Gender mainstreaming in Indonesian pesantren education: Bridging policy commitments and institutional implementation

Recognition of pesantren within Indonesia’s national education system does not explain how gender equality commitments translate into educational governance. Differences in regulatory scope and limited accounts of implementation call for a synthesis of the literature, policy framework, and implementation domains. This study synthesizes the relationship between gender equality commitments, the national policy framework, and implementation in pesantren education. Using a qualitative approach, it examines 21 academic sources published in 2013–2025, identified through Scopus, DOAJ, and Google Scholar, as well as six national legal documents issued in 1984–2020. Thematic analysis combined inductive and deductive coding. Legal documents were compared by regulatory focus, intended audience, mechanisms, and relevance to pesantren, without assuming that madrasah guidelines apply to all forms of pesantren education. The findings show three patterns. First, equality commitments are not always linked to specific objectives, implementation measures, assigned responsibilities, and evaluation for policy improvement. Second, differences in the scope of documents limit conclusions about operational links among gender mainstreaming mandates, sectoral guidelines, and pesantren education regulations. Third, the reviewed studies identify five implementation domains: leadership and decision-making; female students’ access and participation; curriculum and teaching; gender capacity and literacy; and institutionalization and sustainability. The study concludes that links between normative commitments and institutional processes require further examination using program documents and field evidence. It proposes a framework that connects the institutionalization of equality goals to resources, women’s agency, and achievements. This framework can guide the development of context-sensitive objectives, responsibilities, indicators, and monitoring in pesantren.