Gender Inequality in the Law Enforcement of Adultery: A Critical Analysis of the Treatment of Women

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-519-5_48How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Adultery; Women; Discrimination; Criminal Code; RKUHP; Restorative Justice; Legal Reform

Abstract

This study analyzes the juridical crime of adultery in Indonesian criminal law with a focus on women as the most vulnerable parties affected by criminalization. The provisions of Article 284 of the Criminal Code, although designed to maintain moral values and public order, actually raise problems in the perspective of gender equality and the protection of human rights. The empirical normative research method uses a legislative approach, and a conceptual approach as well as a case and reality approach in the field. The legal materials used consist of primary legal materials, namely related laws and regulations (such as the Criminal Code, RKUHP, and human rights instruments), secondary legal materials in the form of legal literature, journals, research results, and tertiary legal materials such as legal dictionaries and encyclopedias. The data collection technique was carried out through a literature study for normative legal materials and in-depth interviews with related parties such as law enforcement officials and women’s protection institutions to enrich empirical data. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively, by examining the suitability between positive legal norms and their implementation practices, and examined from the perspective of gender justice and human rights theory. The results of the study show that the criminalization of adultery has a direct impact on women in the form of structural discrimination, social stigma, and the burden of proof that tends to be uneven. Women are more often made suspects or defendants, especially in cases involving unbalanced power relations, non-marital relationships, or out-of-wedlock pregnancies. The complaint that is the basis for the processing of adultery cases, instead of protecting privacy, is often used to control women’s bodies and choices. In addition, in many cases, the evidentiary system is not strong enough and opens up opportunities for criminalization of victims of sexual violence who fail to prove the element of coercion. Through normative approaches and empirical studies, this article recommends the need for more gender-sensitive criminal law reforms, strengthening protection mechanisms for women in the justice system, and the development of alternative non-criminal solutions based on restorative justice. This reform is expected to be able to shift the criminal law paradigm from repressive to promotive and transformative for the realization of substantive justice for all citizens, especially women.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Nopiana Mozin
AU  - Mohammad Jamin
AU  - Hartiwiningsih Hartiwiningsih
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/29
TI  - Gender Inequality in the Law Enforcement of Adultery: A Critical Analysis of the Treatment of Women
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Law, Economics & good Governance (ICLAW 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 606
EP  - 614
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-519-5_48
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-519-5_48
ID  - Mozin2025
ER  -