Minangkabau Women's Land Ownership Rights in the Digital Era

Abstract

In the Minangkabau matrilineal system, women hold a central position as the main heirs of high inheritance and the guardian of the nation's sustainability. However, in practice, customary land management authorities and dispute resolution processes are still dominated by men, especially mamak and indigenous elites, so women's substantive rights are often not fully guaranteed. This study aims to analyze the implications of land digitalization policy on the recognition and protection of Minangkabau women's land ownership rights, as well as examine how customary land dispute resolution works in the context of legal pluralism between customary law, Islamic law, and national agrarian law. The method used is normative juridical with a conceptual and legislative approach, supported by case examples and empirical data related to customary land registration and the implementation of PTSL in West Sumatra. The results of the study show that the transformation of land services through the Complete Systematic Land Registration (PTSL) program and the implementation of electronic land certificates opens up opportunities to strengthen the legal certainty of land rights, but at the same time presents new risks for the sustainability of customary land and the bargaining position of Minangkabau women if the individual ownership paradigm is applied rigidly. Land digitalization has the potential to strengthen legal certainty and documentation of women's rights if the categories of customary communal rights are adequately accommodated and women's consent mechanisms are institutionalized. On the other hand, if regulatory design and bureaucratic practices ignore the communal character of customary land and matrilineal structure, digitalization can actually accelerate the fragmentation of inherited land and weaken the position of women in the control, utilization, and settlement of land disputes.