The role of Indonesian women as members of a polity has been a contested one. The first issue to arise during the colonial period was whether women should have the right to vote; later during independence the right of some Indonesian women to citizenship was disputed; and at the end of the twentieth century, quite unexpectedly, there was a vigorous debate about whether a woman had the right to lead the country. This chapter draws together these debates under the rubric of citizenship, since they all relate to the equality of women with men as citizens of the Indonesian polity.

Consideration of citizenship brings into focus the relationships between the individual, the collectivity and the state, in a way that highlights important political concepts such as identity, freedom, equality, justice, care, participation and power, all central concerns of feminist politics. In the context of twentieth-century Indonesian history, these have all been contested matters as far as women are concerned, and they have particular resonance now with the return of democracy to Indonesia.

Taken as a whole, literature on citizenship canvasses three related issues: membership of a political community, the rights and obligations associated with that membership, and participation by those members in the life of that polity. This chapter investigates Indonesian women's experience of each of these aspects of citizenship. As the largest Islamic country in the world, Indonesia's case carries weight since Islamic women are frequently perceived as political victims rather than active, full political citizens.