Your Job Is To Serve Your Husband, Says Wedding Planner In Jakarta While Promoting Child Marriages And Servitude
For years, men and women have been living in a world that promotes inequality through its regressive beliefs. Women have been expected to serve men and I just cannot wrap my head around this. Religious teachings may even put it out there in no unclear terms: Husband is the head of the family and the wife must “obey” him. Why? Just because he was born with a penis and male hormones? Whatever happened to merit. Apparently, a wedding planning company in Jakarta has been campaigning girls and women in the age group of 12-21 to get married so they may fulfill their life’s purpose of serving their husband. What? What even?
The agency that goes by the name of Aisha Weddings ran an extensive advertising campaign promoting child marriage, polygamy, and patriarchy. Its campaign said some of the cringiest things and it’s making my PMS nausea worse, to be honest.
“To be accepted in the eyes of Allah and your husband, you must marry at the age of between 12-21 and no later. Do not delay marriage because of your selfish wants, your job as a girl is to serve your husband’s needs,” a copy on Aisha Weddings’ website read. Nevermind that 12-year-old girls are basically children. What do you mean delay marriage for your “selfish” wants? A huge chunk of our culture thinks that women should be self-sacrificing and not have any aims, goals, desires herself. If she does, she is “selfish”. And how does the website know that God won’t appreciate a 22-year-old girl getting married? Do they have direct contact?
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The photos and ads justifying early and child marriage, as well as polygamy, have been taken down from Facebook. With this, Aisha Weddings sparked outrage in Indonesia as people were disturbed by the campaigns it was running. Look at the fucking audacity! It’s not even legal to marry before 19, for both men and women, in Indonesia. Several netizens reported the agency to the national police for spreading illegal propaganda around.
“So many studies show that early marriage can negatively affect children’s education, mental preparedness, reproductive preparedness, and their economic preparedness,” KPAI Commissioner Jasra Putra said on the matter.
The Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) called out the wedding planning agency and pressurized the police to investigate what’s wrong with Aisha Weddings thoroughly.
“Despite Indonesia raising the minimum age for girls to marry from 16 to 19 through a President Joko Widodo initiative in 2018, parents are still permitted to request for dispensation from religious courts to grant permission for underage children to marry on the grounds of religious belief. This loophole — which Aisha Weddings admits to exploiting — has allowed for numerous underage marriages to take place under nikah siri arrangements, which are recognized by religion but not by the state,” reports Coconut.co.
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It blows my mind to think that a certain section of society reduces a woman down to a slave to her husband. She must serve, obey and be eternal support to her husband. He can beat her up, rape her and treat her however he wants. And she must still be loyal and devoted. This is sickening, to say the least.
And then going on to promote child marriage, how sick is that? That’s abuse and rape as well. And systematically promoting abuse and illegal marriage should have legal consequences! “You must depend on a man as early as possible for a stable and happy family. Don’t be a burden for your parents, find a man earlier,” Aisha Weddings wrote on their website.
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When criticised for its content, they wrote on Facebook, “Don’t judge. If the parents are willing and the Religious Affairs Office issues the marriage dispensation for children, why get angry? Some families don’t have money for their children. It’s better to marry than die of hunger.”
However, a new angle to this has come to light. “Digital experts say they have noticed irregularities in Aisha Weddings’ online presence, suspecting that it was all manufactured to stir outrage and Islamophobic sentiments,” Coconut.co reports. Either way, it’s really pathetic!
