This paper aims to explore the role of Congress of Indonesian Women ?Ulam?? (Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia/KUPI) as a forum for women ?ulam?? in addressing social issues in Indonesia. It will portray how a group of women ?ulam?? from various religious affiliations met and tried to find solutions for social problems on violence and injustice against women. This congress was held in view of the increasingly marginalized position of women ?ulam??. As stated by Fatima Mernissi (1991, 8-9), the marginalization of women has occurred structurally from the seventh century on in the Islamic world through the manipulation of religious texts. They were manipulated structurally in the sense that all power, political, economic, and social, has been used to legitimize men’s interests in the interpretation of religious teachings. Since then, the role of women in public affairs has almost disappeared from historical records. Their rights also began to be unequal compared to their male counterparts. Therefore, through the congress, held on April 25-27, 2017, it is hoped that people’s views on women will change, that women have equal rights to men in mastering Islamic religious sciences, and that Islamic religious authority is not men’s monopoly. Some questions that will be discussed in this paper are as follows. What is the significance of the organization of the congress for gender awareness in Indonesia? How did women ?ulam?? express their agency through the organization of the congress? What can be implied from the organization of the congress by the religious community in the modern Indonesian state? In answering these questions, this study will use Saba Mahmood’s (2005) view on the agency. It argues that the organization of the congress was a kind of agency of Indonesian women ?ulam?? as a response to women and social issues in Indonesia. Furthermore, since these women ?ulam?? used religious reasoning in expressing their ideas in response to social dynamics, their movements can be considered as a manifestation of religious expressions in the public sphere. Moreover, when results of the congress were later recommended as a state policy, the movement has become a civil society force that can enrich discussions in the public sphere. When religion is able to dialogue and enrich the spirit of democracy and liberalism, then the secular state has actually failed. Therefore, this study will support Talal Asad’s (2003) and Cassanova’s (1994) argument on the failure of secularization.