The discourse of social mobility has become a central tenet of democratic societies worldwide. Commonly deployed as a panacea for inequality and source of social justice, the discourse can conceal and even perpetuate inequalities. Intertwined with neoliberal ideology, social mobility discourse is contextually contingent, manifesting differently according to local conditions. This paper critically analyses social mobility discourse in the Indonesian context through 'rags to riches' stories of female celebrities in media interviews. Applying a contextually sensitive approach to agency within a CDA framework, this paper contributes new knowledge to the study of social mobility discourse in the Global South. The findings illustrate the pervasiveness of neoliberalism and its coalescence with local ideologies of gender, class and place, and how upwardly mobile women deploy ideological resources to create a mobility niche. The discourse strategies they use legitimise their mobility but reproduce unequal relations of power, undermining the objectives of social mobility.

The indigenous education activist and feminist of the late Dutch colonial era, R.A. Kartini, has remained an enduring public icon for more than a century. While celebrated as a national hero in Indonesia, like many iconic women of the Global South, Kartini’s symbolic force has been readily appropriated for political ends. As a ‘floating signifier’, her image absorbs fluctuating meanings and ideologies, making the analysis of her representation at a given point in time a valuable approach to political analysis. This article focuses on Kartini’s portrayal in the second term of the Jokowi presidency in mainstream Indonesian online media discourse. Recognising the dialectical relationship between the online news media and dominant political discourse, we use critical discourse analysis to identify and examine the mainstream ideologies embedded in the news media’s representations of Kartini. Our analysis provides a snapshot of dominant Indonesian political discourse, revealing a set of intersecting ideologies: conservative feminism, neoliberalism, softened Islamic piety, and perfunctory nationalism.

Women in politics invariably attract heightened levels of attention due to their marked difference from the masculine political norm. With the rise of social media and online news, political women can achieve visibility, but also experience more intense scrutiny. Former first lady, Ani Yudhoyono, became an iconic figure in the lead-up to the 2014 Indonesian presidential election, through association with her husband's flailing presidency and as a high-profile political woman on social media. Using critical discourse analysis, specifically social actor analysis, this paper examines the discursive strategies deployed by the mainstream Indonesian online news media to malign Ani Yudhoyono and draw a wedge between her and the Indonesian public, in turn undermining her husband's presidency. The analysis highlights the role of online news media discourse in shaping power relations and ideological groupings, as well as the role of first lady as an enduring source of political contestation.

This book demonstrates the crucial link between gender and structures of power in democratic Indonesia, and the role of the online news media in regulating this relationship of power. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a theoretical framework, and social actor analysis as the methodological approach, this book examines the discursive representation of three prominent female Indonesian political figures in the mainstream Indonesian online news media in a period of social-political transition. It presents newfound linguistic evidence in the form of discourse strategies that reflect the women's dynamic relationship with power. More broadly, the critical analysis of the news discourse becomes a way of uncovering and evaluating implicit barriers and opportunities affecting women's political participation in Indonesia and other Asian political contexts, Indonesia's process of democratisation, and the influential role of the online news media in shaping and reflecting political discourse.