Islamic schools. It also promotes women’s partici-
pation in the public sphere in religious, educa-
tional, and health activities. It has established an
extensive network of family planning and mater-
nity clinics. Through this network it provides
health, nutrition, and family education and assis-
tance to women. The government’s family planning
program is based on Aisyiyah’s concept of ideal
family (keluarga sakinak) (Candland and Nur-
janah 2004, 6).
Division of labor based on gender is manifest in
both NU and Muhammadiyah. The activities of
Muslimat, Fatayat, and Aisyiyah are women-cen-
tered and less political. However, these roles are
chosen and defined by women themselves. The
members we interviewed argue that in Islam, poli-
tics is inseparable from other dimensions of social
life. Therefore, when female members have chosen
to work for women only, they also contribute to the
political life of NU and Muhammadiyah, and to the
development of their families and the Indonesian
society at large. In both organizations, members
claimed that men and women do not compete for
power, but rather complement each other in their
roles.
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Pute Rahimah Makol-Abdul and
Saodah Abdul Rahmannorth africa 711North AfricaWomen’s associations meet to perform religious
rituals on a regular or occasional basis throughout
North Africa. These associations are autonomous,
attached neither to each other, nor to parallel men’s
associations, although some associations recognize
distant or former affiliation with Sufi (Islamic mys-
tical) orders. They are usually loosely structured
with membership based on ritual participation.
Their rituals may take the form of the dhikr, or Sufi
remembrance ritual, a spirit possession ceremony
called ™a∂raor lìla, or a combination. Some are
held exclusively for women, whereas men affiliated
with Sufi orders may be present at others to play
instruments, chant, slaughter sacrificial animals, or
observe. The rituals provide the women with an
opportunity for social contact and a communal
worship experience of their own design.
Documentation of women’s associations holding
spirit possession rituals exists for Tunisia, Algeria,
and Morocco. In the case of Tunisia, the associa-
tion’s rituals are held in the tombs of holy figures.
A woman healer orchestrates the ritual and treat-
ment of women participants afflicted with spirit
possession. The few men present watch or play
drums and castanets and chant to summon the spir-
its. The spirits inhabit the afflicted causing them to
move rhythmically and to fall into trance. While in
trance, they are encouraged by the healer to articu-
late their personal dilemmas and formulate solutions
(Ferchiou 1991). Women’s associations holding
similar rituals exist in urban centers in Algeria
(Jansen 1987) and Morocco (Fernea 1979, 1988,
Maher 1984, Rausch 2000, Reysoo 1998). The
healers directing the ritual, who are often freelance
seers, may claim affiliation with the male musi-
cians’ Sufi order. However, the female participants
consider themselves bound to each other and the
ritual leader. The rituals are usually held in private
homes, sometimes during rites of passage celebra-
tion such as weddings (Jansen 1984) or circumci-
sions (Maher 1984). They allow the participants to
process gender-related conflicts.
Two differing examples of women’s associations
performing dhikr-like rituals exist in Algeria.
Despite distant affiliation with the QàdirìSufi
order, both function autonomously. The female
leader of the first association orchestrates rituals
held on Friday afternoon in the tomb of a holy fig-
ure. The rituals consist of prayers and litanies prais-
ing the Prophet, followed by the expression of
requests by individual women for the resolution of
personal problems transmitted to the holy figure by
the leader who requests intercession. Then current