the term Bundo Kanduang, which makes the position and opinion of Minangkabau women highly valued in their society. Women in the Melayu clan in Nagari Bonjol, Dharmasraya face a different situation when compared to other Minangkabau women, whose status is highly respected by the men. As a result, it is of great interest to study the discrimination and oppression experienced by women in the Melayu clan, as it will enrich the existing research, most of which is focused on patrilineal systems as a cause of gender inequality in society.

Within the Melayu clan of Minangkabau in Dharmasraya, the abuse of authority by men in the management of the ulayat forest reflects a lack of readiness to face-up to their changing circumstances on the part of the local people, moving as they are from a subsistence based society to a more commercially oriented one. The outcomes are an alteration of the society’s viewpoint and mindset, and also the eclipsing of Minangkabau customs on how the clan should manage the ulayat forest. What happens now is that the communal rulers place economics as the highest priority, so prioritizing profit maximization over the customary rules and selling the ulayat forest, which is their responsibility. The Melayu clan has the good fortune to be in control of a forest covering 33,550 ha; an enormous ulayat forest. With less than 500 householders living in this area, it is very unlikely that any family within the clan will face a land shortage when it comes to farming and gardening. In spite of this, the selling of ulayat forest has depleted the amount of land owned by the clan.

The management of ulayat forest owned by the Melayu clan has also been heavily affected by the development of the forestry sector as a whole and the opening of plantations around the ulayat forest. The development of the local forest was initiated by West Sumatra Smallholder Development Projects (WSSDP), which was set-up by the government in 1980, followed by the entry of a private oil palm plantation in the early 2000s (Syarfi, 2006). These programs indirectly alerted the local people to the fact that their ulayat forest was a valuable asset, causing communal rulers to forget the forest’s main function. This means that when they regained control over their forest land, they started to sell it for their own benefit, without taking into account the clan’s common interests. Sales of this land began in the early 2000 and have continued ever since, severely depleting the ulayat forest. It is currently estimated that only around 1,000 ha of secondary forest remains. One negative impact of the development of the forestry and farming sectors has been the local women’s loss of control over their own land and a loss of status when it comes to managing land within the matrilineal system (Dey, 2008).

The selling of ulayat by the rulers has ruined any chance of future Melayu clan generations enjoying the forest, and in fact has simply helped enriched other clans. But in the end, it will be the Melayu clan women and future generations of Melayu clan who suffer the most from the depletion of the Melayu clan’s ulayat forest.

The presence of inequality and the oppression of women in the Melayu clan (part of the Minangkabau matrilineal society), runs counter to previous research that claimed gender inequality is mainly a problem of patrilocality"⁹ and patrilineality (Jayachandran, 2015). It’s true that patrilocality creates a gap between men and women which finally results in gender inequality (Oster, 2009; Jayachandran, 2015), while in a patrilineal culture, control over resources frequently follows the father’s lineage, often disadvantaging women. However, the gender inequality that exists between men and women in the Melayu clan of Minangkabau proves that such inequality can also occur in matrilineal societies, not only in patrilineal ones.

Conclusion

The existence of the ulayat forest within Minangkabau matrilineal society does not guarantee equality for the local women in terms of access to and use of the forest, a situation caused by women’s lack of management authority. Such a lack of authority has resulted in ulayat forest land being sold-off by the men in charge. Moreover, inequality towards women is also apparent in the palm oil plantation units distribution, when the influential men manipulated the process to benefit themselves. This oppression of Melayu clan women is caused by their fragile social status in the customary structure, their low level of education, and the fact that the women of the Melayu clan consider gender equality a taboo issue that is never discussed. These three factors give rise to the misuse of authority by those men who manage the ulayat forest; whose sole aim is to enrich themselves. The fragile social status of women within Melayu clan and their low level of education render them incapable of fighting against the unjust treatment they receive from those men who arbitrarily manage the ulayat forest.

The most interesting conclusion to be derived from this research is associated with equality and women’s position within the Melayu’s clan matrilineal system in Nagari Bonjol, for despite the system being matrilineal in nature, women tend to be treated unfairly and suffer from gender inequality. This shows that gender based disparity and inequality towards women can occur anywhere, even within a matrilineal system.

Acknowledgments

We owe a debt of gratitude to the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education in the Republic of Indonesia for funding support for this research under the Program Magister Menuju Doktor Sarjana Unggul (PMDSU), an accelerated Ph.D. program.

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