Masculine Domination: Gender Construction in Indonesian Folk Literature

Abstract

In the early stages of childhood, children are often faced with cultural values where they begin to grow and recognize the various value systems that apply in society. In the context of Indonesian society, folk literature is an initial transmission medium of knowledge that parents often use for their children. Therefore, the contents of the material from children's books greatly contribute to the acquisition of children's knowledge and experience from various situations, events, or places in their lives. This paper discusses the construction of gender contained in Indonesian folklore. The research was conducted on popular story that is constantly reproduced and consumed repeatedly, both in the form of books and subject matter at school. Based on research obtained from the results of research, the value order to be ideal men and women in gathering collectively Indonesian society settles in various characters in story. To support the construction, a number of ideal figure of men and women were built through story characters, threats to deviant construction, and male superiority myths. Folk stories as a medium of early transmission became a medium of transmission towards the institutionalization of intergenerational patriarchal construction in Indonesia from an early age.