First Lady
Short Algemeen Indisch Dagblad item 'First Lady' (1955-12-31, p. 1): Perwari chair Mrs. Kartowijono says any socially acceptable woman can be First Lady and urges a marriage law quickly. Muslimat (Masyumi) and Gerwani are still deliberating on the question and could not yet comment, in the context of the Sukarno marria
Djuanda vows to carry out programme; parties and groups back the new cabinet (Renmin Ribao, 13 April 1957)
Renmin Ribao, 13 Apr 1957, p. 6 (Xinhua, Jakarta): PM Djuanda's broadcast on the new extra-parliamentary cabinet and reactions of parties and organisations (PNI, NU, PKI/Aidit, Masjumi, PSII, Parkindo, Murba). Gerwani appears only in a list of mass organisations, with SOBSI, Perwari and others, that telegraphed support
Djuanda vows to carry out programme; parties and groups back the new cabinet (Renmin Ribao, 13 April 1957)
Renmin Ribao, 13 Apr 1957, p. 6 (Xinhua, Jakarta): PM Djuanda's broadcast on the new extra-parliamentary cabinet and reactions of parties and organisations (PNI, NU, PKI/Aidit, Masjumi, PSII, Parkindo, Murba). Gerwani appears only in a list of mass organisations, with SOBSI, Perwari and others, that telegraphed support
Sukarno presents gifts to Chairman Liu (Renmin Ribao, 21 April 1963)
Renmin Ribao, 21 Apr 1963, p. 2 (Xinhua, Jakarta): at the State Palace Sukarno presents gifts to Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yi before the farewell banquet; delegates of Indonesian organisations (Pemuda Rakjat, BTI, PKI, SOBSI, Baperki, Gerwani, Perwari and others) also present gifts, including a West Irian bird of paradise. G
Sukarno presents gifts to Chairman Liu (Renmin Ribao, 21 April 1963)
Renmin Ribao, 21 Apr 1963, p. 2 (Xinhua, Jakarta): at the State Palace Sukarno presents gifts to Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yi before the farewell banquet; delegates of Indonesian organisations (Pemuda Rakjat, BTI, PKI, SOBSI, Baperki, Gerwani, Perwari and others) also present gifts, including a West Irian bird of paradise. G
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
FO 371/181556: Joint Malaysia-Indonesia Department, Propaganda [1] (1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/181556 (Joint Malaysia-Indonesia Department, 1965): minutes, letters and telegrams on countering Indonesian propaganda during Konfrontasi (crashed-aircraft evidence, guidance telegram no. 36, Afro-Asian posts). It has nothing on Gerwani in the official papers. Filed within it is a printed
Interview with Maria Ulfah Santoso: PKI and Gerwani tried to control Kowani (Tempo, c. 1977; JPRS)
JPRS translation of a Tempo profile (c. early 1977) of Maria Ulfah Santoso (b. Serang 1911): her marriage to political prisoner Soebadio Sastrosatomo with Subandrio's help (Jan 1964), early women's-movement work, Perwari and Kowani, and the PSI. She says that during her 11 years leading Kowani from 1952, 'PKI and Gerwa
Social system (on the Indonesian women's movement after 1949)
De Waarheid text (7 May 1988, p.6), apparently a speech/interview by an unnamed Indonesian woman, on the Indonesian women's movement. She says Gerwani, with about 1.5 million members after 1949, gave the movement its mass character defending peasant and working women, while Perwari led on polygamy; after 1965 Gerwani w
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.
A Study of 'Aisyiyah, an Indonesian Women's Organization, 1917-1998 (Ro'fah, 2000)
MA thesis (McGill, 2000) by Ro'fah on 'Aisyiyah, the women's wing of Muhammadiyah, from 1917 to 1998, covering the Old Order and New Order. Gerwani is treated as a rival within KOWANI in Ch. 2 (pp. 59-62): Gerwis founded 4 June 1950 and renamed Gerwani in 1954, its mass base among peasant women, literacy classes, marri
The Women's Movement in Indonesia, with special reference to 'Aisyiyah (It, 2005)
Suraiya It's 2005 Temple University religion PhD dissertation on the Indonesian women's movement, with the Muhammadiyah women's section 'Aisyiyah as case study (Ch. 2 history from Kartini to the New Order; Ch. 3 religion and family law; Ch. 4-5 'Aisyiyah; Ch. 6 conclusion). Gerwani appears only in passing: Gerwis is li
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.
Tempo, 18 April 2016: Onward the women's movement
Tempo editorial note (18 Apr 2016), recalling a 1978 Kartini Day feature on the women's movement from Aceh 1614 to the 1970s. It describes Kowani's formation (1946), Perwari's protest over Sukarno's 1954 marriage to Hartini, Perwari being squeezed as Gerwani, 'affiliated with the PKI', gained influence, and Gerwani ste
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.
A heavy blow to the women's movement (Historia, 2018)
Historia article (2018) on the 1953 women's campaign against Government Regulation 19/1952 giving civil-service pensions to all widows of polygynous officials, including the 17 Dec 1953 mass meeting at Deca Park attended by Gerwani and others. Context on the anti-polygamy movement.
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: Limp before Bung Karno (why Gerwani did not criticise Sukarno's polygamy)
Tempo piece (2 Oct 2021, Hussein Abri and Stefanus Pramono) on why Gerwani, loudly anti-polygamy, stayed silent when Sukarno married Hartini. Umi Sardjono told Ruth Indiah Rahayu it was a private matter and Gerwani still needed Sukarno against imperialism (Harian Rakjat, 4 Jan 1956); Perwari backed Fatmawati; Amurwani
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Soft on Sukarno (Gerwani and Sukarno's polygamy)
Tempo English cover story 'Soft on Sukarno' (4 Oct 2021, Hussein Abri) on why Gerwani, which campaigned against polygamy, stayed silent when Sukarno married Hartini in 1954. Umi Sardjono told Ruth Indiah Rahayu the group still needed Sukarno against imperialism, and defended him in Harian Rakjat (4 Jan 1956). The stanc
The Butterfly Effect: Stealth Politics by the Reformist Women's Movement (Puspita, 2023)
PhD dissertation (Northwestern, June 2023) by Sabina Satriyani Puspita in political science on how the 'reformist' women's movement wins policy change through 'stealth politics', using the 2021 Regulation 30 on campus sexual violence. Gerwani appears in historical chapters: the 1965 stigmatisation and the sexual-dance/
Transformation of Gerwani: gender struggle to post-1965 stigmatisation (Aisyah, 2025)
Rania Dhiyaulhaq Aisyah, 'Transformasi Gerwani' (Jurnal Sejarah Indonesia 8:2, 2025), a literature-based article on Gerwani's pre-1965 gender activism (education, health, anti-polygamy, 1955 elections, PKI ties, congresses) and its post-1965 stigmatisation. It repeats Wieringa's finding that the Lubang Buaya sexual-vio
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