Javanese Women s Efforts to Face Patriarchal Culture in the Novel Para Priyayi by Umar Kayam

This study analysed the problems caused by the patriarchal culture and the Javanese women’s effort to get their existence in society. The novel Para Priyayi by Umar Kayam was one of the literary works that was thick with Javanese culture. This study used the theory of existentialist feminism Simone de Beauvoir (De Beauvoir, 1949). The result of this research was the Javanese female characters in the novel Para Priyayi by Umar Kayam experienced injustice due to the patriarchal culture. However, Javanese women leaders made efforts, so they could bring out their existence in the private and public. The existence raised by Javanese female figures in the form of women can become someone who can become an intellectual woman.