Defining 'woman': Dictionary entry fans flames of sexist furor in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Feb 15 (Jakarta Post/ANN): Over the past few weeks, Indonesia’s language agency Badan Bahasa has managed to irk gender and women activists alike by refusing to remove derogatory definitions for “perempuan” (woman) in the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language (KBBI), the primary reference book on the national language.

The agency has defended itself by maintaining that the definitions contained in the KBBI simply reflected the word’s use in the common lexicon.