Aisyiyah

Aisyiyah (Arabic: عائشية, romanized: ʿĀʾishiyah, lit. 'followers of Aisha') is an Islamic non-governmental organization in Indonesia under Muhammadiyah, dedicated to female empowerment and charitable work. It was formed on 19 May 1917 by Nyai Ahmad Dahlan to facilitate women's access to education, health care and social services. The organization provides micro-loan and small business development support, family planning services, maternal and pediatric care, orphanages, training for female Muslim clerics, and standard preschool through university level education. These social services end at death, whereby the organization provides female morticians so that female bodies do not need to be prepared for burial by men. Aisyiyah manages several hundred healthcare centers in Indonesia as well as three branches in Egypt, Malaysia and the Netherlands. The organization's stated goal is to make Islamic society a reality for women, and it encourages its members to seek further education even if they become "smarter than their husbands." Aisyiyah faces opposition to their work from two sources: traditional Javanese culture with its pre-Islamic practices and the minority of Indonesians who study Islam in the Middle East both display negative attitudes toward women in the public space.