Women in Power in East-Java: Progress or Illusion?

After the results of the last territorial elections in Indonesia in June 2018, there are now ten women elected at the head of some of the main cities of East-Java, prefectures and the Province itself.  For Indonesian political journalists, these women activists and feminists will manage local politics in a “softer” and less “harsh” direction, in comparison with the one conducted by their male counterparts. Known as Srikandi (central female character of Javanese and Balinese shadow theatre), do these women really embody the emergence of a new female political class, eager to moralize Indonesian political practices? …