฀age | ฀ Gender Issues in Modern Society MAN’S WITHOUT ฀OWER: GENDER PARADIGM IN WEST SUMATERA Author :Prima Aswirna and Fahmi Reza Lecturer of Educational Faculty and Social Psychology Lecturer at State Institute of Islamic Studies Imam Bonjol Padang, Email :primaaswirna฀97฀@yahoo.com or rezafahmi92@yahoo.co.uk Abstrak Masyarakat Minangkabau merupakan masyarakat matrilineal terbesar di dunia; di mana kepemilikan seperti tanah dan rumah diwariskan melalui garis keturunan ibu (nasab ibu). Beberapa ilmuan masih berdebat dikarenakan diaspora (Minangkabau, “merantau”) dari lelaki Minang ke berbagai daerah di wilayah Asia tenggara sebagai usaha untuk mencari keuntungan melalui kegiatan perdagangan. Walau bagaimanapun, masyarakat asli Minangkabau sependapat bahwa, budaya matrilinial menjadi penyebab utama diaspora tersebut. Dengan bepergiannya para kaum pria untuk merantau dalam jangka waktu yang tidak dapat dipastikan (bahkan terkadang mereka tidak pernah pulang kampung lagi, karena mereka malu gagal diperantauan), itu lebih disebakan oleh ketiadaan kepemilikan tanah dan rumah yang telah dijelaskan di atas. Inu juga dipandang sebagai masa depan sebuah generasi yang tidak bisa ditawar-tawar. Selanjutnya ada pandangan bahwa, lelaki. dapat hidup atau tinggal di mana saja, terutama disurau dan mereka tidak membutuhkan rumah seperti kaum perempuan yang membutuhkannya. Sungguhpun para lelaki tersebut di kampung mereka diwajibkan menjaga harta keluarga (nasab ibu), tanpa berhak memiliki seluruh atau sebagian harta tersebut. Kata Kunci : Merantau, Masyarakat Minangkabau, Kesetaraan ฀ender (Laki-Laki dan ฀erempuan). Intriduction The Minangkabau ethnic group, also known as Minang (Urang Minang inMinangkabau language), is indigenous to the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, in Indonesia. Their culture is matrilineal, with property and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the responsibility of men. Today 4 million Minangs live in West Sumatra, while about 3 million more are scattered throughout many Indonesian and Malay peninsular cities and towns. The Minangkabau are strongly Islamic, but also follow their ethnic traditions, or adat. The Minangkabau adat was derived from animist beliefs before the arrival of Islam, and remnants of animist beliefs still exist even among some practicing Muslims. The present relationship between Islam and adat is described in the saying "tradition founded upon Islamic law, Islamic law founded upon the Qur'an" (adat basandi syara', syara' basandi Kitabullah). The name Minangkabau is thought to be a conjunction of two words, minang ("victorious") and kabau ("buffalo"). There is a legend that the name is derived from a territorial dispute between the Minangkabau and a neighbouring prince. To avoid a battle, the local people proposed a fight to the death between two water buffalo to settle the dispute. The prince agreed and produced the largest, meanest, most aggressive buffalo. The Minangkabau produced a hungry baby buffalo with its small horns ground to be as sharp as knives. Seeing the adult buffalo across the field, the baby ran forward, hoping for milk. The big buffalo saw no threat in the baby buffalo and paid no attention to it, looking around for a worthy opponent. But when the baby thrust his head under the big bull's belly,