Abstrack:
Most parts of Madura region is an island so that the majority of the people depend on marine life. Archipelago society is one of the social communities whose survival is supported by its ability to manage marine resources. Due to the huge challenges in the ocean, it is quite common for the people to be economically poor. To overcome such problem, the coastal Madurese women take the initiative to work in the public realm as a form of assistance to her husband. The uncertain result and time in fishing leads the husbands to work out of the island and even overseas as a migrant worker. These become the main factors in enforcing the women to work in domestic and public area. Their economic reality somehow obliges them to go against the common traditional Madurese culture. The good thing is that this independence can lead them to be a strong woman ready to face the challenge of injustice treatment from their husband and society. On the basis of this, the author tries to empower coastal Madurese women to be independent economically and socially, eventhough their independence is not coupled with gender justice for them. Therefore, the researcher argues that it is necessary to empower the women through strengthening the economy which will lead to independence of women in the realm of economy, society, culture, and religion through Grameen Bank, a program through which the money is sent by their husbands from abroad (remittances). The contradictory case happens in South Malang Regency, Donomulyo Subdistrict, Gedungsalam village. In this village, most of the families of the migrant workers are economically, socially, and culturally well established. Based on these two cases, the researcher will try to compare the financial management pattern of the migrant worker wives through the remittance of Grameen Bank program.
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