Submission as Agency: Repositioning The Role of Conservative Muslim Women in The Era of Gender Equality Discourse

This study aims to analyze how conservative Muslim women in Lombok Island, Indonesia, interpret and practice obedience to their husbands as a form of piety and religious agency amid the growing discourse of modern gender equality. This phenomenon r eveals a paradox between the demand for female autonomy in the public sphere and the deliberate choice of some women to reaffirm obedience as a sacred value. The study argues that obedience is not merely a symbol of subordination but can function as a form of moral consciousness, spiritual discipline, and existential strategy in negotiating the pressures of modernity. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and focus group discussions (FGD). The data were analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model to identify themes that reflect the construction of meaning around obedience. The findings demonstrate three distinct forms of religious agency among conservative Muslim women in Lombok: (1) total domestic agency, emphasizing household devotion as worship; (2) semi-domestic agency, negotiating obedience with public engagement under the husband’s approval; and (3) strict obedience agency, viewing total submission as the highest expression of piety. These patterns reveal that obedience serves as a moral and spiritual agency rather than passive conformity, providing new insight into the intersection of gender, religion, and modern Muslim women’s identity.