From Marketplace to Parliament: Converting Digital Business Capital into Political Agency among Indonesian Female Candidates

Hendika Dwinanda Wicaksana (Doctoral Program in Social Science, Department of Political and Governance Studies, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Univer)
Budi Setiyono (Doctoral Program in Social Science, Department of Political and Governance Studies, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang)
Rina Martini (Doctoral Program in Social Science, Department of Political and Governance Studies, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang)
Hapsari Dwiningtyas Sulistyani (Doctoral Program in Social Science, Department of Political and Governance Studies, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang)
Deanda Dewindaru (Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta, Jakarta)
Ade Indriani Siagian (Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta, Jakarta)
Agnes Monica Marpaung (Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta, Jakarta)
Fitria Hani Aprina (Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta, Jakarta)
Moh. Yamin Darsyah (Doctoral Program in Bussiness Administration, Conrado Benitez Institute for Business Education, Philipine Women’s University, Manila)

Sawwa: Jurnal Studi Gender
Vol. 21 No. 1 (2026): April

The 2024 Indonesian General Election saw a surge of “Mompreneur-Politicians”- female candidates who leveraged their micro-entrepreneurial background to boost their electoral appeal. This study employs a netnographic analysis of TikTok and Instagram to explore how they operate within the digital attention economy. Drawing upon Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital conversion and Deniz Kandiyoti’s concept of patriarchal bargaining, it argues that the Mompreneur identity converts commercial credibility into political trust. The findings suggest a “algorithmic campaigning” approach that combines soft-sell business stories with political messaging, which leads to increased audience engagement in comparison to traditional campaigning. This strategy offers women an alternative path outside of dynastic politics, but at the same time it reproduces patriarchal norms by legitimating political ambition through domesticity and service, and it commodifies democratic citizenship through increasingly clientelist-consumerist relations between voters and politicians.