Merdeka, 10 March 1951: 'Gelanggang Wanita' women's column
Merdeka, 10 Mar 1951, p. 3: women's column reporting that Jakarta's International Women's Day on 8 March 1951 was not commemorated by Indonesian groups for lack of Kowani consensus, while 1,500 Chinese women met with Ny. Aidit of Gerwis present.
S.K. Trimurti: Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani conference) (Harian Rakjat, 13 March 1952)
Harian Rakjat, 13 Mar 1952, p.3: article by S.K. Trimurti on the Kongres Wanita Indonesia (Kowani) conference due from 15 March in Jakarta. She urges unity among all women's organisations (naming Perwari, Muslimat, Wanita Demokrat, Gerwis), voting by consensus, and action on women's unemployment, prices and labour. The
Abadi, 15 March 1952, p. 3: S.K. Trimurti's Letter to Women's Organisations
Abadi, 15 Mar 1952, p. 3: Trimurti's open letter (while detained) to women's organisations before a Kongres Wanita Indonesia conference, proposing majority voting and a minimum programme on schools, rice prices, women's and child labour, and trafficking.
USIS refuses Gerwani representative; Gerwani central board explains (Bintang Timur, 8 May 1956)
Bintang Timur (Jakarta daily), 8 May 1956, full issue. A front-page item reports that the Indonesian Women's Congress decided to send five organisation representatives, including one from Gerwani, to accompany the delegation to the UN Economic and Social Council in New York, but USIS refused the Gerwani delegate withou
Salawati Daud and Umi Sardjono welcome William Morrow (Bintang Timur, 2 July 1956)
Bintang Timur, 2 July 1956, p. 1 (four-page issue). Reports the arrival at Kemayoran of William Morrow, Australian peace-movement figure and World Peace Council bureau member, guest of the Indonesian Peace Committee 30 June to 4 July. Ch. (Charlotte) Salawati Daud and Umi Sardjono of Gerwani are named among those welco
Suluh Indonesia, 14 February 1958: Welcoming the Asian-African Women's Conference in Colombo
Suluh Indonesia, Jakarta, 14 February 1958 (four pages, OCR very noisy). Front page: the Husein ultimatum, cabinet and Sumatra crisis. Page 3 (cont. from p. 1) carries 'Menyambut Konperensi Wanita Asia-Afrika' on the conference due in Colombo 15-24 Feb 1958 (education, health, labour, slavery, nationality), and lists t
Commemorative Book for 30 Years of the Indonesian Women's Movement Unity, 1928-1958
430-page commemorative volume (Ministry of Information, 1959) narrating the federated Indonesian women's movement from the 1928 congress through the revolution and KWI congresses to 1958; history drawn largely from Sri Mangunsarkoro.
Kowani Delegation in North Korea
Fragmentary Api Kartini item (1960s) closing a statement by the Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani) delegation after visiting North Korea, thanking hosts, praising Korean revolutionary culture and socialist construction, and backing Korean reunification and the 'Crush Malaysia' campaign. Signatories listed include Suh
A History of Struggle Remembered: Exhibition for Gerwani's 10th Anniversary, 1961
Api Kartini (mid-1961) report on the exhibition at Gerwani's 10th anniversary (from 5 June 1961), with an interview of chair Umi Sardjono on Gerwani's history. Founded 4 June 1951 (first congress Surabaya, 17-22 Dec 1951), 185 branches, membership from 6,000 to 710,000, 326 kindergartens, 23,000 election workers; six m
Women's Footsteps in 1961 (Hurustiati Subandrio)
Article by Hurustiati Subandrio (1961) reviewing women's activity at the start of 1961. She lists the Gerwani-organised National Seminar of Peasant Women (17-20 January, Gedung Wanita, Jakarta), the Asian-African Women's Conference in Cairo, and preparations for the Indonesian Women's Congress (6-8 February). She links
Api Kartini No. 5-6, Year 5, May-June 1963
Double issue (May–Jun 1963) on the return of West Irian and the 10 May 1963 anti-Chinese riots in West Java, with Sukarno speeches condemning racism and an editorial blaming an ex-Masjumi/PSI/Permesta network.
With Manipol Strengthen the United Women's Front (Gerwani DPP Plenary, January 1963)
Api Kartini (1963) report by Ratna on the Gerwani DPP Plenary held in Jakarta, 6-10 January 1963, a year after the 4th Congress. Umi Sardjono's general report praised the Irian Barat victory and the end of the state of emergency (1 May 1963), and the plenary resolved to strengthen the Nasakom-based national front, supp
Forward to Total Integration of Gerwani with Farm-Labourer and Poor Peasant Women (Umi Sardjono's General Report, 1964)
Umi Sardjono's General Report as DPP Gerwani chair to the 3rd DPP Plenary (Bandung, early 1964; transcribed by Nathanael Pribady). Reviews 1963: Irian Barat, 'Crush Malaysia' confrontation, the 26 May economic regulations, 1,378 TK Melati kindergartens, the WIDF Moscow Congress (Gerwani rejected the programme, attacked
Api Kartini No. 10, Year 6, October 1964
October 1964 issue: editorial on Sukarno's Cairo Non-Aligned speech, a KOWANI delegation report on North Korea including Gerwani's Suharti Suwarto, TAVIP cadre education, peasant women in the Malaysia confrontation, and Bulgaria.
Api Kartini No. 9, Year 6, September 1964
September 1964 issue built on Sukarno's 17 August 1964 TAVIP speech, Dwikora mobilisation, the 10th Kowani (KWI) congress, Sulami on peasant women and land reform, a West Irian travelogue and Kartinah on a Chinese people's commune.
A Little about the Indonesian Women's Movement
Api Kartini (late 1964) history of the Indonesian women's movement for Youth Pledge Day, tracing Kartini, Isteri Sedar, Perwari, wartime Fujinkai and Gerwis's founding on 4 June 1950 from the Gerakan Wanita Sedar, its name change to Gerwani after merging with railway workers' wives and Perwin Menado, joining Kowani and
Berita Yudha, 21 October 1965
Berita Yudha, 21 Oktober 1965. Army information chief alleges 'Gerwani Semarang' ran a public kitchen for 3,000 at the time of the 'coup'; further reports on the fate of Gerwani and the women's federation.
Suara Merdeka, 23 October 1965, pp. 2-3: PNI women ask Kowani to take a stand on G30S
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 23 Oktober 1965, hlm. 2–3. Three Gerwani items: PNI women ask Kowani (Hurustiati Subandrio) to take a position on G30S, opening the move toward Gerwani's exclusion; a businesswoman declares she is not Gerwani; a rally of 67 East Java organisations.
Berita Yudha, 2 November 1965. Kowani expelled Gerwani from membership as of 29 October 1965 for being 'clearly involved' in G30S; Muslimat NU chair Mahmudah Mawardi demands action against it.
Berita Yudha, 11 May 1966: Indonesian Women's Congress (Barindi)
Berita Yudha, 11 Mei 1966: 'Kongres Wanita Indonesia' (Barindi). Opinion article on the reorganisation of KOWANI after Subandrio's arrest: removal of coordinator Hurustiati Subandrio and the secretary, with a congress planned; accuses Hurustiati of dictating.
Berita Yudha, 4 October 1966
Berita Yudha, 4 Oktober 1966. Report of a rally of some 3,500 women of KOWANI, KAWI and BPOW at Lubang Buaya (3 Oct) where, led by Ibu Tien Soeharto, they swore to 'eradicate the gerwani/pki mentality'; Ibu Soeharto says they 'practised obscenities without limit'.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 27 April 1967. South Kalimantan governor Aberani Sulaiman says mothers must 'eradicate women of the Gerwani type, the Lubang Buaya type' to realise 'true Indonesian women'; KOWANI Kartini meeting.
Kuntilanak Wangi: women's organisations in Indonesia after 1950 (Wieringa, transl. Hersri Setiawan, 1999)
Hersri Setiawan's Indonesian translation (Kalyanamitra, Dec 1999) of Wieringa's 1988 working paper 'The Perfumed Nightmare' on Indonesian women's organisations after 1950, with a compact history of Gerwani and the Lubang Buaya slander. Accessible Indonesian-language Wieringa.
Notes of Sulami, Former Gerwani Secretary-General (YPKP 1965, 2006)
Sulami's reflective essay (written 1992, posted 9 Nov 2006) on why revolutionary women founded Gerwis on 4 June 1950, its rejection of 'man-hating feminism', its actions such as Tanjung Morawa and International Women's Day. First-person account by a Gerwani secretary-general.
Ups and Downs of the Indonesian Women's Movement (Wieringa, 2010)
Ten-page digest (in Komnas Perempuan's 2010 compilation) of Wieringa's Kuntilanak Wangi, tracing Indonesian women's movements from Kartini and Poetri Mardika to Gerwani, its rivalry with Perwari, the 1965 slander and New Order corporatism (Dharma Wanita, PKK). Concise overview.
Gerwani's anti-imperialist feminism on the Cold War stage (Rahayu, 2020)
Ruth Indiah Rahayu's 2020 essay on Gerwani's anti-imperialist feminism in the Cold War: the 17 Jan 1962 volunteer registration for West Irian reported in Api Kartini, Gerwani as the pioneer of volunteer mobilisation, and a 2020 reflection on Papua. Key transnational analysis.
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Breaking up before the decisive congress (how Umi Sardjono led Gerwani)
Tempo feature (2 Oct 2021) on how Umi Sardjono led Gerwani: Marx House courses, the 1945 Barisan Buruh Wanita with S.K. Trimurti, Gerwis founded at Semarang (3-6 June 1950, Tris Metty chair), Umi chair from 1954 when it became Gerwani. Cites 650,000 members and 179 kindergartens at the 1957 Solo congress, WIDF links, s
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Gerwani, Sukarno and polygamy (Gerwani and the dilemma of brotherhood)
Tempo essay (2 Oct 2021) by I Gusti Agung Ayu Ratih on why Gerwani did not criticise Sukarno's polygamy. It recounts Kowani expelling Gerwani on 29 Oct 1965 and removing Hurustiati Subandrio in 1966, the erasure of Gerwani from women's movement history, Perwari rivalry, Gerwani members' reverence for Sukarno, and anti-
Tempo, 2 October 2021: A dogmatic woman in two councils (Umi Sardjono in parliament)
Tempo feature (2 Oct 2021, Hussein Abri and Stefanus Pramono) on Umi Sardjono's legislative career: Konstituante (1955) and DPR-GR (1959-65). She pushed immigration reform (no spousal permission), a marriage law banning polygamy with minimum age 21 (opposed by Aisyiyah, Muslimat NU), the 1960 agrarian law for women far
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Black propaganda against Gerwani (Ita Fatia Nadia)
Op-ed by Ita Fatia Nadia in Tempo (2 Oct 2021) tracing the army-controlled press campaign from 7 Oct 1965 that cast Gerwani as sexually sadistic, contradicted by the military doctors' autopsy (Roebiono Kertapati). It links the slander to the mass killings, Kowani's expulsion of Gerwani (29 Oct 1965), Lubang Buaya volun