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
1956 page of speeches to the WIDF Council: Teng Ying-chao (China), Hajrah Begum (India) and Suharti, Gerwani Vice-President and MP. Suharti reports Gerwani membership grew from 281,000 to 565,147, its cooperation at the Palembang Women's Congress (March 1955), International Children's Day events, and delegations demand
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
1956 WIDF bulletin item on Indonesia: the Gerwani Central Council's report on cooperation with other women's organisations, overcoming mistrust, membership rising from 281,000 to 565,147, local marriage-rights actions, rural work with peasant groups, the All-Indonesia Women's Congress adopting Gerwani's proposed Charte
Page (seq. 1010) of the US 'Monthly Indonesian Press Survey' (nos. 11-21, 1956) listing 1955-56 Constituent Assembly members by region. Under the PKI group (80 seats), East Java (27) names Njoto, Njono, Tan Ling Djie and Suwardiningsih, whom the sweep identifies as a Gerwani member; the page does not say so.
Java-Bode, 23 January 1956, p. 2: the Gerwani central board wrote to the government welcoming Pope Pius XII's endorsement of painless childbirth, credited the theory's discoverer, Soviet professor Pavlov, and urged the government to let Indonesian scholars learn it for mass application. Other snippets (Kalimantan impor
Short item, Indische Courant voor Nederland, 4 Feb 1956, p. 3: the Gerwani central board writes to the government welcoming Pope Pius XII's acceptance of painless childbirth, praising its Soviet discoverer Pavlov, and asking that Indonesian scientists be enabled to learn the method for mass application.
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
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
Xinhua note in Renmin Ribao, 8 Mar 1956 (p. 4): the All-China Democratic Women's Federation sent International Women's Day telegrams to women's bodies in India, Burma, Pakistan, Egypt and Japan and, in Indonesia, to Gerwani, to Kowani (the Indonesian Women's Congress) and to the Indonesian Women's 8 March Commemoration
Xinhua note in Renmin Ribao, 8 Mar 1956 (p. 4): the All-China Democratic Women's Federation sent International Women's Day telegrams to women's bodies in India, Burma, Pakistan, Egypt and Japan and, in Indonesia, to Gerwani, to Kowani (the Indonesian Women's Congress) and to the Indonesian Women's 8 March Commemoration
Toowoomba Chronicle, 13 Mar 1956, p. 3 (AAP-Reuters): US Secretary of State Dulles visits Jakarta after the SEATO conference; demonstrators shout 'Abolish SEATO' and 'We want peace, not war'. A young girl arrested for throwing a pamphlet says she is a Gerwani member; Gerwani had earlier protested the visit.
Toowoomba Chronicle, 13 Mar 1956, p. 3 (AAP-Reuters): US Secretary of State Dulles visits Jakarta after the SEATO conference; demonstrators shout 'Abolish SEATO' and 'We want peace, not war'. A young girl arrested for throwing a pamphlet says she is a Gerwani member; Gerwani had earlier protested the visit.
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1956-03-13, p. 1): US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles arrives in Jakarta; a score of demonstrators shout 'Hapuskan SEATO'. A 25-year-old woman, Samsia, a member of Gerwani ('a communist-minded women's organisation'), threw a red anti-SEATO pamphlet into his car and was arrested for quest
Short Algemeen Indisch Dagblad item (1956-03-13, p. 1): the Gerwani central board issues a statement objecting to John Foster Dulles's visit, his interference and his push for Indonesia to join SEATO, which it says contradicts the Bandung (Afro-Asian) Conference decisions on peace and friendship.
Arnhemsche Courant, 13 Mar 1956 (UP-Reuters): John Foster Dulles visits Sukarno in Jakarta and informally offers economic aid. A young woman of Gerwani among about two dozen protesters shouting 'Abolish SEATO' threw a piece of paper at his car and was detained for questioning.
Two Xinhua dispatches from Jakarta in Renmin Ribao, 13 Mar 1956 (p. 4). First: US Secretary of State Dulles was met at the airport on 12 March by demonstrators shouting against SEATO, and a girl was arrested for sticking a slogan on his car. Second: Gerwani issued a statement on 11 March condemning the visit as an atte
Two Xinhua dispatches from Jakarta in Renmin Ribao, 13 Mar 1956 (p. 4). First: US Secretary of State Dulles was met at the airport on 12 March by demonstrators shouting against SEATO, and a girl was arrested for sticking a slogan on his car. Second: Gerwani issued a statement on 11 March condemning the visit as an atte
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.
Renmin Ribao, 25 Apr 1956 (p. 4), descriptive report on the opening (24 Apr) of the WIDF Council meeting in Beijing: Presidents Mrs Gordon and Cai Chang, Deng Yingchao welcoming Egyptian, Israeli and Indonesian delegates, and Angiola Minella's report on peace, nuclear tests and Asian-African women after Bandung. It cla
Renmin Ribao, 25 Apr 1956 (p. 4), descriptive report on the opening (24 Apr) of the WIDF Council meeting in Beijing: Presidents Mrs Gordon and Cai Chang, Deng Yingchao welcoming Egyptian, Israeli and Indonesian delegates, and Angiola Minella's report on peace, nuclear tests and Asian-African women after Bandung. It cla
Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao, 26 Apr 1956 (p. 1), on day two of the WIDF Council meeting in Beijing, with speeches from Indian, German, Malagasy, Argentine, Soviet, Tunisian and British delegates. Suharti, WIDF Council member and vice-chairman of Gerwani, says Indonesian women's organisations are growing, oppose US ef
Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao, 26 Apr 1956 (p. 1), on day two of the WIDF Council meeting in Beijing, with speeches from Indian, German, Malagasy, Argentine, Soviet, Tunisian and British delegates. Suharti, WIDF Council member and vice-chairman of Gerwani, says Indonesian women's organisations are growing, oppose US ef
Renmin Ribao, 7 May 1956, p. 5: abridged speeches (part 1) at the WIDF Council meeting in Beijing. Includes a short statement by Mrs Suharti for Gerwani, welcoming the Bandung resolutions, reporting that Gerwani set up the national preparatory committee and delegation for the Lausanne World Assembly of Mothers, and not
Renmin Ribao, 7 May 1956, p. 5: abridged speeches (part 1) at the WIDF Council meeting in Beijing. Includes a short statement by Mrs Suharti for Gerwani, welcoming the Bandung resolutions, reporting that Gerwani set up the national preparatory committee and delegation for the Lausanne World Assembly of Mothers, and not
Berliner Zeitung, 27 May 1956, p. 6: women's column item "Im Juni wird in Budapest ..." ahead of the World Congress of Working Women. One short paragraph reports that the Indonesian women's organisation GERWANI demands a ban on child marriage, forced marriage and bride-purchase, an end to the ban on widows remarrying,
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,
State Department intelligence report (17 July 1956) on the Soviet and Chinese communist campaign in Indonesia after the 1956 visits, with a chronology of Indonesia-China exchanges. Gerwani features only in the chronology: a May 1956 Gerwani protest against US H-bomb tests, plus Indonesian delegations to the WIDF meetin
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
Gudok (Soviet railwaymen's paper), 17 Aug 1956, p. 4. Survey article by G. Svetlanov for the Republic's 11th anniversary: Dutch colonial legacy, nationalisations, five-year plan, foreign policy and Sukarno's coming visit. One passage lists Gerwani, 'half a million members', among leading patriotic mass organisations be