WIDF 1950: From All Parts, Women Write to the WIDF
WIDF bulletin, 1950: 'From All Parts, Women Write to the WIDF' with reports from South Africa, Israel and Indonesia. The Indonesia section recounts women in the Republic's struggle against the Dutch, mass May Day rallies (390,000 in 1950), repression after the Madiun era, harsh conditions for plantation women, and supp
Law No. 1 of 1951 Extending the 1948 Labour Law to All Indonesia
Text of Law No. 1 of 1951, signed by Sukarno on 6 January 1951, extending the 1948 Labour Law (No. 12) to all of Indonesia. It limits children's and youths' work and bars women from night work, mines and hazardous jobs. It grants women paid rest on the first two days of menstruation, 1.5 months before and after childbi
FBIS, 20 April 1953: Delegates to Peking (SOBSI delegation, S.K. Trimurti)
FBIS item (20 Apr 1953): MP Tjugito (OCR) and Suharjo, secretary-general of SABDA, left Jakarta as SOBSI delegates to May Day in Peking. S.K. Trimurti left with the SOBSI delegation and would attend the women's congress in Copenhagen (World Congress of Women). Shows Trimurti's travel in the WIDF circuit.
FBIS, 4 May 1953: Women's delegation (to the Copenhagen congress)
FBIS item (4 May 1953): first group of Indonesia's delegation to the International Women's Congress in Copenhagen (from 5 June) left Jakarta by ship on 4 May: a SARBUPRI central committee woman (name garbled, Suranto), Maasje Siwi and Kartinah, both of Gerwis. Records named Gerwis delegates to the WIDF congress.
Soviet Woman, Feb 1954: Rantijem, 'Our Unity Is Growing Stronger'
Soviet Woman, 28 Feb 1954, p. 30: article by Rantijem (SOBSI National Council member), written after her Nov 1953 USSR tour with a trade union delegation, on Indonesian women's conditions. Describes legal bars to women's state and foreign-firm work, unequal pay (4.30 rupees/day vs 155.49 subsistence minimum), no matern
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
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
Weekly Situation Reports, Indonesia, January 1960 (State Department Central Files)
Compilation of Djakarta embassy weekly political, economic and military situation telegrams to the State Department, January 1960. One item (21 Jan) reports labour union and women representatives picketing the Trade Minister's office over prices despite an army ban, with a newspaper identifying many women as members of
Indonesian Labor Conditions: Unions, December 1960
Short compilation of US embassy telegrams and airgrams (Dec 1960) on Indonesian labour and unions. A 3 Dec telegram reports the South Sumatra-Jambi military command's continued ban on PKI and affiliates including SOBSI, PERBUM, Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani after regulation changes; other items concern SOBSI and union cond
For Democracy, Women's Rights, Food and Clothing (Fourth National Congress of Gerwani, 1961)
Api Kartini report on the 4th National Congress of Gerwani, Jakarta, December 1961 (about 400 delegates and observers), with Sukarno attending. Lists foreign guests: Gloria Garton for WIDF, Soviet, Chinese and East German delegates. Sukarno called Gerwani one of the forces for the Irian Barat struggle and urged total u
US Embassy Despatches on PKI Tactics and the SOBSI Women's Labour Seminar, May 1961
US Embassy Djakarta despatches to the State Department, May 1961. One reports conservative views (Mohammad Roem) that the PKI won a limited victory by gaining legal recognition. The other reports the SOBSI National Seminar on Labouring Women (Jakarta, 11-14 May 1961), attended by Djuanda and Gerwani central board membe
Asia, Indonesia: the women of Indonesia (part 2)
Mainichi Shimbun (Tokyo morning edition, 28 Sep 1961, p. 5): article on part 2 of the series on the women of Indonesia (legible: Jakarta, women workers, Bali, India, China). The OCR is almost entirely scrambled, so this summary rests on the title and a few legible words; no named Gerwani member or Gerwani mention is vi
With Manipol Strengthen the United Women's Front (Gerwani DPP Plenary, January 1963)
Api Kartini (1963) report by Ratna on the Gerwani DPP Plenary held in Jakarta, 6-10 January 1963, a year after the 4th Congress. Umi Sardjono's general report praised the Irian Barat victory and the end of the state of emergency (1 May 1963), and the plenary resolved to strengthen the Nasakom-based national front, supp
Sukarno rejects demand for ban on Sukarnoism (South China Morning Post, 14 December 1964)
South China Morning Post, 14 Dec 1964, p.28 (Jakarta, 13 Dec; fragmentary OCR): Sukarno rejects a demand to ban 'Sukarnoism', and the item notes that Antara reported hundreds of members of Gerwani, 'the Communist women's organisation', demonstrated outside government offices in Medan the previous Wednesday with signs d
Neue Zeit, 24 Sep 1965, p. 4: Independent and equal (stalks of rice as a symbol of happiness)
Neue Zeit, 24 September 1965, p. 4 (women's page): ADN reportage "Halme des Reises als Symbol des Glücks – Selbständig und gleichberechtigt" by ADN Jakarta correspondent Helga Pe[...] on Indonesian women's life. It claims women drive cars, work as police and journalists, make up almost half of students and that the dep
Tempo, 29 June 1974: S.K. Trimurti's birthday
Tempo profile (29 June 1974) of S.K. Trimurti on her 64th birthday by the Javanese calendar: ex-Minister of Labour (1946-47), journalist since 1933, now editing the spiritual magazine Mawas Diri. Notes her will asking for cremation, her economics degree at 48, a forthcoming biography by Kustiniati Mochtar. No mention o
From politics to mysticism: S.K. Trimurti in her own words (Tempo, 21 Apr 1990)
Tempo profile (21 April 1990), in S.K. Trimurti's own first-person voice, of her life from teacher and Partindo cadre to labour minister and spiritualist. She says she co-founded Gerwis around 1950 (Ketua III, Yogyakarta), that Gerwis became Gerwani at its third congress under Umi Sardjono, and that in 1965 she quit Ge
Tempo, 29 August 2005: S.K. Trimurti at 93
Short Tempo news item (29 Aug 2005) that S.K. Trimurti, 93, 'journalist of three eras' and Labour Minister in 1947, is hospitalised at PGI Cikini; Social Minister gave Rp 50 million and Megawati visited. The page also carries unrelated briefs. No Gerwani content.
Tempo, 2 October 2022: Memory of sewing machines and smuggled paper (political prisoners at Plantungan and Buru)
Tempo report (2 Oct 2022, Dini Pramita and Dody Hidayat) on forced labour and memory of 1965 political prisoners. Yosephina Endang Lestari recalls Plantungan women's camp (sewing unit, Santiaji Pancasila, poor health); Ita F. Nadia describes its five aims including re-domestication of women. Hersri Setiawan (Buru) and
Red Nanyang: Chinese-Language Literature of Indonesia, 1945-1965 (Borgonjon, 2025)
Columbia PhD dissertation (2025) by David Borgonjon, the first full-length study of Chinese-language (yinhua) literature in Indonesia 1945-65, set within Sino-Indonesian friendship, Afro-Asian translation and Guided Democracy-era debates on labour and schooling. Gerwani is barely present: a glossary entry gives Gerwani