Alger republicain: Indonesian women's movement Gerwis prepares the World Congress of Women
Alger républicain (11 Apr 1953, p.4): a short item reports that the Indonesian women's movement Gerwis called on its 141 national branches to put on the agenda for preparing the World Congress of Women (Copenhagen, June 1953) women's rights, recruitment of new members, social and economic work, and strengthening the ch
Alger republicain: Indonesian women's movement Gerwis prepares the World Congress of Women (extract)
Alger républicain (11 Apr 1953, p.4; clean snippet extract): a short item reports that the Indonesian women's movement Gerwis called on its 141 national branches to put on the agenda for preparing the World Congress of Women (Copenhagen, June 1953) women's rights, recruitment of new members, social and economic work, a
Progress of the women's movement in East Java: Gerwis growth figures
De Waarheid, 6 May 1953, p. 5: dispatch citing two Gerwis women, Su... and Warinah, on the growth of Gerwis in East Java: districts up from 19 (early 1952) to 37, 120 branches plus 50 forming, 7,016 members, mainly women workers, peasants and self-employed. Illiteracy is the main obstacle, countered by courses attended
Growing activity of the Indonesian women's movement: Malang conference figures
De Waarheid, 9 Dec 1953, p. 5: Malang dispatch on a Gerwis conference reviewing East Java work. In six months membership rose from 12,000 to 16,420 and branches from 37 to 49; literacy courses ran in 120 villages with 1,349 participants; 15 kindergartens (kleuterbewaarplaatsen) opened, holding almost 600 children daily
Indonesia: Miss Darmini of Gerwis (WIDF, 1954)
WIDF 1954 profile of Miss Darmini of GERWIS, reporting to a WIDF meeting. Membership rose from 6,000 at the 1951 first congress to 37,000 by 1953 and about 600,000 prior to the March 1954 second congress (as printed); the Union of Railway Workers' Wives affiliated. She describes campaigns on women's rights, maternity l
Working for Peace in Asia (Suharti, 1955)
1955 article by Suharti (Suharti Suwarto), Vice-President of Gerwani, based on her speech at the WIDF Council in Geneva. Links the Bandung Conference to peace; says Gerwani had 281,000 members; calls for reunion of Western Irian; reports women's election preparations, winning the right to be polling officers, support f
Umi Sardjono's General Report to the Third DPP Plenum, June 1956
Umi Sardjono's general report for the Gerwani DPP Executive to the 3rd DPP Plenary (16-19 June 1956), published by DPP Gerwani. Reviews the 1955 election campaign (23,480 new Gerwani workers; five Gerwani members elected, including Umi Sardjono and Salawati), marriage-law and anti-polygamy casework (86 of 115 cases res
US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1956): Gerwani expansion, Umi Sardjono, Setiati Surasto
US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1956) extracts. A list of PKI's 39 parliamentary seats includes Gerwani leaders (Umi Sardjono, Suharti Suwarto, Mudigdio, Sundari Abdurachman, Charlotte Salawati); notes the Central Sumatra Gerwani conference (Bukittinggi, Feb 1956; 14,000 members, 216 sections) and new branches in J
Let Us Respect All Opinions: speeches by Teng Ying-chao, Hajrah Begum and Suharti (1956)
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
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
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.
Opening of WIDF Council meeting in Beijing; growth of Indonesian women's movement (Renmin Ribao, 25 April 1956)
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
Opening of WIDF Council meeting in Beijing; growth of Indonesian women's movement (Renmin Ribao, 25 April 1956)
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
CIA compilation, October 1956: WIDF - a compilation of available basic information
CIA compilation 'WIDF: A Compilation of Available Basic Information' (Oct 1956). In its affiliate list it gives Gerwani (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia) claimed strength of 281,000 (Feb 1955) and 565,147 (Apr 1956), with president Umi Sardjono and vice-president Suharti Suwarto (p.20); the WIDF Council list shows Indonesian
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),
IVth Congress of the Women's International Democratic Federation, Vienna, June 1958
WIDF volume on the IVth Congress, Vienna, 1-5 June 1958: speeches, reports and resolutions. Gerwani appears directly: Mudigdio, vice-president of Gerwani and head of the Indonesian delegation, speaks (pp. 89-92) for 663,740 members, citing equal-pay claims, the Third Gerwani Congress (December 1957), West Irian, work w
Protest against SEATO: Gerwani letter to the US embassy
De Waarheid, 24 Mar 1958, p. 1: short item that Gerwani, on behalf of its 650,000 members, sent a letter to the US embassy in Jakarta asking for SEATO's dissolution and protesting American interference after Washington asked to deploy paratroopers to protect US citizens in the Pekanbaru oil area during the government o
Do not allow the US to interfere in China's internal affairs (Renmin Ribao, 20 September 1958)
Renmin Ribao, 20 Sep 1958, p. 4 (Xinhua, Jakarta): amid the Taiwan Strait crisis, Gerwani, speaking for its 650,000 members, protests American interference over Taiwan and the offshore islands; Indonesian railway and rice-workers' unions make similar demands. Other items give Syrian, Pakistani, Omani and Mauritanian su
Do not allow the US to interfere in China's internal affairs (Renmin Ribao, 20 September 1958)
Renmin Ribao, 20 Sep 1958, p. 4 (Xinhua, Jakarta): amid the Taiwan Strait crisis, Gerwani, speaking for its 650,000 members, protests American interference over Taiwan and the offshore islands; Indonesian railway and rice-workers' unions make similar demands. Other items give Syrian, Pakistani, Omani and Mauritanian su
Getting to Know the WIDF Up Close
Api Kartini preview of the WIDF Bureau meeting due in Indonesia (early 1960), profiling its leaders: President Eugenie Cotton, Secretary-General Carmen Zanti, Marie Ange, Beatrice Johnson and Asian-African vice-presidents. Notes WIDF's support for Indonesian independence and condemnation of Dutch aggression, and that G
Birth and Growth of the Indonesian Women's Movement, Part III (Sulami, 1959)
Part III of Sulami's 1959 history: KOWANI conflicts and 1948 Solo congress, founding of Gerwis at Semarang (4 June 1950), its 1954 renaming as Gerwani, structure with six commissions, membership growth (6,000 Java 1951; 642,460 in January 1957; 700,000 at the Third Congress, Solo, Dec 1957), 1955 election results (5 MP
Suara Tani, January 1959 (10th anniversary issue): Gerwani greeting and cooperation with BTI
Suara Tani (BTI organ), special 10th-anniversary issue, January 1959, OCR noisy. Contains greetings from ministers, army chief Nasution and Gerwani; BTI New Year message; agrarian seminar results; BTI membership table (3.39 million); exposés of landlord exploitation in Java. On p. 5 Gerwani's national leadership (claim
A letter from Indonesia to the Dutch Women's Movement (Gerwani reply)
De Waarheid, 29 Aug 1960, p. 2: publication of Gerwani's reply letter to the NVB, thanking Dutch women on behalf of its 710,000 members for their efforts to prevent sons being sent to West Irian, promising to publish the NVB letter in Indonesia and to keep working for peace. Prefaced by a note recalling Gerwani's teleg
Gerwani Statutes (Fourth Congress), 1961
Gerwani statute booklet ratified at the Fourth National Congress, Jakarta, 14–17 December 1961. Includes a congress address on revisions, the Mukadimah (preamble) and 49 articles covering structure, membership and a Foreign Section; affiliates Gerwani with the WIDF and recounts the 1954 break with Gerwis.
A History of Struggle Remembered: Exhibition for Gerwani's 10th Anniversary, 1961
Api Kartini (mid-1961) report on the exhibition at Gerwani's 10th anniversary (from 5 June 1961), with an interview of chair Umi Sardjono on Gerwani's history. Founded 4 June 1951 (first congress Surabaya, 17-22 Dec 1951), 185 branches, membership from 6,000 to 710,000, 326 kindergartens, 23,000 election workers; six m
Greeting from Gerwani to the Dutch women's meeting on New Guinea
De Waarheid, 28 Nov 1961, p. 3: report of an NVB (Dutch women's) meeting where the peaceful settlement of New Guinea was top of the programme. A highlight was a greeting from Gerwani, described as a 900,000-member Indonesian women's organisation, saying Indonesian and Dutch women are closely linked in protecting childr
US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1961-62): Fourth Gerwani Congress
Short US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey extract (1961-62) on the Fourth Congress of Gerwani (Jakarta, 14-17 Dec 1961), with an address by Sukarno. Reports 1,120,594 members and branches in 22 provinces, state support (Social Welfare funds, city rice), and educational work: 46,785 registered in literacy courses (25,166
CIA memorandum, 15 August 1962: The communist movement in Indonesia
CIA memorandum, 15 August 1962, surveying organised communism in Indonesia; Gerwani has one entry (claimed 800,000 members, WIDF affiliate, valued as propaganda instrument). Gives US estimates of PKI front strength.
Indonesian women write to Tom Clardij: thanks on behalf of 1.25 million Gerwani members
De Waarheid, 21 Dec 1962, p. 3: report that Gerwani wrote to Tom Clardij, a Zaandam conscientious objector jailed in Vught for refusing service in New Guinea, thanking him on behalf of its 1.25 million members for his action against the colonial war over West Irian. A campaign in the Netherlands seeks his release.
Book by PKI chairman D.N. Aidit (Demos, 1963) collecting his writings on the Indonesian revolution. Beyond the opening chapters, a passage on the Madiun affair (p. 128) records that Mrs Mudigdio and A.M. Tambunan put parliamentary questions on 9 December 1950 about the 1948 killing of Amir Sjarifuddin and ten comrades.