Women of the old Javanese period : their activities and roles from 9th to early 10th century inscriptions

Abstract

This study is concerned with 92 inscriptions from the 9th to early 10th century A.D. The main topic of this study is to analyze the Old Javanese women's roles in the society. 29 inscriptions show women from this period can be categorised into high and low status groups. Both groups are found involved in social, administrative, religious, economic, and juridicial activities. The result of this study shows that Old Javanese women seem to have been less equal to men, especially when we analyze how many women were actively taking part in each activity. Almost in every activity where women participated actively or passively, they are mentioned as the wife of someone and usually their name appeared after their husband's. This situation seems to indicate that in the majority cases, women's titles function as the status markers rather than role and function markers. The other important finding is that the information given in those inscriptions relates mainly to high status women and only for a very limited range of situations.