Gender Awareness in Islamic Legal Education

Abstract

is article aims at discussing the integration of gender issues in Islamic legal education in Indonesia and Malaysia. In particular, this is to see how gender issues are taught to Islamic law students and integrated into the curricula to instil gender awareness. Based on empirical inquiries in the Department of Family Law of Faculty of Sharia and Law of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta and Faculty of Sharia and Law of Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, this study nds that the attempts to include gender issues in the curricula have been still very limited and insu cient. Courses that directly discuss gender issues and human rights issues are treated merely as elective courses. Except in Jakarta UIN, currently, the speci c course on gender becomes a compulsory course. Moreover, the integration of gender discussion into general courses is not easy. is depends on the willingness and awareness of the lecturers to include the discussion. e signi cant challenge in integrating gender issues in Islamic legal education is related to lecturers and students’ previous norms, values, and ideology. Because of this, the introduction to gender discourse becomes mind-provoking. is study relies on data from the curricula, interviews with faculties’ key gures, and Focus Group Discussion with students from both institutions.