Negotiating Female Agency within Gendered Social and Cultural Contexts: A Feminist Reading of Selalu Ada Ruang untuk Pulang

Abstract

Women’s representation in literature provides a means of examining how gender norms shape identity, social expectations, and the possibilities for female agency. This study examines the representation of women and the construction of gender in Karima Ifha’s novel Selalu Ada Ruang untuk Pulang, focusing on ho​w the main character, Khansa, negotiates her agency within gendered social and cultural contexts. Using a descriptive qualitative design, the study analyzes the novel as its primary data source. Data were collected through repeated reading and documentation of relevant narrative passages, dialogues, and character actions, and then examined through close reading and thematic analysis informed by feminist perspectives and Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity. The findings reveal four interconnected dimensions of women’s representation and gender construction: Khansa’s resilience and professional participation, expectations surrounding intimate relationships and physical appearance, the organization of gender within religious spaces, and solidarity among Muslim women. These dimensions indicate that Khansa is portrayed as capable of making decisions and responding to challenges, while her self-understanding and choices remain shaped by social recognition, gendered expectations, and interpersonal relationships. The study’s contribution lies in integrating women’s representation, gender construction, and agency within a contextual analysis of a contemporary Indonesian novel. It concludes that Khansa’s agency is neither wholly autonomous nor entirely constrained but is negotiated through the interaction of personal capacity, social norms, and relational support.