WIDF Bulletin 1947: Indonesia, Dutch aggression and women's solidarity
WIDF Bulletin, 1947: French Friends of Peace conference, plus an 'Indonesia' item quoting a letter from the Secretariat of the Indonesian Women's Congress on the Dutch colonial war. It says all women's organisations back the Republic, women take part in the fighting, thanks Dutch women's groups for protesting, and asks
WIDF Bulletin 1947: two new requests for affiliation (Netherlands, Indonesia)
WIDF Bulletin no. 12 (1947): news digest from women's organisations worldwide. Section IV announces two requests for WIDF affiliation, from the Netherlands women's movement and from the Pan-Indonesian Women's Congress (Java, June 1946), which seeks to unite with democratic women's groups abroad. Other items cover Spain
Great success in Paris for Indonesians at WIDF exhibition events
De Waarheid report (24 Jul 1948) on a Perhimpunan Indonesia group of Indonesian workers and students performing dances and songs in Paris and Saint-Denis at WIDF invitation during its women's exhibition. An Indonesian woman greeted French women; the piece notes Kowani is a WIDF member. No Gerwis/Gerwani and no named In
Official WIDF account of its Second Women's International Congress, Budapest, 1-6 December 1948 (390 delegates, 51 nations), with preface by Irene Joliot-Curie. It frames women's rights, child welfare and peace against Cold War blocs. Gerwani is not named. Indonesia appears only as a colonial struggle: appeals to end D
FBIS, 13 November 1950: Women's federation (Kowani and WIDF delegates)
FBIS note (13 Nov 1950): the Kowani executive reports that three WIDF delegates (Shen Chi-shu, Chen Ke, Chi Yun) would leave Peking on 16 Nov to attend the Kowani Congress, 24-26 Nov; Kowani is described as a WIDF member. Shows WIDF links with Indonesia's women's federation shortly after the Sept 1950 founding of Gerwi
FBIS, 29 November 1950: Women's Congress (Kowani)
FBIS item (29 Nov 1950): the Kowani congress ended on 28 Nov and set up an all-Indonesia federation of women's organisations called the Indonesian Women's Congress. Secretariat headed by Dr Maria Ulfah Santoso (OCR: Marta Ulfan). Programme: Pancasila basis, full independence, equal rights for women, peace, and pressure
FBIS, 7 March 1956: Greetings messages (International Women's Day, Peking)
FBIS-monitored Xinhua report (7 Mar 1956): a Peking women's rally on the eve of International Women's Day sent greetings to WIDF; the All-China Democratic Women's Federation sent messages to women's groups across Asia and Africa. Includes a message to Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women's Congress and the Indonesian Wom
FBIS, 29 June 1956: Women's Asian-African conference (Kowani consultative committee)
FBIS item (29 Jun 1956): the Indonesian Women's Congress consultative committee (executive members of Indonesian women's organisations) will meet in Jakarta on 2 July to discuss a projected Asian-African women's conference; the organisations agreed sponsors should be the Bandung Conference countries: India, Indonesia,
Report on a visit to Indonesia, Song Qingling (Renmin Ribao, 27 September 1956)
Renmin Ribao, 27 Sep 1956, p. 6: Song Qingling's report to the NPC Standing Committee on her ten-day visit to Indonesia (14-23 Aug 1956): Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bali, with Sukarno, Hatta and overseas Chinese. She meets Kowani-led women's leaders in Jakarta (16 Aug) and answers questions on Chinese women's
Report on a visit to Indonesia, Song Qingling (Renmin Ribao, 27 September 1956)
Renmin Ribao, 27 Sep 1956, p. 6: Song Qingling's report to the NPC Standing Committee on her ten-day visit to Indonesia (14-23 Aug 1956): Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bali, with Sukarno, Hatta and overseas Chinese. She meets Kowani-led women's leaders in Jakarta (16 Aug) and answers questions on Chinese women's
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
Chronological Survey of Women's Position in Marriage, 1959 (Kowani Legal Commission)
Pamphlet by the Legal Commission of the Kongres Wanita Indonesia (22 Dec 1959): numbered chronology of the struggle over women's position in marriage from 1928, the 1937 draft ordinance, to post-independence marriage law debates.
Api Kartini (late 1964) article on Sukarno's 'The Era of Confrontation' speech at the Second Non-Aligned Summit, Cairo (5-10 October 1964), applied to Indonesia: confrontation with Malaysia and with the 'seven village devils' (landlords) in the interest of peasant women. Also carries a Kowani delegation's impressions o
Dolgozó Nő, 24 Jan 1964: from Indonesia (Kowani 35th anniversary)
Dolgozó Nő, 24 Jan 1964. Travel report by Czechoslovak delegate Mária Brencicová on the 21 Dec 1963 festive session of Kowani in Jakarta, marking 35 years of the unified women's movement and 25 years of Mothers' Day, with Sukarno present. Describes Kowani (40 organisations), poverty, and women's patriotic tasks. Gerwan
Short FBIS item from TASS (8 Jun 1964): the Liaison Bureau Presidium set up at the 1960 Copenhagen women's meeting opened in Moscow (8-12 June) with Eugenie Cotton (WIDF), Popova (Soviet women's committee), and Hurustiati Subandrio, chairman of the Indonesian women's congress (Kowani), among others. Context for Indones
Women of Asia and Africa, unite: Bandung tenth anniversary in Jakarta (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao feature by Zhang Qian (14 June 1965, p. 5) on a four-member Chinese women's delegation at the Bandung 10th anniversary in Jakarta, invited by Kowani and Mrs Subandrio; truncated. Full text is GA-01976. Gerwani not named in the snippet.
Zhang Qian, 'Women of Asia and Africa, unite!': notes on the Bandung tenth anniversary in Jakarta
Renmin Ribao feature by Zhang Qian, member of the Chinese women's delegation (14 June 1965, p. 5), on the Bandung tenth-anniversary celebrations in Jakarta, April 1965. Hosted by Kowani and Mrs Subandrio; describes decorations, Sukarno's mass rally, Pham Van Dong reviewing 15,000 volunteers and Afro-Asian anti-imperial
National Front Head Briefs Women's Congress (FBIS, 14 Nov 1965)
FBIS item (Jakarta radio, 14 Nov 1965): National Front secretary-general Sudibjo briefed Kowani leaders and affiliated organisations, saying the 30 September Movement, especially PKI elements and mass organisations, split revolutionary unity and weakened the Dwikora offensive. He urged mass action consolidated under Su
Fighting in Jakarta: students storm Sukarno's palace
De Nieuwe Limburger, 25 Feb 1966: students storm Sukarno's palace after the swearing-in of the new cabinet; Sukarno calls them 'madmen' and the cabinet is derided as a 'Gestapu cabinet'. A photo caption notes that KOWANI members also joined the mass gathering at the palace. Gerwani is not named.
Subandrio Speech at International Women's Day Meeting (FBIS, 8 Mar 1966)
FBIS item (Jakarta radio, 8 Mar 1966): Subandrio's speech at the International Women's Day rally in Senayan, sponsored by the National Front and Kowani. He denied that Indonesia had veered right, urged solidarity with progressive states and Nasakom, and said women played an important role. Gerwani is not named.
Indonesianizing Marxism-Leninism: Communist Polycentrism 1919-1966 (Silverman, 1967)
PhD dissertation in political science (Claremont, 1967) by Jerry Mark Silverman on national communism and polycentrism, 1919-1966, using the 'political community' framework with the PKI as case study (Section III, chs. 4-5 on PKI independence and ambivalence). It confines its Indonesian analysis to the period before 1
Soviet Woman, 30 Apr 1967: 'Our Indonesian Friends Write'
Soviet Woman, 30 Apr 1967: Nina Voronina's 'Our Indonesian friends write' describes correspondence between the Soviet Women's Committee and Indonesian women (Asih Budi society in Bandung, journalist Sakti Alamsjah, pharmacist Salamah Adipura, Tulungagung teachers' club). Mentions Indonesia only through Kowani-era conta
Historical formation of ibuism in Indonesia: the 1937 Marriage Bill debate (Hirano, 2005)
Hirano Keiko's Japanese article (2005) on the historical formation of 'ibuism', arguing the supposedly priyayi tradition was produced under colonial rule through the conflict over the 1937 monogamous marriage bill. Context on gender ideology and marriage law; Gerwani marginal.
Twelfth Kowani Congress and its influence on the women's movement (Wijayanti, 2017)
Undergraduate article (2017) on the twelfth Kowani congress, Jakarta, 6-9 Feb 1961, arguing it tied the women's movement to government policy under Guided Democracy and sidelined polygamy and literacy issues; notes a Perwari-Gerwani split. Mostly general survey.
The Heteronormative Family as Moral Infrastructure: Citizenship and National Belonging in Indonesia (Mirna Nadia, 2025)
PhD dissertation (Sociology, Northwestern, Dec. 2025) by Mirna Nadia arguing the heteronormative family acts as 'moral infrastructure' of Indonesian citizenship, via the Marriage Law, the AILA judicial review, the Family Resilience Bill, women household heads and LGBT people. Gerwani appears only in ch. 1's history of