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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
Moscow News, 30 May 1956: Indonesian women's delegation in Moscow
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,
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
Indonesia: social protection for mothers and children (Suwarti Bintang Suradi, 1957)
Excerpt from the WIDF Information Bulletin No. 14 (1957): Mme Suwarti (Suwarti Bintang Suradi), member of the Gerwani executive, reports on social insurance and protection for mothers and children in Indonesia. She notes obstacles for women officials, company rules such as Shell-BPM ending employment on marriage, lack
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
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),
WIDF study publication (Berlin, 1958) on protection of motherhood as a right of women and a responsibility of society, with country contributions from Study Days participants, the ILO Convention 103 text and national summaries. It names Suwarti Bintang Suradi as Gerwani executive member and constituent assembly member.
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
Literaturnaia Gazeta, 3 Feb 1959: 21st CPSU Congress; PKI delegation at a Moscow factory
Front page of Literaturnaia Gazeta, 3 Feb 1959, reporting the extraordinary 21st CPSU Congress. Indonesia appears only in a report of foreign communist delegations at Moscow factories: D. N. Aidit and 'comrade Suharti' (PKI Central Committee representative, speaking for Indonesian women, identification unconfirmed) add
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
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
Taking part in the first Afro-Asian women's conference, by Kanazawa Naoko
Mainichi Shimbun (Tokyo morning edition, 6 Feb 1961, p. 5): article on Kanazawa Naoko's contribution on attending the first Afro-Asian women's conference (Cairo); legible fragments mention women's low position and women workers. The OCR is almost entirely scrambled, so this summary rests on the title and a few legible
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
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.
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
Working Women Shape Their Future: 2nd International Trade Union Conference on Working Women, Bucharest 1964
Proceedings volume published by the World Federation of Trade Unions (Prague, 1964) of the 2nd International Trade Union Conference on the Problems of Working Women, Bucharest, 11-16 May 1964: agenda reports, delegates' speeches, a Charter on the Economic and Social Rights of Working Women and a memorandum to the ILO.