The Existential Needs that Minangkabau Women Seek to Satisfy by Migrating to Jakarta

Abstract

One of the advantages of being born female into the Minangkabau society is the right to inherit harta pusaka (lineage-held lands, properties, and privileges). Many Minangkabau women, however, have migrated to Jakarta, leaving behind the harta pusaka in their ancestral home. The act of migration seems to have been motivated by the quest to satisfy existential needs. Using the phenomenological approach, this qualitative psychological research aims to identify the existential needs of Minangkabau women migrants and the ways they sought to fulfill those needs. Data for this research was collected through interviews with three subjects, all of whom were Minangkabau women migrants in Jakarta. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) performed on the resulting data uncovered two key themes: a) the subjects’ pre-migration existential needs, and b) their post-migration existential needs. This study concludes that through various efforts, the three Minangkabau women migrants succeeded in satisfying their existential needs.