Kartini's father, RMAA Sosroningrat, initially Mayong district chief. His mother Ngasirah MA, daughter of Kyai Haji Madirono, a religion teacher at Teluwakur, Jepara, and Nyai Haji Siti Aminah. At that time, colonial regulations specified that a Regency Chief must marry a member of the nobility and because MA Ngasirah is not high enough nobility [2], her father married a second time to Raden Ajeng Woerjan (Moerjam), a direct descendant of the Raja of Madura. After a second marriage, Kartini's father was appointed as Chief of Jepara, replacing his own father of his second wife, RAA Tjitrowikromo.
Kartini was the fifth child and second eldest daughter in a family of eleven, including half brother. He was born into a family with strong intellectual tradition. His grandfather, Prince Ario Tjondronegoro IV, becomes Head of the District at age 25, while Kartini's older brother Sosrokartono is an accomplished linguist.
Kartini's family allowed her to attend school until he was 12 years old. Here, among other subjects, she learned to speak fluent Dutch, an unusual accomplishment for Javanese women at the time [3]. After she turned 12 she was 'secluded' at home, a common practice among Javanese nobility, to prepare young girls for their marriage. During the seclusion of women are not allowed to leave their parents home until they marry, at which point authority over them transferred to their husbands. Kartini's father is lighter than the exile's daughter were a few moments, giving special privileges like him as embroidery lessons and occasional appearances in public for special events.
During her seclusion, Kartini continued to educate himself.Because Kartini could speak Dutch, she acquired several Dutch pen friends. One of them, a girl named Rosa Abendanon, became very close friends. Books, newspapers and European magazines eat Kartini's interest in European feminist thinking, and fostered a desire to improve the conditions of indigenous women, who at that time had a very low social status.
Kartini's omnivorous reading included Semarang newspaper De Locomotief, edited by Pieter Brooshooft, and leestrommel, a set of magazines circulated by bookshops to subscribers. She also read cultural and scientific magazines as well as Dutch women's magazine De Hollandsche Lelie, which he began to send contributions published. From his letters, it is clear that Kartini read everything with a lot of attention and concern. The books that he read before he's 20 included Max Havelaar and Love Letters by Multatuli. She also read De Stille Kracht (The Hidden Force) by Louis Couperus, the works of Frederik van Eeden, Augusta de Witt, the Romantic-Feminist author Mrs Goekoop de-Jong Van Beek and an anti-war novel by Berta von Suttner, Die Waffen Nieder! (Lay Down Your Arms!). All are in the Netherlands.
Kartini's concerns not only in the field of women's emancipation, but also problems of his community. Kartini saw that the struggle for women to obtain freedom, autonomy and legal equality was just part of a broader movement.
Kartini with Joyodiningrat
Kartini's parents arrange her marriage to Raden Duke Joyodiningrat, Head, Rembang, who already has three wives.He married on November 12, 1903. This is contrary to the wishes of Kartini, but he agreed to appease his father's illness.Her husband understood Kartini's objectives and enable it to establish a school for women in the east terrace, Rembang office complex. Kartini's only son was born on September 13, 1904. A few days later on September 17, 1904, Kartini died at the age of 25. She was buried in Bulu Village, Apex.
Inspired by Kartini's an example, Van Deventer family established the Kartini Foundation which built schools for women, 'Kartini's Schools in Semarang in 1912, followed by women of other schools in Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Malang, Madiun, Cirebon and other areas.
Kartini's Day Celebration in 1953
In 1964, President Sukarno declared Kartini's birth date, April 21, as 'Kartini Day' - an Indonesian national holiday. This decision has been criticized. It has been proposed that Kartini's Day should be celebrated in conjunction with Indonesian Mothers Day, on December 22, so the choice of Kartini as a national heroine would not overshadow other women who, unlike Kartini, took up arms to fight the invaders.
Conversely, those who recognize the importance of Kartini argue that not only was she a feminist who raised the status of women in Indonesia, he was also a nationalist figure, with new ideas who struggled on behalf of the people, including him in the national struggle for independence
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