Soviet Woman, 28 Feb 1950, p. 47: A. N. Atanepesova's account of the Conference of Women of Asian Countries, Peking, late 1949 (198 delegates). Indonesia appears via delegate 'Lilia Suripno', who described partisan women fighting Dutch troops with babies on their backs. Reflects early WIDF-linked Asian solidarity; Gerw
Results of the Peking Conference go beyond Asia and the Pacific (WIDF, 1952)
WIDF 1952 report on the Peace Conference of Asian and Pacific Countries (Peking, 2 Oct 1952; 367 delegates, 37 countries): speeches by Soong Ching Ling, Monica Felton, Malayan, Korean and American delegates on Korea, germ warfare, women's and children's rights and national independence. Umi Sardjono of Indonesia is lis
WIDF Bulletin no. 5/1952 'The Women of Indonesia': a WIDF-sympathetic account of postwar Indonesia in 1952, covering militarised budgets, unemployment, hunger, maternal and infant mortality, the Round Table legacy and US agreements. It says women formed committees for 8 March and Children's Day and that local GERWIS br
Sunday Worker, 7 June 1953, p. 4: Issues absorb Women's World Meet (WIDF Copenhagen Congress)
Sunday Worker, 7 June 1953, p. 4: report on the opening of the WIDF World Congress of Women in Copenhagen, with debates on peace and children and delegates from many countries, including Burma, Japan and the Philippines. Indonesia appears only in a speech listing the Dutch in Indonesia among colonial powers; no Indones
Sunday Worker, 28 June 1953, p. 12: World Congress of Women, Copenhagen (Indonesian delegates)
Sunday Worker, 28 June 1953, p. 12: account of the WIDF World Congress of Women in Copenhagen, describing delegates in the lobby (including 'exquisite Indonesians') and calls for peace. A moving scene has Indonesian and Dutch women embracing after a Dutch delegate said her people fought for liberty everywhere; Vietnam,
Australian women tell about World Congress
Tribune (Sydney), 14 Oct 1953, p. 6: three Australian delegates (Flo Davis, Joyce Egan, Fuchsia Lewin) describe the WIDF World Congress of Women, Copenhagen, June 1953 (1,187 women, 70 countries). They stress peace, equal pay and socialist-bloc childcare. Indonesia appears briefly: Indonesian women urge support for a K
Australian women tell about World Congress
Tribune (Sydney), 14 Oct 1953, p. 6: three Australian delegates (Flo Davis, Joyce Egan, Fuchsia Lewin) describe the WIDF World Congress of Women, Copenhagen, June 1953 (1,187 women, 70 countries). They stress peace, equal pay and socialist-bloc childcare. Indonesia appears briefly: Indonesian women urge support for a K
Soviet Woman, 31 Dec 1953: 'We Are Stronger Than Ever', WIDF and the Copenhagen Congress
Soviet Woman, 31 Dec 1953, pp. 49-52: WIDF declaration for peaceful settlement and Eugenie Cotton's statement, then Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier's 'We are stronger than ever' on follow-up to the Copenhagen World Congress of Women. One sentence notes the Indonesian women's union GERWIS would hold its congress in Dece
WIDF pamphlet 'I Want To Live' (Berlin, May 1954) campaigning to ban atomic weapons after the March 1954 Bikini H-bomb test, with Hiroshima testimonies, the Stockholm Appeal and WIDF appeals. Page 25 cites a resolution of 1 April 1954 in Jakarta by the National Congress of the 'Indonesian Women's Democratic Organisatio
Short 1954 WIDF note 'Dutch-Indonesian Solidarity': Dutch women's movement raised funds for a delegate to attend the Gerwis national congress (March 25) and sold soap 'For peace and friendship between Indonesian and Dutch women'. Mrs. Umi of Gerwis's executive says the campaign strengthened solidarity and showed Dutch
Indonesian and Dutch delegates meet at WIDF Executive, Geneva (1954)
Caption (1954) from WIDF's magazine: Indonesian and Dutch delegates met at the Geneva WIDF Executive Committee. Mrs. Rie Lips of the Dutch women's movement was invited to the congress of GERWIS, described as the national organisation in Indonesia with 80,000 members.
Conditions in Indonesia (Morning Bulletin, 1 June 1954)
Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 1 June 1954, p. 9, report of Allison Dickie, Victorian president of the Union of Australian Women, on her return from an Indonesian women's conference in Jakarta (360 delegates for 60,000 women; Dutch WIDF delegates present). She describes sex equality in the provisional constitution but
WIDF commemorative booklet (Berlin, 1955) for its tenth anniversary: history from the 1945 Paris founding congress, peace and anti-atom campaigns, the 1953 Copenhagen Congress, children's work, the 1955 Lausanne World Congress of Mothers. Page 28 states that in Indonesia 'the women's organization which had 6,000 member
Keynotes of the Council Meeting: Unity and Confidence (Bertrand, 1955)
Simone Bertrand, WIDF Assistant General Secretary, reports in 1955 on the Fifth WIDF Council meeting in Geneva (45 countries). She cites GERWANI as a remarkable example: mostly peasant and plantation women, membership up from 80,000 to 281,000 in a year, and with nine organisations it formed a committee opposing a US b
For Friendship: Gyanchand, Suryadarma and Che Zahara on the World Congress of Mothers (1955)
1955 WIDF magazine feature 'For Friendship' with statements by Anusuya Gyanchand (India), Utami Suryadarma (Indonesia) and Che Zahara (Malaya) for the World Congress of Mothers. Suryadarma, a vice-president of the Preparatory Committee and of the Foundation for the Well-being of Indonesian Children, links Bandung to pe
WIDF magazine 'Women Write to Us' (1955), country letters after the World Congress of Mothers (Lausanne): Bulgaria, Argentina, France, India floods, and Indonesia. The Indonesia item reports delegate Mme Suryadarma's warm airport welcome, press and radio coverage of her Congress speech, and the Indonesian Women's Movem
Conversation between Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and WIDF President Eugenie Cotton, 1955
Chinese-language transcript (scan, noisy OCR; English translation read) of a conversation between Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and Eugenie Cotton, WIDF president, 22/23 May 1955 (Wilson Center Digital Archive). They discuss women's role in peace, the planned World Mothers' Congress in Paris, Franco-German reconciliation a
Transcript of Conversation between Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and Eugenie Cotton (WIDF), 23 May 1955
Wilson Center Digital Archive catalogue page (text only, no transcript) for the 23 May 1955 conversation between Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and WIDF president Eugenie Cotton, from Zhou Enlai Waijiao wenxuan (1990), pp. 140-148. The abstract notes Cotton's pleasure with her China visit, her call to unite women's federati
1956 extract from a speech by Sunardi, Indonesian delegate to the World Conference of Women Workers, plus a column of international women's news. She describes low wages, foreign monopolies, plantation women workers, absence of democratic marriage law and labour protection, the unilateral abrogation of the Round Table
Communist Campaign in Indonesia (OIR report, July 1956)
State Department intelligence report (17 July 1956) on the Soviet and Chinese communist campaign in Indonesia after the 1956 visits, with a chronology of Indonesia-China exchanges. Gerwani features only in the chronology: a May 1956 Gerwani protest against US H-bomb tests, plus Indonesian delegations to the WIDF meetin
Documents of the 4th WIDF Congress, Vienna, 1-5 June 1958
Document pack of the WIDF Fourth Congress, Vienna, 1-5 June 1958: Eugenie Cotton's report on women's role, the Manifesto, resolutions on peace, women's rights and children, appeals to the UN, credentials report and constitution. Indonesia appears in passing: Cotton credits 'the Indonesian Women's Movement' with improvi
Report by Ratu Aminah Hidajat, Vice-President of the Constituent Assembly, to the WIDF Fourth Congress/Conference on the Defence of Life (Vienna, June 1958). Describes Indonesia's committees against A- and H-bomb tests (chaired by Sukarno; Movement of Mothers, Peace Committee), an Anti-Bomb Week and a public appeal; sa
FBIS, 14 May 1958: Intervention rally in Jakarta
FBIS-monitored Xinhua item (14 May 1958): an 'anti-foreign intervention mass movement' of 27 Indonesian organisations planned a 16 May Jakarta rally. WIDF sent a message on behalf of 'hundreds of millions of women' supporting Indonesian women fighting for democracy and independence; Indonesian papers alleged US Ambassa
Communism and the PKI, Despatch of January 1961
US embassy Djakarta despatch compilation (Jan 1961) analysing communism and the PKI, including its front organisations. The overview describes Gerwani as the communist women's organisation used for price and anti-bomb demonstrations, affiliated with the WIDF (which funds trips abroad for prominent members), and contras
World Congress of Women, Moscow, June 1963
WIDF publication on the World Congress of Women, Moscow, 24-29 June 1963 (1,543 women, 113 countries): reports, speeches, resolutions and the new WIDF council list. Gerwani is mentioned briefly: its roughly 1,000 day nurseries for working mothers are cited as a model; its role in the West Irian campaign is praised; and
Women confer
Tribune (Sydney), 14 Aug 1963, p. 2: announces the Third National Conference of the Union of Australian Women in Sydney, 13-17 September 1963, and says invitations went to the WIDF, the Soviet Women's Committee and Gerwani of Indonesia to be represented.
Women confer
Tribune (Sydney), 14 Aug 1963, p. 2: announces the Third National Conference of the Union of Australian Women in Sydney, 13-17 September 1963, and says invitations went to the WIDF, the Soviet Women's Committee and Gerwani of Indonesia to be represented.
Sign for better nylons!
Tribune (Sydney), 28 Aug 1963, p. 9: preparations for the UAW's third national conference (nylon stockings, drug costs, equal pay petitions, anti-nuclear letters). The public opening rally on 13 Sept will welcome visitors from the WIDF, the Soviet Women's Committee (Nina Bogomolova) and Gerwani, described as an Indones
Sign for better nylons!
Tribune (Sydney), 28 Aug 1963, p. 9: preparations for the UAW's third national conference (nylon stockings, drug costs, equal pay petitions, anti-nuclear letters). The public opening rally on 13 Sept will welcome visitors from the WIDF, the Soviet Women's Committee (Nina Bogomolova) and Gerwani, described as an Indones
Women coming to conference
Tribune (Sydney), 4 Sep 1963, p. 3: reports that Soviet (Nina Bogomolova) and Indian (Geeta Mukherjee, for WIDF) delegates accepted invitations to the UAW national conference of 13-17 September; advice is awaited from Indonesia about the delegate invited from Gerwani, 'one and a half million strong'.