Indonesian Muslim Women Writers and Their Writings: Women, Islam and Religious Identity

In Indonesian literary culture today, numerous women writers have represented in their writings women's own ways to look at their own selves. Literary representations become one way among others trying to portray women's strategies that will give them maximum control over their lives and bodies. Muslim women writers in Indonesia have shown through their representations of Muslim women in their writings that Muslim women in Indonesian settings are capable of undergoing a self-definition process. However, from their writings too, readers are reminded that although most women portrayed are strong and assertive it does not necessarily mean that they are free from oppression. Among Muslim women writers in Indonesia, four writers, namely Titis Basino P I, Ratna Indraswari Ibrahim, Abidah El Khalieqy, and Helvy Tiana Rosa are prolific authors spanning from the older to younger generation