Halus Power and the Pedagogy of Benevolent Disciplinary Care: A Critical Qualitative Theory of Gender Microaggressions in Indonesian Education
This critical qualitative study introduces the concept of "halus power" and the theory of Benevolent Disciplinary Care to explain how gender microaggressions in Indonesian education are normalized through polite discourse, naturalized gender destinies, and institutionalized care, thereby challenging North American frameworks and repositioning school counseling as a site for both disciplinary control and critical consciousness.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
In schools around the world, teachers and counselors often believe they are helping students navigate their futures. They offer advice, correct behavior, and praise good work, operating under the assumption that their guidance is neutral and beneficial. However, a growing field of study suggests that even well-meaning interactions can carry hidden messages that reinforce inequality. These subtle messages, known as microaggressions, are brief, everyday comments or actions that communicate a sense of inferiority to members of marginalized groups. While much research on this topic has focused on direct insults or obvious discrimination, a new study turns its attention to a more elusive phenomenon: how kindness and politeness can sometimes be used to enforce strict gender roles. This research explores how, in certain cultures, the very language of care and protection can become a tool for limiting what young people believe they are allowed to become.
The study, conducted by a team of researchers from Indonesian universities, investigates how these subtle gendered slights operate within the Indonesian education system. The researchers focused on a specific cultural context where communication is often indirect, polite, and deeply influenced by religious beliefs and social harmony. In this environment, a teacher or counselor might not openly tell a girl she cannot be a leader. Instead, they might praise her for being neat and patient, or gently advise her that her future ambitions should be balanced with her expected role as a wife and mother. The researchers wanted to understand how these seemingly harmless interactions accumulate to shape a student's life, and why they are so difficult to identify and challenge.
To uncover these patterns, the team spent time in secondary schools and universities across three different provinces in Indonesia. They spoke with students, teachers, and school counselors, asking them to describe their daily experiences without using technical terms like "microaggression." They also examined school documents, such as rules about dress codes, lists of student duties for school events, and records of counseling sessions. By listening to how people actually spoke and looking at how schools were organized, the researchers found that gender bias was rarely delivered as open hostility. Instead, it was woven into the fabric of polite conversation, religious duty, and professional care.
One of the most striking findings was how praise was used to limit potential. The researchers heard stories of female students receiving high marks for their neat handwriting or their patience, with teachers comparing them to "future mothers." In contrast, male students were praised for their intelligence or leadership. These compliments were genuine, but they carried a hidden message: a girl's value lay in her domestic abilities, not her intellectual ones. Similarly, school counselors often gave advice that sounded like concern for a student's future. A counselor might tell an ambitious girl studying engineering that she should consider how her career would fit with her future husband's needs, framing the limitation as a protective measure. The researchers noted that both the person giving the advice and the person receiving it often viewed this as an act of kindness, making it nearly impossible to recognize as a form of control.
The study also looked at how schools organize space and time. In many instances, girls were assigned to tasks like decorating the classroom or serving food, while boys were given roles involving security or equipment management. When girls questioned these arrangements or raised concerns about unfair treatment, they were often met with silence or a polite change of subject. This refusal to engage with the complaint effectively erased the problem. The researchers found that this pattern was reinforced by a powerful combination of three factors: the cultural value of politeness, which made it seem rude to criticize; religious beliefs about a woman's natural destiny, which made the limits seem divinely ordained; and the institutional role of the counselor, who was seen as a guardian of the student's well-being.
The researchers developed a new way to understand this phenomenon, which they call "benevolent disciplinary care." This concept explains how power can be exercised through the very things that are supposed to protect and nurture. In this system, the act of caring and the act of controlling become the same thing. Because the message is wrapped in virtue—politeness, faith, and concern—it becomes invisible to those who are doing the controlling and unnameable to those who are being controlled. A student who feels hurt by such advice often blames herself for being too sensitive rather than questioning the advice itself. The researchers argue that this is why these practices are so persistent; they are not just habits, but are deeply embedded in the moral and religious identity of the school community.
The study highlights that standard approaches to fixing gender inequality often miss this specific type of harm. Policies designed to stop overt violence or harassment cannot easily address a teacher's gentle suggestion that a girl should lower her expectations. The researchers suggest that the solution lies not in rejecting the values of care and politeness, but in rethinking how they are applied. They propose that counselors and teachers need to be trained to recognize when their "help" is actually narrowing a student's future. This involves learning to ask difficult questions within the same language of care, helping students see how their own faith and values can support their ambitions rather than limit them.
Ultimately, this research reveals that the path to equality in Indonesian schools requires more than just changing rules or punishing bad behavior. It requires a deep understanding of how kindness can be used to maintain the status quo. By bringing these hidden dynamics into the light, the study offers a way for educators to practice genuine care that does not come at the cost of a student's freedom. The findings suggest that true support means helping students see beyond the limits that society, religion, or even well-meaning adults might try to place on them, allowing them to define their own futures without the weight of unspoken expectations.
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