Analysis of Communist Propaganda in Indonesia (OIR 5714.7, 1952)
OSS/State Department report OIR 5714.7 (30 May 1952) analysing PKI propaganda: party structure, front organisations, relations with international communism and themes. Names Gerwis under Mrs Mudigdo as the communist vehicle competing with Kowani for women, and BTI under S. Sardjono; appendices cover publishing, films,
FBIS, 6 June 1952: Indonesian peace movements (Suwarti and Surjonegoro interview)
FBIS-monitored Chinese Home Service excerpts (6 Jun 1952): press interview with Indonesian delegates Suwarti and Surjonegoro in Peking. They described Indonesian livelihood under foreign capital, the land question, US aid and the rubber embargo (prices down about 70%), and said over 600,000 Indonesians signed a request
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
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),
Mudikdio, 'Indonesia': Speech at the 4th WIDF Congress, Vienna, 1958
Speech by Mrs Mudikdio (Mudigdio), vice-chair of Gerwani and head of the Indonesian delegation, to the WIDF Fourth Congress, Vienna 1958. She urges a WIDF study or seminar on peasant women (50% illiteracy in Indonesia), explains Gerwani's 1954 draft marriage-law principles and support for the draft before Parliament (G
IVth Congress of the WIDF, Vienna, 1958 (Berlin Edition): Conference on the Rights of Women
Berlin edition of the WIDF IVth Congress (Vienna, June 1958) pamphlet on the conference 'Conditions which will enable woman to fulfil her role as mother, worker and citizen' (98 delegates, 55 countries). The Indonesian section (pp. 66-70) has Mudigdio, Gerwani vice-chair, urging a WIDF study or seminar on peasant women
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
Jenab's Hope (National Seminar on Peasant Women, 1961)
Api Kartini (1961) human-interest profile of Jenab, a poor peasant woman from Pabuaran village, West Java, who attended the DPP Gerwani National Seminar on Peasant Women in Jakarta with her baby. Describes her family's poverty (8 of 12 children died) and her hopes for implementing the sharecropping and agrarian laws; n
Women's Footsteps in 1961 (Hurustiati Subandrio)
Article by Hurustiati Subandrio (1961) reviewing women's activity at the start of 1961. She lists the Gerwani-organised National Seminar of Peasant Women (17-20 January, Gedung Wanita, Jakarta), the Asian-African Women's Conference in Cairo, and preparations for the Indonesian Women's Congress (6-8 February). She links
The dream of an Indonesian peasant woman: National Seminar on Peasant Women (1961)
1961 article by Maasje Siwi on Gerwani's first National Seminar on Peasant Women's Problems. Describes peasant hardships (debt, child marriage, easy divorce, exclusion from village office) and demands: land reform and women's land ownership, crop-sharing law, abolition of colonial ban on women village heads. Features d
The dawn is breaking: short story (Sulami, 1961)
1961 short story 'The dawn is breaking' by Sulami, 'our Indonesian correspondent', in Women of the Whole World. Peasant woman Sarinah, active in the peasant organisation, explains the new Agrarian Act and land reform to village women, including women's right to own land and head households; landlords pay the government
International briefs: Gerwani national seminar on rural women (Renmin Ribao, 27 January 1961)
Renmin Ribao, 27 Jan 1961, p. 6, international briefs: Gerwani, 'Indonesia's largest women's organisation', held a national seminar on rural women, 17-20 January, with over a hundred delegates. It demanded abolition of colonial laws restricting women, land rights for rural women, a democratic marriage law, relief from
International briefs: Gerwani national seminar on rural women (Renmin Ribao, 27 January 1961)
Renmin Ribao, 27 Jan 1961, p. 6, international briefs: Gerwani, 'Indonesia's largest women's organisation', held a national seminar on rural women, 17-20 January, with over a hundred delegates. It demanded abolition of colonial laws restricting women, land rights for rural women, a democratic marriage law, relief from
Sukarno orders preparation to liberate West Irian; Gerwani congress closes (Renmin Ribao, 20 December 1961)
Renmin Ribao, 20 Dec 1961, p. 3 (Xinhua): leading item on Sukarno's 19 Dec Yogyakarta 'Order to the People' (Trikora). A Jakarta item reports Gerwani's Fourth Congress closing 17 Dec: West Irian resolution, UN telegram for PRC's seat, Aidit's greetings, Guo Jian's speech, a new Central Committee under Umi Sardjono, and
Sukarno orders preparation to liberate West Irian; Gerwani congress closes (Renmin Ribao, 20 December 1961)
Renmin Ribao, 20 Dec 1961, p. 3 (Xinhua): leading item on Sukarno's 19 Dec Yogyakarta 'Order to the People' (Trikora). A Jakarta item reports Gerwani's Fourth Congress closing 17 Dec: West Irian resolution, UN telegram for PRC's seat, Aidit's greetings, Guo Jian's speech, a new Central Committee under Umi Sardjono, and
National Seminar on Peasant Women, 17-20 January 1961 (DPP Gerwani)
Gerwani national leadership (DPP) brochure of the National Seminar on Peasant Women, Jakarta, 17-20 January 1961 (published 1962). Contains the DPP keynote on peasant-women's emancipation against imperialism and feudal remnants, speeches by BTI, ministers and D.N. Aidit, regional delegates' land-tenure reports, a Mudig
Forward to Total Integration of Gerwani with Farm-Labourer and Poor Peasant Women, 1964
Brochure of Umi Sardjono's report to the Third DPP Plenum (Bandung, early 1964). Reviews domestic and world politics, Gerwani's work on children's education, TK Melati, legal aid and cadres, and argues for 'total integration' with farm-labourer and poor peasant women; notes a break with the WIDF majority.
Conclusions of the Housewives' Seminar (1964)
Api Kartini (1964) publication of the conclusions of the Gerwani National Seminar on Housewives. Four commissions set out positions on solidarity (Vietnam, China's nuclear test), Dwikora and 'crushing Malaysia', landreform and the UUPA/UUPBH, rat-eradication campaign under Aidit and Asmu, anti-corruption demands, a dem
Tavip Inspires 17 August '64
Api Kartini (Aug-Sept 1964) report on women's participation in 17 August 1964 celebrations inspired by Sukarno's 'Tavip' speech (Year of Living Dangerously). Describes the Gerwani DPP rally on 15 August, where over 700 Gerwani Dwikora volunteers from the Jakarta training centre (Tiswati Jaya) swore oath, then the Merde
Women in the Land of the Great Wall
Travel article by Kartinah (Kartinah Kurdi) (1964) on women in China, from an Indonesian delegation visit with Ibu Sumarno. She argues housewives are vital to the revolution and describes a Shanghai-area people's commune with women leaders, production figures, crèches, clinics and handicraft cooperatives. She uses this
Aidit congratulates Indonesian women on 8 March (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao item (9 Mar 1964, p. 4): per the PKI press bureau, Aidit's International Women's Day letter urges revolutionary women cadres to go to the countryside and unite with poor-peasant women to struggle for the Basic Agrarian Law and Crop-Sharing Law; truncated. Full text is in the next record.
Soviet Woman, 31 May 1964: 'A New Realm', end of Soviet delegation's Indonesia visit report
Soviet Woman, 31 May 1964, p. (fragment): closing section of a Soviet Women's Committee delegation account of Indonesia (Mother's Day, Dec 1963), followed by an unrelated agricultural chemistry article. Delegates met Hurustiati Subandrio, Madame Supeni and 'Madame Umi Sarjono, Member of Parliament and President of Gerw
Our Road: reports from many countries (WIDF, 1965), incl. Gerwani for Peasant Women
WIDF magazine 1965 'Our Road' news page (mid-1965), with reports on North and South Korean women, West German women against Emergency Laws, and Argentina/India/US actions. A 'GERWANI for Peasant Women' item says Gerwani's International Women's Day statement backed peasants' demands for the Basic Agrarian Law and Crop S
Reds, pressing reforms, win wide peasant support in Java (New York Times, 27 March 1965)
New York Times, 27 March 1965, p.55, Neil Sheehan from Klaten, Central Java: on how the PKI and affiliates win peasant support through land-reform agitation and practical projects. Mrs. Sukarni, chair of the Klaten district women's organisation (Gerwani) and district committee member, says Gerwani works to remove restr
PKI 45th anniversary: Aidit reviews Pemuda Rakyat; armed women volunteers march
Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao (27 May 1965, p. 3) on events for the PKI's 45th anniversary: Aidit reviews 10,000 Pemuda Rakyat at Lapangan Banteng with a CPC delegation under Peng Zhen present. A fully armed contingent of women volunteers, made up of Gerwani leaders and women independence veterans, performs a military
Wieringa's 1993 article comparing Gerwani and PKK: Gerwani's growth from 500 Gerwis members in 1950 to a claimed 3 million, its campaigns, an eyewitness account of Lubang Buaya and the army's slander, ideology and a composite life history. Early comparative study.
Tempo.co, 2 October 2015: Putmainah, the Gerwani-PKI podium lioness who forgot September
Tempo.co profile (2 Oct 2015, by Bobby Chandra) of Putmainah, 77, former Gerwani chair and PKI faction member of the Blitar DPRD, now stroke-afflicted in Pakisrejo, Srengat. Her husband Subandi, Blitar Front Nasional and DPRD head, was killed after a PKI congress; she fled into the forest with seven children. Once a re
Tempo, 2 October 2021: A dogmatic woman in two councils (Umi Sardjono in parliament)
Tempo feature (2 Oct 2021, Hussein Abri and Stefanus Pramono) on Umi Sardjono's legislative career: Konstituante (1955) and DPR-GR (1959-65). She pushed immigration reform (no spousal permission), a marriage law banning polygamy with minimum age 21 (opposed by Aisyiyah, Muslimat NU), the 1960 agrarian law for women far
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: The feminist in two councils (Umi Sardjono in the Konstituante and DPR)
English edition of Tempo's 'The Feminist in Two Councils' (4 Oct 2021, Hussein Abri) on Umi Sardjono as legislator (Constituent Assembly 1955, DPR-GR 1959-65). It covers her immigration reform, marriage-bill push (minimum age 21, ban on polygamy, Maisuri case, 115 harmful marriages) opposed by Kowani's Islamic groups,
Tempo English, 4 October 2021: Women warriors (Gerwani infographic)
Tempo English infographic 'Women Warriors' (4 Oct 2021, text by Hussein Abri Dongoran) summarising Gerwani: founded 1954 from Gerwis (1950), disbanded 1965 after New Order accusations. It lists the central board (Umi Sardjono chair, Mudikdio, Suharti, S.K. Trimurti, Sulami Djojoprawiro, Sudjinah and others), the jasmin