'17 August, a day of mourning': bitter announcement of a formed committee
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1950-08-14, p. 1): SOBSI, Rukun Tani Indonesia, the Front Nasional Pemuda and the women's organisation Gerwis, among others, form their own committee to commemorate 17 August 1950 because the government excluded organisations. They call the day one of mourning for a 'unitary state à la RTC' an
Regency council installed
De Locomotief, 10 Oct 1950: report on the installation of the Semarang regency council by Resident Milono, listing about 40 members from many parties and bodies. Mrs Sri Utari is named as the Gerwis representative; Mrs Sukandar and Suwarti represent GPII's women's wing. Records Gerwis's presence in local government in
Gerwis Working Handbook, c. 1951
Founding handbook of Gerwis issued after the June 1950 Semarang fusion of six women's organisations: statutes, a catechism-style commentary, bylaws, an organising manual and a field guide for work among women workers, peasants, traders and workers' wives. Frames women's interest in anticolonial struggle.
Merdeka, 19 March 1951: 'Gerakan Wanita' (S.K. Trimurti)
Merdeka, 19 Mar 1951, p. 2: S.K. Trimurti of the Gerwis central board says Gerwis will focus on village councils over parliamentary seats, on doctors, midwives and marriage issues, and denies Gerwis is a PKI onderbouw.
Analysis of Communist Propaganda in Indonesia (OIR 5714.7, 1952)
OSS/State Department report OIR 5714.7 (30 May 1952) analysing PKI propaganda: party structure, front organisations, relations with international communism and themes. Names Gerwis under Mrs Mudigdo as the communist vehicle competing with Kowani for women, and BTI under S. Sardjono; appendices cover publishing, films,
FBIS, 6 June 1952: Indonesian peace movements (Suwarti and Surjonegoro interview)
FBIS-monitored Chinese Home Service excerpts (6 Jun 1952): press interview with Indonesian delegates Suwarti and Surjonegoro in Peking. They described Indonesian livelihood under foreign capital, the land question, US aid and the rubber embargo (prices down about 70%), and said over 600,000 Indonesians signed a request
Women make demands on the government: Gerwis resolutions to Prime Minister Wilopo
De Waarheid, 29 Apr 1953, p. 6: short Jakarta dispatch (20 April) that Gerwis handed to Prime Minister Wilopo the resolutions from its recent conference: price controls, independent trade policy, firm action against security threats, and condemnation of attempts to drive peasants off their land in North Sumatra.
Progress of the women's movement in East Java: Gerwis growth figures
De Waarheid, 6 May 1953, p. 5: dispatch citing two Gerwis women, Su... and Warinah, on the growth of Gerwis in East Java: districts up from 19 (early 1952) to 37, 120 branches plus 50 forming, 7,016 members, mainly women workers, peasants and self-employed. Illiteracy is the main obstacle, countered by courses attended
Gerwis and the coming cabinet
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1953-06-16, p. 2): Gerwis issues a statement on cabinet formation urging a government that withdraws measures harming women and the people, with a programme of protection for working and pregnant women, anti-unemployment measures, more education budget, price control, farm tools, ending region
Gerwis position
Java-Bode, 16 June 1953, p. 1: Gerwis statement on the formation of a new cabinet. It demands withdrawal of measures harming women and the people, with a programme of protection for working and pregnant women, fighting unemployment, higher education budget, price control, repeal of regional measures violating democrati
Gerwis and the coming cabinet
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (17 Jun 1953, p.2): Gerwis issues a statement on the formation of a new cabinet, calling for one that repeals measures harming women and people. Its programme demands protection of working women (especially pregnant), curbing unemployment, a bigger education and culture budget, price control
Mangunsarkoro (PNI) and Roem (Masjumi) cabinet formateurs
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 24 Jun 1953, p. 1: Sukarno appoints Mangunsarkoro (PNI) and Roem (Masjumi) as cabinet formateurs after Wilopo's fall; reports party programmes. Gerwis issues a statement urging a cabinet that protects working and pregnant women, curbs unemployment, raises education budgets, controls pri
New demonstrations in prospect: open letter to Sukarno after Bandung rally
De Nieuwsgier, 17 July 1953 (PIA): a delegation from the PPDI, Partai Buruh, PNI, PKI, PRIM, Gerwis and Permai, whose parties held a large Bandung demonstration, presents Sukarno with an open letter asking him to decree Darul Islam and other bands terrorists to be exterminated. Sukarno agrees personally but says cabine
Sumatran groups up in arms against Masjumi
De Locomotief, 27 July 1953: a Palembang delegation (PIR, PNI, PKI) flies to Jakarta with a statement signed by six parties and 22 organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis. It demands early elections, anti-corruption action, settlement of the Tanjung Morawa affair and a democratic cabinet without Ma
Statement of groupings in South Sumatra
De Nieuwsgier, 27 July 1953: Palembang delegation (PIR, PNI, PKI) flies to Jakarta with a joint statement by six parties and 22 organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis. It says a PNI-Masjumi cabinet is no longer possible, urges a democratic parliamentary cabinet under Wongsonegoro, action against D
Salatiga: national action committee formed
De Locomotief, 29 July 1953: Salatiga branches of SOBSI, BTI, PPDI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis jointly convene a meeting of 35 organisations and parties, which forms a national action committee and decides to send an open letter to Sukarno urging implementation of parliament's decisions and action against Darul Islam and
Other trade unions: Sarbupri strike and BTI congress solidarity
De Vrije Pers fragment (17 Sep 1953) on trade-union reactions to the Sarbupri plantation workers' strike. It notes that the BTI's second congress, attended by SOBSI, Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwis representatives, declared solidarity with the strike and instructed its branches to support strikers.
Merger of peasant unions
Java-Bode, 18 September 1953, p. 2: report that the Barisan Tani Indonesia (BTI) congress in Jakarta voted 122 in favour of merging with the Rukun Tani Indonesia, with some BTI executive members suspended. The damaged OCR ends by saying Gerwis expressed views on the merger; the content of those views is unreadable.
Merger of the peasant unions
Short item, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 23 Sep 1953, p. 3: the BTI congress votes 122 to 8 to merge with Rukun Tani Indonesia; dissenting board members are suspended. Gerwis is reported to have welcomed the BTI-RTI merger.
Round the clock in Malang: Gerwis branch boards elected
De Vrije Pers local-news column (16 Jan 1954, Malang). Relevant item: Gerwis Malang town and regency branches elected new boards, with Mrs. Sudiro as town chairwoman and Mrs. Ismail as regency chairwoman, listing officers for organisation, labour and agriculture, social affairs, and information and education, and their
Women of Indonesia prepare their congress: Umi Sardjono excerpts from Harian Rakjat
De Waarheid, 10 Mar 1954, p. 5: excerpts from an article by Umi (Sardjono), Gerwis board member, in Harian Rakjat preparing Gerwis's second congress. She lists invitations to women's groups in the USSR, China, Netherlands, India and WIDF, and stresses plantation and factory women, mass dismissals driving women into pro
Action against the Swapradja: self-government in Solo does not fit present system
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1954-03-12, p. 2): the anti-Swapradja Surakarta committee, whose conference included Gerwis among PNI, PKI, Partai Buruh, SOBSI and youth groups, resolves to reject any return of self-government and to hold regency rallies by 15 April. The government says swapradja must be gradually adapted an
On the plantations: Rie Lips tells about Indonesia
De Waarheid, 12 May 1954, p. 5: Rie Lips's account of her Java trip: plantation workers' wages (about 3 rupiah per day), child labour on tea and rubber estates, and volunteer village schools. Quotes the Gerwani congress appeal that those who can read should teach others; Soviet delegate Alexandra Kolopowa speaks; photo
Geeta Mukherjee, 'About the Movement of Indonesian Women' (WIDF Circular Attachment, 21 April 1958)
Report by Indian MP Geeta Mukherjee on Gerwani, attached to a WIDF circular of 21 April 1958, based on talks with her neighbour Suwarti Bintang Suradi, WIDF Secretariat member and Gerwani organisation chair. It covers Gerwis's 1950 origin and renaming, the Third Congress, membership growth (to 460,000 by August 1957),
Fifteen Years of Gerwani (Harian Rakjat, 4 June 1965; JPRS 30968)
JPRS 30968 translation of the unsigned Harian Rakjat article 'Fifteen Years of Gerwani' (4 June 1965). Traces three periods: Gerwis (1950, 500 members; 74,977 by 1954 Congress), Gerwani (631,342 in 1957; 1,056,436 in 1961), and support for the women's front. Covers Melati kindergartens, peasant integration, the Kowani
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.
Arjo Sutiyem, Activist and Victim of 65 (Jurnal Perempuan, 2014)
Jurnal Perempuan profile (10 Oct 2014) of Arjo Sutiyem, a Boyolali farmer who joined Gerwis in the early 1950s, founded the Musuk branch (2 Feb 1952), led Boyolali's organisation and ran women's literacy schools, then was handed to the army in 1965. Grassroots Gerwis/Gerwani testimony.
Suti, Gerwani Activist: In a Mother's Womb We Are All the Same (Jurnal Perempuan, 2016)
Jurnal Perempuan feature (Jan 2016) on a Jejer Wadon visit to Suti (Arjo Sutiyem), 96, in Musuk, Boyolali: her reasons for joining the women's movement, early life, chairing Gerwis Boyolali with 4,000 members from 1952. Adds biographical detail to the 2014 profile.
The Story of Suti, 96-Year-Old Gerwani Activist and 1965 Survivor (Rappler, 2016)
Rappler first-person account (2 Feb 2016) of Suti (Arjo Sutiyem), 96: born 1920 in Musuk, third wife in an arranged marriage, joined Gerwis in 1951, chaired Musuk and Boyolali Gerwani, then persecuted in 1965. Fullest of three texts on her.
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Women warriors (Gerwani infographic)
Tempo English infographic 'Women Warriors' (4 Oct 2021, text by Hussein Abri Dongoran) summarising Gerwani: founded 1954 from Gerwis (1950), disbanded 1965 after New Order accusations. It lists the central board (Umi Sardjono chair, Mudikdio, Suharti, S.K. Trimurti, Sulami Djojoprawiro, Sudjinah and others), the jasmin