Young women’s interfaith feminist peacebuilding and grassroots democracy in West Sumatra

As democratic spaces in Indonesia continue to shrink under rising religious conservatism and intolerance, young women in West Sumatra have emerged as important—yet often overlooked—actors in sustaining inclusive civic engagement. This study examines the Pemuda Lintas Agama (PELITA) community in Padang, an interfaith youth initiative established in 2019 that advocates for freedom of religion or belief. With leadership largely shaped by young women, PELITA functions as a site for community-based peace practices grounded in gender-aware perspectives. Drawing on virtual ethnography, in-depth interviews, and community document analysis conducted between 2023 and 2025, this article analyzes how young women enact peacebuilding within a context that both enables and constrains their participation. The findings show that they navigate a structural tension between Minangkabau matrilineal norms, which symbolically center women, and patriarchal religious authority that limits their public agency. Their activism consists of negotiated practices shaped by gendered and generational hierarchies. Through interfaith encounters, education, and advocacy, they create limited but meaningful spaces for dialogue and participation. This study contributes to feminist peacebuilding scholarship by showing how grassroots peace practices operate under constraint, where young women’s agency emerges through relational and context-specific forms of engagement rather than formal institutional inclusion.