PRESS RELEASE
Towards National Meeting or TEMUNAS IV, Indigenous Women Asserted the Right to Lead and Determine the Future
Jakarta, 29 September 2026 — Indigenous women gad vital roles in securing food sources, maintaining knowledge, and managing community living spaces. Yet, indigenous women’s voices were often ignored in decision-making about development and indigenous territory.
Such situation was the topic of discussion by PEREMPUAN AMAN during meeting with the media in Jakarta, on Tuesday (29/9), prior to the National Meeting or Temu Nasional IV (TEMUNAS IV).
“In our village, when Perempuan Adat expressed their voices about development or land expansion in our own land, our voices were ignored, even Perempuan Adat were often told to go back to the kitchen. Yet, we had inputs and views that we wanted to express about our land. This happened in our land. There were many pressures that made it difficult for women to express their voices to protect their land,” said Novilla Aru, a Steering Committee member of TEMUNAS IV and Executive Board of PEREMPUAN AMAN Sawesuma.
Their dedication to Indigenous Women’s voices was also evident in the way community viewed women’s roles. Women were often relegated to complementary roles in a number of indigenous activities, while leadership space was not totally open.
“Women are often treated as complementary in ceremonies. When indigenous women’s leaders were needed, then people would look for them. That situation happened to this day,” said Arimbi Heroepoetri, a member of the Steering Committee TEMUNAS IV and of Panel of Experts for PEREMPUAN AMAN.
Strengthening Indigenous Women’s Leadership
PEREMPUAN AMAN organised TEMUNAS IV on 15–20 October 2026 in Sentul, Bogor, with a theme “Strengthening Indigenous Women’s Transformative Leadership: Preserving Knowledge for A Sovereign Life” or “Memperkokoh Kepemimpinan Transformatif Perempuan Adat: Merawat Pengetahuan Menuju Kehidupan yang Berdaulat.”
More than 200 indigenous women from different organising regions in Indonesia would be present and bring their experience, knowledge, and views from respective area.
The TEMUNAS IV series would bring together those experiences in four workshops about food sovereignty and household economy; indigenous women’s knowledge and sovereignty of respective areas; resilience to gender-based violence; and indigenous women’s collective rights in indigenous community governance.
In addition, Public Dialogue would discuss Indigenous Women’s Leadership for Change.
As the highest-level decision-making forum for PEREMPUAN AMAN, TEMUNAS IV would be the venue for members to reflect on organisational journey and to determine future direction of their struggle.
The Forum would also prepare resolution(s), inaugurate the National Council, and elect the chairperson for the subsequent period. Through such a process, PEREMPUAN AMAN wished to consolidate the position of indigenous women as right holders who had roles in determining life and territory of their respective community.
“To date, indigenous women were treated as objects, not as subjects with rights. Empowerment by the government was limited to implementing activities without strengthening the political space for indigenous women. For us, domestic work often deemed as a weakness had to be the foundation for strength to promote participation. Yet, participation alone was not enough for us,” said Devi Anggraini, the chairperson of PEREMPUAN AMAN.
About PEREMPUAN AMAN
Persekutuan Perempuan Adat Nusantara (PEREMPUAN AMAN) or Indonesian Indigenous Women Association was a branch of Indonesian Indigenous Community Alliance or Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) which was autonomous and non-profit.
Today, PEREMPUAN AMAN had 5,075 individual members in 120 organising regions in seven regions of Indonesia.
Media Contact: National Secretariat or Sekretariat Nasional PEREMPUAN This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | +62-811-8808-0031
