Leadership and Authority: Women Leading Dayah in Aceh

This chapter explores Muslim women in positions of leadership and authority in Acehnese dayah (a traditional Islamic boarding school for the study of the Qur'an, Hadith and other classical Islamic texts, also known as pesantren). It is a biographic-ethnographic analysis that examines the lives and experiences of two contemporary female dayah founders and their rise to leadership as they studied in male-led dayah. In doing so, the chapter reveals the dynamic relations between female and male leaders and the important role of leaders' wives and daughters in dayah. The chapter includes an overview of the development of the dayah institution from its historical inception to its con- temporary significance in providing religious education for the masses, an examination of the role of women under male-dayah leadership based on the narratives of the two female leaders, and current activities of these women as teachers and leaders in their respective dayah and communities to reveal the fluidity of their positions in a male-dominated dayah culture.