The benefits of girls’ education are endless as women have the knowledge, capabilities and potential to drive real solutions to the problems facing today’s world. Education equips girls not only to become self-reliant and financially independent, but it unlocks their potential to bring about social and global change. Yet, developing countries exhibit considerable gender disparities in education; girls’ education has been given little to no attention in almost all developing countries and a wide gap exists in enrolment rates for girls and boys. While this thesis acknowledges that almost all girls of the developing countries are excluded from earning an education, it illustrates how Islamic rhetoric has been used in Muslim majority developing countries to normalize gender disparity in education for Muslim girls of the developing countries. To argue that gender disparity is not a by-product of Islam, this thesis focuses on Indonesia (the largest Muslim dominant country in South East Asia) and how it has made exemplary progress in reducing gender disparity in education within its Islamic context. After its independence, Indonesia focused on building a literate and knowledgeable nation to emerge as a developed nation. Girls’ education was recognised and appreciated as a crucial indicator of development. Therefore, Indonesia adopted policies to eliminate gender disparity in education. I highlight and discuss legal frameworks and educational policy reforms as the main drivers of social change in Indonesia. Even though this thesis aims to build a theoretical framework based on lessons learned from Indonesia to reduce gender inequalities in education for Muslim girls, its findings will benefit non-Muslim girls as well.

Keywords: Indonesia, Gender disparity, Muslim girls, Developing countries.