EMANCIPATION OR CULTURE?

"Recommended For: Teacher and Student"

Talking about Kartini day, automatically we will recognize that it's related with women's day. So far, I become remember about a village where all activities mostly done by women. The village is Wanogara. It's located in sub distric Rembang, regency of Purbalingga. There, the residents produce "gerabah" or "pedhama lemah" such as ciri, layah, kendhil, etc. They are traditional kitchen kit. Potter, exactly.The first time I visited Wanogara I met an old woman shom she was processing "gerabah". She made it same as make a jar. She mixed soil and sand, and then put them on wooden plate / potter's wheel. Later, she turned it while shaping her "gerabah".I met another woman too. She was "nggejrot" or mixing soil and sand. She mixed chosen sand from the river. Besides that, I saw women who burnt "gerabah". Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture because the smoke was so thick. One of them said that the burning process is the last process before "gerabah" be sold. But, before burning process they should dry the "gerabah" under sun heat.In Wanogara, all "gerabah" producers are women. They look for the soil and the sand from field and river. They do "nggejrot", shaping "gerabah", until burn the "gerabah". On the other hands, the men just as "marketing staff".
(Taken from The Creative Minority, a monthly English bulletin of LP3I Purbalingga, 3rd edition, April 2007. Original title was Wanogara In View: Emancipation Or Culture?)