Gendered Discourses in Political Movements: Women’s Participation in Indonesia’s Anti-Omnibus Law Protests

Abstract

This study investigates gendered discourses and women’s participation in Indonesia’s anti-Omnibus Law protests, examining how women activists construct political identities and mobilize gendered narratives within a major national movement. The 2020 Omnibus Law on Job Creation sparked widespread opposition, and women played significant roles as organizers, speakers, and participants, yet their contributions and gender-specific experiences have often been marginalized in mainstream accounts. Employing qualitative discourse analysis and feminist political communication frameworks, the research analyzes protest speeches, social media content, interview data with women activists, and movement documentation to identify how gendered discourses are produced, circulated, and contested. The findings reveal that women’s participation in the protests is framed through multiple discursive strategies, including maternal citizenship, labor rights advocacy, and moral accountability, which serve to legitimize their public presence and challenge traditional gender norms. Women activists also use gendered humor, symbolic performances, and intersectional framing to address issues such as labor precarity, sexual violence, and political exclusion, thereby expanding the movement’s democratic claims. However, the study also finds that gendered discourses can be co-opted or limited by patriarchal movement structures and societal expectations, resulting in unequal recognition and decision-making power. The novelty of this research lies in its explicit focus on gendered discourse as a central analytical lens for understanding women’s roles in large-scale political mobilization in Indonesia. The contribution of the study is to deepen scholarship on gender and protest by demonstrating how women’s communicative practices shape movement dynamics and democratic participation. It concludes that enhancing women’s leadership and representation in political movements requires institutional support, gender-sensitive organizing, and greater visibility of women’s political contributions within public discourse.