FBIS, 25 September 1954: Report on USSR (Gerwani-sponsored meeting)
FBIS item (25 Sep 1954): on 24 September three Indonesian women who recently visited the Soviet Union lectured on their impressions: social care of women, workers, equal rights, absence of prostitution and marriage legislation. The meeting, sponsored by Gerwani, drew a large audience of women and trade unionists. Shows
Peace: Soviet women visit Indonesia (account by Soviet delegates)
De Waarheid, 29 Sep 1954, p. 5: Dutch printing of an account from Soviet Woman by Soviet delegates Alexandra Cholopowa and Jekaterina Sjeweljowa on their three-week visit to Indonesia at Gerwani's invitation. They describe the word 'damai' (peace), women workers' and plantation conditions in East Java and Bandung, the
Enthusiastic welcome for Soviet trade union delegation in Semarang
De Locomotief, 2 Feb 1955: a Russian trade union delegation, a WFTU representative and SOBSI leaders are welcomed in Semarang by hundreds of SOBSI members, including Gerwani, forming guards of honour along the railway track. A lecture by the Russian guests is planned at the Gedung Kesenian.
Pravda, 1956: working people of Indonesia respond to the 20th CPSU Congress
Pravda, No. 59, 1956 (c. 28 Feb), p. 3: Jakarta dispatch 'The working people of Indonesia speak' among foreign responses to the 20th CPSU Congress. SOBSI leaders (Sumandi, Sudoyo, Sudadi) praise the Congress; Gerwani leader Suharti says she followed it via newspapers and Moscow radio in Indonesian and is 'amazed' at So
Pravda, 1956: interview with Gerwani leader Suharti (excerpt)
Keyword-hit excerpt of Pravda, No. 59, 1956 (Jakarta dispatch of 27 Feb) on Indonesian reactions to the 20th CPSU Congress: SOBSI Jakarta secretary Sudadi and Suharti, 'leader of the women's organization Gerwani', who says she followed the Congress and admires Soviet progress toward communism. Followed by an unrelated
1956 extract from a speech by Sunardi, Indonesian delegate to the World Conference of Women Workers, plus a column of international women's news. She describes low wages, foreign monopolies, plantation women workers, absence of democratic marriage law and labour protection, the unilateral abrogation of the Round Table
World Conference of Women Workers, Budapest 1956 (WIDF issue)
Issue of Women of the Whole World (no. 105, 1956) on the World Conference of Women Workers in Budapest, 14-17 June 1956 (497 delegates, 44 countries): reports on wage discrimination, working mothers, African women, Latin America, plus a contents list pointing to the Indonesian delegate's speech. This page itself says l
Gerwani central board welcomes the World Conference of Working Women (Bintang Timur, 14 February 1956)
Bintang Timur (Jakarta daily), 14 Feb 1956, p. 1 of a multi-article issue. The headline item reports that the DPP Gerwani welcomed with enthusiasm the call for a World Conference of Working Women (WIDF-linked), with a related Gerwani meeting mentioned; OCR is badly garbled so details are uncertain. Other news concerns
PKI has one million members: Aidit interview with Ogonyok
De Waarheid, 23 Mar 1956, p. 2: Moscow dispatch that the PKI has one million members, per Aidit in an interview with the Soviet magazine Ogonyok; SOBSI has 2.6 million, the peasant union BTI 2.5 million, Pemuda Rakjat 700,000 and Gerwani about 500,000. Useful as a contemporary membership figure for Gerwani.
Indonesian women briefly in Amsterdam en route to Budapest working women's conference
De Waarheid, 24 May 1956, p. 4: report on eight Indonesian women briefly in Amsterdam en route to the international conference of working women in Budapest (until 17 June), after a Soviet visit. They represent health, tea or cigarette, industrial and union workers, including Suhartini, Sutjati, Sudjinem, Supinah, Sumar
Indian Daily Mail, 27 May 1956 (lead only). A delegation of Indonesian working women arrived in Moscow at the invitation of the Soviet trade-union council (VTsSPS), led by Setiati Surasto, secretary for economic affairs of an Indonesian agricultural (peasant) organisation. Solidarity with the socialist bloc.
Setiati Surasto leads Sarbupri women workers' delegation to Moscow (Bintang Timur, 28 May 1956)
Bintang Timur (Jakarta daily), 28 May 1956, full issue. A short foreign-news item on page 3 reports that a delegation of Indonesian women workers arrived in Moscow at the invitation of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, led by Setiati Surasto, Sarbupri's Secretary for Economic Affairs, and planning a tour o
Moscow News, 30 May 1956: Indonesian women's delegation in Moscow
Moscow News (English), 30 May 1956, p. 5. Among general items (Afghan independence day, Anglo-Soviet and trade comment), a short piece reports a delegation of Indonesian women arriving in Moscow at the invitation of the Central Council of Trade Unions, led by Setiati Surasto, secretary of the plantation workers' union,
Indonesian women workers' delegation (Darmini, Gerwani) refused entry to Thailand (Bintang Timur, 5 July 1956)
Bintang Timur, 5 July 1956, p. 1 (four-page issue). Reports that the Indonesian women workers' delegation returning from the world women workers' conference in Budapest was refused entry/visas in Thailand on the way back via Copenhagen and told to continue flying or be jailed. Ten delegates are named from trade unions,
Daily Worker, 24 July 1956: Women unionists from 42 lands hold conference in Budapest
Page 4 of the Daily Worker (New York, 24 Jul 1956) reporting a Budapest conference of women trade unionists from 42 countries called by the WFTU, which demanded equal pay and opportunities and paid maternity leave. An unnamed delegate from Indonesia is cited on women workers being treated as cheap labour. Gerwani is no
Indonesia: social protection for mothers and children (Suwarti Bintang Suradi, 1957)
Excerpt from the WIDF Information Bulletin No. 14 (1957): Mme Suwarti (Suwarti Bintang Suradi), member of the Gerwani executive, reports on social insurance and protection for mothers and children in Indonesia. She notes obstacles for women officials, company rules such as Shell-BPM ending employment on marriage, lack
Women of all countries strive for peace and their own rights (Renmin Ribao, 8 March 1957)
Renmin Ribao, 8 Mar 1957, p. 6, Weng Hua: International Women's Day survey of women's struggles for peace and rights worldwide, WIDF growth, wage inequality and conditions in socialist countries. Only Indonesian item: an unnamed Indonesian women's organisation said to have grown from 6,000 members three years earlier t
Women of all countries strive for peace and their own rights (Renmin Ribao, 8 March 1957)
Renmin Ribao, 8 Mar 1957, p. 6, Weng Hua: International Women's Day survey of women's struggles for peace and rights worldwide, WIDF growth, wage inequality and conditions in socialist countries. Only Indonesian item: an unnamed Indonesian women's organisation said to have grown from 6,000 members three years earlier t
Biographies of National Council members
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1957-07-31, p. 3): continued biographies of National Council members. Soerastri Karma Trimurti, representing women's organisations, born Surakarta 1912, teacher-training and economics studies, jailed by the Dutch 1933-36, attended the 1953 Copenhagen international women's congress, and wrote b
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),
WIDF study publication (Berlin, 1958) on protection of motherhood as a right of women and a responsibility of society, with country contributions from Study Days participants, the ILO Convention 103 text and national summaries. It names Suwarti Bintang Suradi as Gerwani executive member and constituent assembly member.
Captain Cook with strangely quiet children: the Dutch house, a cold deserted harbour
Nieuwe Haarlemsche Courant, 20 January 1958, p. 3: reporter's account of the arrival at IJmuiden of the Captain Cook with about a thousand Dutch and Indo-Dutch evacuees expelled from Indonesia after the December 1957 takeover of Dutch enterprises. It records broken families, fears and a claim that communist union cars
Friendly Visit to the Land of the Kangaroo
Api Kartini travel report by Rusiyati, an Antara journalist, on her month-long visit to Australia (1960) at the invitation of the Australian International Women's Day committee. Describes staying with working-class, clergy, artist and industrialist families, meetings of 25-250 women, equal-pay campaigns, and Australian
Latin American Women Defend Life
Api Kartini article (1959) by S. Djin on Latin American women's movements: the first Latin American Women's Congress in Santiago, Chile (November 1959), electricity-rate protests in Argentina, equal-pay demands in Chile, the Cuban women's conference, and anti-nuclear petitions in Colombia. Compares them to Asian-Africa
Literaturnaia Gazeta, 3 Feb 1959: 21st CPSU Congress; PKI delegation at a Moscow factory
Front page of Literaturnaia Gazeta, 3 Feb 1959, reporting the extraordinary 21st CPSU Congress. Indonesia appears only in a report of foreign communist delegations at Moscow factories: D. N. Aidit and 'comrade Suharti' (PKI Central Committee representative, speaking for Indonesian women, identification unconfirmed) add
Pravda, 3 Feb 1959: Suharti of the PKI Central Committee greets Moscow factory workers
Pravda, 3 Feb 1959 (No. 34), pp. 2 and 10 (machine-translated): coverage of the CPSU 21st Congress. On p. 2 the PKI delegation visits the Moscow Electric Lamp Factory; Aidit speaks, and Suharti of the PKI CC greets the women workers on behalf of Indonesian women (OCR ambiguous). P. 10 reports the delegation laying a wr
Pravda, 3 Feb 1959: Suharti greets Moscow factory workers (excerpt)
Keyword-hit excerpt of Pravda, No. 34, 3 Feb 1959, on foreign communist delegations visiting Moscow factories during the 21st CPSU Congress. At the Moscow Electric Lamp Factory D. N. Aidit spoke, and Suharti, PKI Central Committee representative, greeted workers 'on behalf of Indonesian women workers' (wording ambiguou
Api Kartini No. 10, Year 2, 1960
Issue 10 of year 2 (1960). Includes a profile of painter Mia Bustam, a Kartini quotation column, housewives running kindergartens, a delegation of Indonesian women to China, women printing workers and women's health in East Germany.
Italian Women
Article by Sulami (1960) reporting on the 8th national congress of the Union of Italian Women (UDI) in Rome in May, attended by 783 delegates and foreign guests including Indonesia. Describes Maria Maddalena Rossi and Marisa Rodano, the women's demands (equal pay, pensions for housewives, social security, opposition to
Pravda, 1960: voice of Indonesian mothers; Setiati Surasto of SOBSI
Pravda, No. 40, c. 9 Feb 1960, p. 3 (selected page). Jakarta dispatch 'The voice of Indonesian mothers' (8 Feb): women's-movement activist Sri Slamet, SOBSI National Council member Setiati Surasto and mother Maruto Nitimihardjo welcome Khrushchev's planned visit and general-disarmament proposal. Also a Gromyko-Adam Mal