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CONFERENCE PROGRAM AND ICGCS 2021

ABSTRACT BOOK

Gender and Family

SOCIAL PRACTICES OF KHULU’ AMONG

MINANGKABAU WOMEN IN PADANG

MUNICIPALITY DURING 2017 – 2020:

A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

Jendrius, Zuldesni, Alfan Miko, Ghina

Reftantia, Abdis Sallam Fajri

Universitas Andalas

Indonesia is one of the countries with the highest divorce rate. Although there has been a
downward trend since 1970s, especially since the enactment of the marriage law and

several government policies that were not pro-divorce, the trend shows increasing every
year.

The province of West Sumatra was once known as one of area with high levels of highest

divorce rate in Indonesia. Likewise, the practice of polygyny is a common phenomenon

encountered in West Sumatra before the decade of the 70s. However, currently, although

the divorce rate in West Sumatra is below several provinces such as East Java, Central

Java and West Java, the trend also shows a significant increase.

This article discusses the practice of khulu’ among Minangkabau women in Padang

municipality which is one of the areas with the highest divorce rate in West Sumatra. In

Islam, there are two types of divorce talaq and khulu,’ namely. Talaq is a divorce whose
initiative comes from the husband, meanwhile khulu’ is a divorce which is the right of the

wife by filing a lawsuit to religious court. In the last decade, khulu’ is getting higher and it

even dominates the type of divorce throughout Indonesia, including West Sumatra

Province and the Padang municipality.

The research purposes to get a map of the practice of khulu’ including its trends and

magnitudes in Padang municipality over the last 4 years. For that purpose, an intensive

survey was conducted based on data the religious court decisions about khulu’ in Padang

religious court. Amount 320 sampling were selected by systematic random sampling

from 3,200 cases. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics by SPSS

software.

The result of the research shows some interesting facts. Cases of khulu’ were dominated
by Minangkabau women who are between 35 – 40 years old, have children from their

marriage, are well educated (high school – bachelor level), living by matrilocal residence

and generally do not work (housewives). Generally, divorce occurs at the early years of

marriage, but in cases, it shows the different facts. Divorce occurs when the marriage has

entered a stable stage. It is generally believed that the presence of children in a marriage

can prevent divorce, but based on fact found there were many cases of divorce occur in

family who have children. Other fact shows cases of khulu’ are more common in families

who live with their extended matrilineal relatives (matrilocal residence). It is also different

from previous studies which show that divorce occurs mostly among women who are

economically independent, but in this study actually shows that khulu’ occurs among

women who do not work.

Keywords: Divorce; khulu’; social practice; Minangkabau women; Padang

municipality.

Short Biography:

Jendrius is a senior lecturer at Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political

Sciences, Universitas Andalas, Padang, West Sumatra. He graduated doctoral program from

Gender Studies Programme, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 2015. Currently, in

addition to teaching and research activities, he also holds the position of Director of Center for

Gender, Children and Family Development (PPGAK) at Universitas Andalas, Chair of Ikatan

Sosiologi Indonesia (Indonesian of Sociological Association) West Sumatra, secretary of
Indonesian Association of Sociology Studies Program and Indonesian Association of Gender
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Studies committee.

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