Rahmah El Yunusiyyah Net Worth

Background and career

Rahmah el Yunusiyah (Van Ophuijsen Spelling: Rachmah el Joenoesijah, 26 October 1900 – 26 February 1969) was a Dutch East Indies and Indonesian politician, educator, and activist for women's education. Born into a prominent family of Islamic scholars, she was made to leave school in order to get married as a teenager. After a few years of marriage, el Yunusiyah obtained a divorce and returned to her education.

In 1923, she founded Diniyah Putri, the first known Islamic school (madrasa) for girls in the Indies. As the school grew and established itself, el Yunusiyah helped found three more schools for women and girls as well as a teacher training institute. An Islamic nationalist, el Yunusiyah was imprisoned by the Dutch authorities before Indonesia's independence. In 1955 she became one of the first women to be elected to the People's Consultative Assembly of independent Indonesia as a member of the Masyumi Party. She died aged 68 in 1969 in her hometown, Padang Panjang.

In 2025, el Yunusiyah was named a National Hero of Indonesia, the country's highest civilian honor.