Nurfika Osman – The notion that Islam relegates women to the background and discourages them from participating in public life is a narrow-minded one, scholars said at a discussion on Thursday.

Husein Muhammad, a theologian and member of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), said this misconception stemmed from a single line in the Koran that was not supported by the rest of the holy book.

"The problem is that we tend not to view the Koran as a whole, while our education system doesn't provide an opportunity for dialogue," he said at the discussion titled "Women, the Public Sphere and Islam."

"People tend not to question what they're told, and so we keep repeating the same thing and end up believing it's true."

The line often quoted from the Koran – from the An Nisa verse – reads: "Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth."

Husein said this line was contradicted by another in the At Taubah verse that reads: "The believing men and believing women are allies of one another."

"We need scholars to invite more dialogue with academics and the public so that people don't adopt a mistaken view that may limit women's activities," Husein said.

Linda Amalia Sari, women's empowerment minister, who also took part in the discussion at Jakarta's Paramadina University, agreed with Husein and argued that Islamic scholars tended to overlook the prominent role played by the wives of the Prophet Muhammad.

"His first wife, Khadijah, was a great merchant, while Aisyah, his fourth, was one of the best war leaders of the time," Linda said.

She added the fact that the Constitution has provided for gender equality should reflect the country's standing as home to the world's biggest Muslim population.

"The amended Constitution recognizes no difference between rights for men or women, they're equal," she said. "That means women have the same opportunity as men to aid in the development of the country."

A tolerant view of women in Islam was also a factor in Megawati Sukarnoputri being appointed the country's first female president in 2001, Linda said.

She said the widely held belief that women be subservient to men needed to be abolished.

"We need to change our patriarchal mind-set," the minister said. "Women should also be more active in the public sphere, for instance, in politics."

Women won 18 percent of seats in the House of Representatives in 2009, up from 11.8 percent in 2004, but Linda said the figure remained far too low.

She added that some regional legislatures had no women at all among their members. "We need to push women to participate in politics because we need them to promote polices of interest to women," Linda said.

Danish Ambassador Borge Petersen, who also attended the seminar, said women's future in Indonesia was promising. "Here, like in Denmark, women are guaranteed to have the same opportunity and... should be granted the right to pursue their personal ambitions."