Umi Sardjono's General Report to the Third DPP Plenum, June 1956
Umi Sardjono's general report for the Gerwani DPP Executive to the 3rd DPP Plenary (16-19 June 1956), published by DPP Gerwani. Reviews the 1955 election campaign (23,480 new Gerwani workers; five Gerwani members elected, including Umi Sardjono and Salawati), marriage-law and anti-polygamy casework (86 of 115 cases res
Woman and the Changing Marriage Pattern of Indonesia (van der Kroef, 1957)
Journal article by Justus M. van der Kroef (American Catholic Sociological Review, June 1957) on women's status and marriage in Indonesia: adat versus Islamic law, polygamy, divorce rates, colonial and revolutionary change. Surveys women's organisations (Perwari, Kowani) and notes Kowani's early left turn and WIDF cont
Indonesia: Gerwani report since the Third Congress (WIDF Information Bulletin, 1958)
WIDF Information Bulletin no. 10/1958 report on Gerwani since its Third Congress (December 1957): regional conferences, new constitution (branches replace workplace branches, 20-member minimum), plan to double membership, campaign for a national marriage law against polygamy with Sumari (PNI) and Mudigdio (PKI) MPs in
FBIS, 7 July 1960: Mourning of Tjimahi victims continues
FBIS-monitored Xinhua report (7 Jul 1960): over 18,000 overseas Chinese and Indonesians visited Tjimahi, West Java, to mourn two overseas Chinese women (Yang Mu-mei, Yeh Chin-niang) killed by West Java military authorities during the forced evacuation of Chinese from rural areas. Chinese groups demanded punishment and
The dream of an Indonesian peasant woman: National Seminar on Peasant Women (1961)
1961 article by Maasje Siwi on Gerwani's first National Seminar on Peasant Women's Problems. Describes peasant hardships (debt, child marriage, easy divorce, exclusion from village office) and demands: land reform and women's land ownership, crop-sharing law, abolition of colonial ban on women village heads. Features d
The Communist Party of Indonesia 1951-1961: A Decade of the Aidit Leadership (Hindley, 1961)
Donald Hindley's 1961 ANU PhD thesis on the Indonesian Communist Party under the Aidit leadership, 1951-1961, covering PKI strategy, party-building, finances, mass organisations and elections. Section 'Women' (pp. 422-448, esp. 'Gerwani', pp. 428-441) traces Gerwis from its founding on 4 June 1950 (about 500 members) t
National Seminar on Peasant Women, 17-20 January 1961 (DPP Gerwani)
Gerwani national leadership (DPP) brochure of the National Seminar on Peasant Women, Jakarta, 17-20 January 1961 (published 1962). Contains the DPP keynote on peasant-women's emancipation against imperialism and feudal remnants, speeches by BTI, ministers and D.N. Aidit, regional delegates' land-tenure reports, a Mudig
FBIS, 22 May 1963: Envoy expresses concern over Java riots
FBIS-monitored Xinhua item (22 May 1963): Chinese ambassador Yao Chung-ming called on Deputy Foreign Minister Suwito over anti-Chinese disturbances in Indonesia, especially West Java, and welcomed Sukarno's 19 May speech to a meeting of 'Indonesian women' condemning counterrevolutionary disturbances. Suwito pledged ste
FBIS, 4 June 1963: Indonesian women condemn Java riots (Gerwani letter)
FBIS-monitored Xinhua item (4 Jun 1963): the National Women's Federation of China received a letter from the Central Council of the Indonesian Women's Movement (Gerwani) condemning the May 1963 anti-Chinese 'racist counterrevolutionary' riots, blaming ex-Masjumi, PSI and other elements with foreign subversive agents ai
FBIS, 8 July 1963: Delegates to women's congress in Peking (after Moscow)
FBIS-monitored Xinhua report (8 Jul 1963): an Indonesian women's delegation, a Nepalese delegate and the Chinese delegation arrived in Peking after the World Congress of Women in Moscow, welcomed by 300 people. Indonesian members include Mme Parjani Pradono (head, Gerwani central committee), Mme Satryo and Mme Muningga
Soviet Woman, 31 May 1964: 'Our Visit to Indonesia' (Ludmila Balakhovskaya)
Soviet Woman, 31 May 1964: Ludmila Balakhovskaya's 'Our visit to Indonesia', on a two-week Soviet Women's Committee tour for Mother's Day (22 Dec) at Hurustiati Subandrio's invitation (Kowani). Notes 30 women among 300 MPs, creches and women's clubs, and that Gerwani runs 1,400 kindergartens (50+ children each), planni
FO 371/180325: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [16] (1965-1966)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180325 (1965), 'Attempted coup against Sukarno [16]': letters and telegrams from Djakarta, NATO Paris, Washington and The Hague, late November 1965 to January 1966. It follows the regional bans of the PKI, Sukarno's Nasakom speeches, Aidit's fate and translated interrogations of Untung and
Jakarta women danced as generals were murdered (The Hindustan Times, 15 October 1965)
The Hindustan Times, 15 Oct 1965: report of a police witness's account at Lubang Buaya that Communist women danced naked in a circle while six generals and a lieutenant (mistaken for Nasution) were tortured to death, with torn-out fingernails and faces mutilated. Gerwani is not named, but this is an early instance of t
FBIS-monitored ANTARA report (21 Oct 1965): at Madjalengka Square, Bandung (West Java) region, before thousands and the local commandant, PKI sectional committee members and affiliates declared themselves out of the PKI and dissolved the branches, renewing allegiance to Sukarno. The statement lists nine signatories, in
The Anti-Communist Campaign in Indonesia: A Chronology (USIA R-158-65), Nov 1965
USIA Research and Reference Service report R-158-65 (November 1965), a chronology of the anti-Communist campaign in Indonesia, 1-20 October 1965, built on Indonesian and foreign radio and press. Gerwani entries: Suharto's 4 Oct TV statement linking the generals' murders to Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani training grounds; NU
FBIS item (1 Nov 1965, Indonesian Information Service to diplomatic missions): over 300 members of BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani in Rantjamalang village, Bandung regency, were reported to have renounced PKI membership and dissolved their organisations, saying they were 'tricked' by the PKI leadership; about 100 PKI su
Girl admits role in coup (South China Morning Post, 20 November 1965)
South China Morning Post, 20 Nov 1965, p.20 (Jakarta, 19 Nov; UPI/AP via Antara): a girl captured near Bandung admitted taking part in the killing of the six generals at Lubang Buaya and among those who shot the Army commander, and admitted membership of Gerwani, the Communist women's auxiliary. The item also reports a
Youth and the Wane of Soekarno's Government (Paget, 1970)
Roger Paget's 1970 Cornell PhD thesis on how student and youth action groups, culminating in KAMI, emerged after 1 October 1965 and helped undermine Sukarno. Gerwani appears in several passages: action fronts demanded its banning (p. 44) and its offices were ransacked (p. 63); Herlina denounced it for not fighting Mala
Social Conditions Leading to Military Dominance: the case of Indonesia (Kahane, 1974)
Journal article by Reuven Kahane (Contributions to Asian Studies, vol. 5, 1974) giving a structural-sociological explanation of the 1965 coup and army dominance in Indonesia: religious-class polarisation, failing Sukarno-era control mechanisms, and the army's rise. Gerwani appears only in a footnote listing PKI-affilia
A Traditional Leader in a Time of Change: the Kijaji and Ulama in West Java (Horikoshi, 1976)
Hiroko Horikoshi's 1976 University of Illinois anthropology PhD thesis on kijaji and ulama as traditional leaders in a West Java (Priangan, Cipari) Islamic village, covering kinship, rural economy, the life cycle, the ulama as educators and legal experts, and kijaji charisma. It has almost nothing on Gerwani: a single