DEFINING PIOUS WOMEN: A Critical Discourse Analysis on Religious Sermons on Youtube

Abstract

This article examines how female preachers negotiate their religious authority through the construction of definitions of the “pious woman” in religious sermons uploaded to YouTube. Using a qualitative approach and Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis, this study analyzes a selection of sermon videos delivered by three female preachers—Ning Sheila Hasina, Ning Nawal, and Ning Khilma Anis—by examining the dimensions of textual construction, discursive practices, and sociocultural practices. The findings indicate that the three female preachers construct the virtuous woman through three distinct registers: Ning Sheila through the framework of fiqh and hadith, Ning Nawal through the taxonomy of the five characteristics of piety, and Ning Khilma Anis through Javanese cultural metaphors. In terms of discursive practice, the three sermons circulated through different production and distribution channels: two of them through institutional redistribution within the Nahdlatul Ulama media network, and the other through an independent live-streaming channel. In terms of sociocultural practice, these sermons address the tension between traditionally inherited norms of wifely obedience and women’s growing economic independence by negotiating—rather than openly rejecting—prevailing patriarchal norms. This study concludes that the religious authority of these three female preachers stems from a combination of textual and scholarly references, the borrowing of legitimacy from senior male clerics, institutional positions, and personal charisma, and operates within an established patriarchal religious structure.