Kartini, Raden Ajeng (1879-1904), was one of the first women in Indonesia to campaign for more education, freedom, and independence for women. In particular, she wanted Indonesian students to have the right to a Western education. Her birthday, April 21, is observed as Kartini Day.
Kartini was born on April 21, 1879, in Mayong, Java. She was one of several daughters of a Javanese aristocrat. Her father was a bupati (head of a region). This was the highest position an Indonesian could hold in the Dutch colonial bureaucracy. Her privileged position allowed her to attend a Dutch school, and she became fluent in Dutch. At the age of 12, she had to give up her formal education. Kartini, in following the customs of the time, withdrew into the seclusion of her home to prepare herself for marriage. She continued to educate herself and read all the Dutch books she could find.
Kartini’s education made her realize how much freedom Dutch women had. She knew Javanese women had little freedom by comparison and campaigned for better treatment. Kartini started a school for young girls. She also struck up friendships with some of the more sympathetic Dutch people. From 1900, she kept up a lively correspondence with her Dutch friends. A selection of her letters was published in a book in 1911. It was later translated into English and published as Letters of a Javanese Princess (1921). In 1903, she married a senior Javanese official. She died less than a year later, on Sept. 17, 1904, five days after the birth of her only child, a son. A Kartini fund was set up in her memory.
