In Bali, a region often praised for its rich culture and peaceful social fabric, an enduring patriarchal tradition quietly undermines women’s security and equality. The island’s customary law (adat) especially regarding land inheritance, systematically excludes Balinese women from full participation in economic, social, and political life. Although Indonesia’s national laws formally guarantee gender equality, customary practices in desa adat (traditional villages) continue to privilege male lineage, leaving women economically vulnerable and politically marginalised.
Keywords : Adat, Women, Patriarchy
Land as Power, The Gendered Foundation of Adat
In Balinese adat tradition, Balinese inheritance was based on custom and heirs were male descendants (BWCC, 2023). Sons inherit ancestral land and are expected to continue the religious and familial obligations linked to the desa adat. Daughters, meanwhilst, are considered part of their husband’s family upon marriage and are expected to contribute there instead. Women who do not marry or return to their parental village after divorce are often excluded from any claim to family land.
This practice results in a deep gender imbalance in land ownership. A 2016 study by LBH APIK Bali found that less than 15% of women in rural areas had land registered in their names, despite working the land daily (LBH APIK Bali, 2016). Without legal ownership, women’s access to collateral, housing security, or political voice within the banjar (village council) is severely limited.
Economic Insecurity as Structural Violence
Denying women land inheritance is not merely a cultural oversight, it is a form of structural violence with deep, long-term consequences for peace, resilience, and gender justice. The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) framework stresses that economic security is a foundation for sustainable recovery in the aftermath of crisis or conflict. Yet in many communities, particularly in rural Indonesia, women without land rights face multiple exclusions.
Without legal ownership, women are often denied access to government aid, agricultural subsidies, disaster relief, or rural development initiatives. In this context, patriarchal land inheritance norms do more than marginalise, they compound the vulnerability of women to both environmental shocks and socio-political neglect. Ensuring women’s access to land is not only an issue of equity, but one of crisis preparedness, peacebuilding, and long-term resilience.
Legal Reforms vs. Cultural Authority
Indonesian national law, particularly the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law, recognises equal land rights for men and women. Yet in practice, adat (customary law) often overrides these protections, especially in rural areas where patrilineal inheritance remains the norm. This undermines statutory efforts to promote gender equality.
Though women can legally register land in their own name, they are often discouraged by family, denied documents, or obstructed by village leadership. Legal aid groups like LBH Bali provide legal literacy and inheritance training to challenge these barriers. Some progressive villages have adopted hybrid systems blending adat and state law, allowing daughters to inherit under certain conditions (LBH APIK Bali, 2016).
Still, such reforms are rare and typically depend on village leaders’ discretion. Without broader reconciliation between cultural authority and national law, women’s land rights will remain limited and inconsistent.
WPS and Women’s Rights to Land as Justice
The WPS agenda calls for women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding and their protection from structural violence. In the Balinese context, land rights are foundational to both. Without land, women lack a voice in customary councils, are excluded from religious duties, and face economic insecurity that makes them more susceptible to exploitation and violence.
Recognition of this intersection is growing. In recent years, gender advocates have worked with local leaders in Bali to integrate gender perspectives into disaster recovery and land access policies, particularly in climate-vulnerable coastal and agricultural regions. Bali’s strong customary (adat) inheritance laws often exclude women from ancestral land ownership, reinforcing patriarchal control despite statutory equality. Progress remains dependent not only on reforming legal frameworks but also on shifting deeply rooted community attitudes toward women’s roles in lineage, land, and leadership (Lindsey & Pausacker, 2016)
The study emphasises that durable adaptation depends not only on legal change but also on transforming local community attitudes, aspects deeply tied to women’s roles in land stewardship and leadership.
Patriarchy in Bali is most acutely felt in the ownership, or lack thereof, of land. In a society where land is not just property but identity, culture, and power, women’s exclusion from inheritance leaves them politically voiceless, economically insecure, and socially marginalised. Through the lens of the WPS agenda, we can see that this is not simply a local custom but a structural injustice that undermines the full participation of women in peace, development, and governance.
If peace is to be sustainable in Bali, it must be built on equity of land, voice, and value. Reclaiming women’s right to inheritance is not only about ownership, it is about transforming patriarchal legacies into pathways for justice.
References
BWCC. (2023). Breaking Sensitivity, Exploring Balinese Women’s Inheritance Rights https://bwcc.or.id/en/articles-mendobrak-sensitivitas-menggali-hak-waris-perempuan-bali
LBH APIK Bali. (2016). Laporan Hak Waris dan Kepemilikan Tanah oleh Perempuan di Bali. Denpasar: LBH APIK.
Lindsey, T., & Pausacker, H. (Eds.). (2016). Religion, law and intolerance in Indonesia. Routledge.