Women's Agency and Leadership Transformation In Pesantren

Abstract

This study examines how women’s agency and leadership typologies in pesantren have changed and how these changes contribute to the reorientation of pesantren management toward an inclusive educational ecosystem. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 framework. Searches of Google Scholar and Crossref, carried out with Harzing’s Publish or Perish, identified 97 records; after screening, 25 articles published between 2014 and 2026 met the inclusion criteria. The researchers manually coded and extracted information from the included studies in a spreadsheet and synthesized the data thematically. Four themes were identified: the transformation of women’s agency, leadership typologies, the reorientation of pesantren management, and contributions to an inclusive educational ecosystem. Across the studies, women’s roles extend from supporting and domestic responsibilities toward more strategic, participatory, and transformative forms of leadership, although this change is uneven and context-dependent. Transformational and democratic-participatory practices are prominent in recent studies, while charismatic and maternal forms continue to coexist. Women’s leadership is associated with educational, organizational, economic, and technological initiatives. The review proposes a conceptual model linking these dimensions and identifies women’s leadership as one contributor to institutional adaptation and development in contemporary Islamic education.