Raden Ajeng Kartini

The name Raden Ajeng Kartini is closely associated with the emancipation movement of Indonesian women.Her activities were confined within the walls of her father's residence in Jepara,Central Java.Yet,her work andideas have greatly influenced goverment policy and our thoughts and outlook concerning the status and rights of women.
Kartini lived at a time when education employment outside at home,freedoom to decide in marriage,and all such things,were beyond the woman's reach.She saw this with deep sorrow and resentment.Kartini was born in 1879,at atime when schools were still rare,and only meant to be attended by the sons of goverment officials.As a daughter of a regent,a nobleman of the highest rank in the local goverment,Kartini did enjoy elementary education.Trough her own reading and correspondence with Dutch friends she became acquainted with the greatest thinkers of the West.
In Rembang,the first thing she did was to set up a school for girls,but even here she did not see the completion of her work.She died soon after giving birth to a son,at the age of 25.
Kartini's ideas and ideals are expressed in her letters, which have been edited under the title of "Trough Darkness into Light",originally written in Dutch,now translated into Indonesian.