Indonesia Conference Directory

There were 347.256 divorce cases in Indonesia in 2015 (BPS). The cases tend to increase every year. The major factor causing the divorce is the communication disharmony. In fact, communication is the main essence in establishing a family. The Indonesian society, based on the culture and religiosity, still firmly believes that husbands are the decision makers, and wives need to obey. The deeply rooted patriarchal culture makes some Indonesian women have lack opportunity to speak up. It seems that there is an inequality between husbands and wives in expressing opinions or arguments. How does Islam view empowerment? This paper will explore how Islam sees empowerment in communication between husband and wives. The study used a qualitative approach, and a case study method. Whereas the data were collected through in depth interview, focus group discussion, and documentary study. The study was placed in Desa Cilame for a group of female headed household that were given empowerment programs from some Moslem scholars. The results of the study show that : The concept of Islam on the women empowerment is that women are the open gate of the heaven for their parents, as the religion complement for their husbands, and as the heaven for their children; Islam gives freedom for women to actualize themselves by taking part in some activities to make them knowledgeable and skilled; Islam perceives that husband-wife is not boss-subordinate relationship, yet relationships with love and affection where the basic convention is peace and tranquility (QS Ar-Rum [30]:21). In communication, Islam has guided through the Hadits that when speaking wives and husband must use Heart (slowly, clearly, and well arranged) "(HR Abu Dawud).