Asian trade union conference ended in Peking
Short De Waarheid report (5 Dec 1949) on the close of the Asian trade-union conference in Peking, with resolutions and an appeal to Western workers including the Netherlands; WIDF spoke through Simone Bertrand, and gifts from Indonesia, Korea and Burma were presented. No Indonesian women named.
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
CIA report, 26 February 1951: Estimate of the current economic situation in Indonesia
CIA report, 26 February 1951, on alleged communist-directed strike sabotage in Indonesia via SOBSI and WFTU. Gerwani-relevant only for naming a batik workers' union organised by Mrs Trimurti.
Janet Robb, 'Five Women from the Far East' (UN Commission on the Status of Women, 1951)
Booklet by Janet Robb (AAUW New York City Branch, 20 Oct 1951) on the UN Commission on the Status of Women, with 25 delegate biographies, an IFUW statement on women's education and an account of the 1951 ILO equal-pay convention. The section 'Five Women from the Far East' profiles Artati Sudirdjo of Indonesia, a young
WIDF pamphlet (Berlin, Dec 1952) surveying women's political rights, wages, unemployment, education, rural conditions and social protection country by country, and issuing the Call to the World Congress of Women (Denmark, June 1953). Indonesia appears briefly: equal rights on paper under the 1950 Constitution, no elect
But what is the reality? Travel report on workers in Indonesia
De Waarheid, 1 May 1954, p. 4: travel report by Mak Meyer, a Dutch union delegate to the SOBSI conference, on Indonesian workers' misery: poverty, homelessness, factory conditions and wages, child labour, becak drivers, and figures such as 35,000 women dying in childbirth yearly. Portrays SOBSI and PKI as leaders and u
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
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
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
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
A New Force: The Argentine Women's Movement
Api Kartini (1963) article on the Argentine women's movement, chiefly the Union of Argentine Women's work: its magazine Nuestras Mujeres, campaigns for school milk, price cuts, mothers' law, solidarity with strikers and Cuba, literacy courses, and a fifth congress with 220 delegates. Includes a 'Varia' note on Sudanese
Women of the PRC Also Skilled at Working in Mines (photo)
Api Kartini (1963) photograph caption only: 'Women of the PRC are also skilled at working inside mines'. No further text survives.
Soviet Woman, 31 Jul 1965: 'The Kazma Springs' and 'The Sun in Our Windows'
Soviet Woman, 31 Jul 1965, pp. 13-17: Soviet propaganda features, Igor Gaspel on 25 years of Soviet Estonia/Latvia ('The Sun in Our Windows') and Sergei Danilin's reportage on the Kazminsky collective farm, Stavropol, including women farm workers. No Indonesian, Gerwani or WIDF content; relevant only as sample of Sovie
Soviet Woman, 30 Sep 1965: 'Smiles of Victory', with letter from an Indonesian reader
Soviet Woman, 30 Sep 1965, p. 15: strike features (Foyle's bookshop, London; Mt Isa miners, Australia) and a letter from Indonesian reader Juli Agustini Soehodo, written for the 20th anniversary of Victory Day. She links Japanese occupation, Indonesia's 17 August anniversary and the heroine Herlina in West Irian, and c
Telegram 1168 to Secretary of State, 23 Oct 1965
US Embassy telegram 1168, 23 Oct 1965: anti-communist unions demand dissolution of the PKI and SOBSI from Labour Minister Sutomo, who hesitates; Army liaison approached. Labour-front context; no Gerwani content.
Telegram 1290 to Department of State, 1 Nov 1965
US Embassy telegram 1290, 1 Nov 1965: labour attache's Palembang visit finds 600 communists jailed, SOBSI officials at Shell, Stanvac and PUSRI arrested, and concern for American oil staff. Context on arrests in the oil sector.
Telegram 212 (Joint Sitrep 22), US Consulate Surabaya, 27 Dec 1965
US Consulate Surabaya Joint Sitrep 22, 27 December 1965: killings continue more discreetly, NU campaign to 'exterminate PKI' covers East Java, Madiun prisoners delivered to civilians. Regional context; no Gerwani content.
10 Years of Generals' Rule in Indonesia (Poster, Nijmegen 1975)
Poster for a three-day congress '10 jaar generaalsbewind in Indonesie' (Nijmegen, 9-11 Oct 1975) with speakers including W.F. Wertheim, Jan Pluvier and Ingrid Palmer. Dutch critical scholarship on the New Order.
Daily World, 2 July 1975: Mexico conferees tie women's freedom to economic problems
Page 10 of the Daily World (New York, 2 Jul 1975) with a special report from the UN International Women's Year Conference in Mexico City. Delegates from Italy, Fiji, Norway and Indonesia describe discrimination against women workers under capitalism, including lower pay and unemployment; tensions between US feminists a
Cauldron: Women and Labor No. 2
Tribune (Sydney), 24 Oct 1979, p. 11, 'Cauldron' women's column: planning for the second Women and Labor Conference (Melbourne, May 1980); the Melbourne group's monthly meetings have covered topics including the Indonesian women's movement; plus a note on rising female unemployment. No Gerwani detail.
Woman and the Okto (reader's letter on the NVB congress)
Reader's letter in De Waarheid (15 Feb 1980, p.8) from NVB Groningen delegates, complaining that the report on the NVB's 11th congress omitted Groningen women's role in the Okto and Philips labour actions. It welcomes the coverage of the declaration on Indonesian political prisoners and 'our sister organisation Gerwani
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