FBIS, 29 November 1950: Women's Congress (Kowani)
FBIS item (29 Nov 1950): the Kowani congress ended on 28 Nov and set up an all-Indonesia federation of women's organisations called the Indonesian Women's Congress. Secretariat headed by Dr Maria Ulfah Santoso (OCR: Marta Ulfan). Programme: Pancasila basis, full independence, equal rights for women, peace, and pressure
Dawn Over the Equator: Monica Felton on the Second Gerwani Congress, 1954
Monica Felton (WIDF Vice-President) writes in 1954 on the Second Congress of Gerwani, which she attended: 349 delegates, 80,000 members, a meeting with President Sukarno, resolutions on West Irian, the 1955 elections, a nationwide marriage law, democratic rights and support for the government against armed gangs. She s
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
Djakarta postpones the evil day (The Observer, 16 January 1955)
The Observer, 16 Jan 1955, p.7, Rawle Knox, 'Djakarta Postpones the Evil Day': impressionistic report from Jakarta on a lively, disorderly capital, the Ali Sastroamidjojo government's dependence on Communist support, Sukarno's drift from impartiality, the delayed first election and anti-Dutch boycotts. A passing quote
Daily Worker, 13 May 1955: Perwari, Indonesia's largest women's organisation, joins Asian women leaders (assail polygamy
Page 8 of the Daily Worker (New York, 13 May 1955). A short Djakarta dispatch (12 May) reports that the central committee of Perwari, described as Indonesia's largest women's organisation, joined Pakistani women in criticising Prime Minister Mohammed Ali's second marriage, and recalls Perwari's protest the previous yea
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
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
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
Berliner Zeitung, 27 May 1956, p. 6: In June in Budapest ...
Berliner Zeitung, 27 May 1956, p. 6: women's column item "Im Juni wird in Budapest ..." ahead of the World Congress of Working Women. One short paragraph reports that the Indonesian women's organisation GERWANI demands a ban on child marriage, forced marriage and bride-purchase, an end to the ban on widows remarrying,
Report on a visit to Indonesia, Song Qingling (Renmin Ribao, 27 September 1956)
Renmin Ribao, 27 Sep 1956, p. 6: Song Qingling's report to the NPC Standing Committee on her ten-day visit to Indonesia (14-23 Aug 1956): Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bali, with Sukarno, Hatta and overseas Chinese. She meets Kowani-led women's leaders in Jakarta (16 Aug) and answers questions on Chinese women's
Report on a visit to Indonesia, Song Qingling (Renmin Ribao, 27 September 1956)
Renmin Ribao, 27 Sep 1956, p. 6: Song Qingling's report to the NPC Standing Committee on her ten-day visit to Indonesia (14-23 Aug 1956): Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bali, with Sukarno, Hatta and overseas Chinese. She meets Kowani-led women's leaders in Jakarta (16 Aug) and answers questions on Chinese women's
We Saw and Heard at the Council Meeting, Helsinki 1957: Umi Sardjono for Gerwani
WIDF magazine 1957 'We Saw and Heard at the Council Meeting' with delegate speeches at the Helsinki Council. Umi Sardjono, President of Gerwani (640,000 members), reports a nationwide marriage-law campaign, the 1955 elections (five Gerwani members in parliament, six in the Constituent Assembly, 52 provincial councillor
Woman and the Changing Marriage Pattern of Indonesia (van der Kroef, 1957)
Journal article by Justus M. van der Kroef (American Catholic Sociological Review, June 1957) on women's status and marriage in Indonesia: adat versus Islamic law, polygamy, divorce rates, colonial and revolutionary change. Surveys women's organisations (Perwari, Kowani) and notes Kowani's early left turn and WIDF cont
Part 1: The women's movement, the women of Indonesia (Asahi Shimbun, 16 January 1957)
Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo evening edition, 16 Jan 1957, p. 2), part 1 of a series on the women's movement among Indonesian women, apparently by a Japanese woman writer who visited. OCR is badly scrambled; fragments mention Sumatra, Jakarta, women's organisations, possibly polygamy, and New Delhi. No Gerwani name legible.
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
Indonesia: Gerwani report since the Third Congress (WIDF Information Bulletin, 1958)
WIDF Information Bulletin no. 10/1958 report on Gerwani since its Third Congress (December 1957): regional conferences, new constitution (branches replace workplace branches, 20-member minimum), plan to double membership, campaign for a national marriage law against polygamy with Sumari (PNI) and Mudigdio (PKI) MPs in
WIDF magazine 1958, one page carrying two pieces: a profile of R. A. Kartini for Indonesia's Kartini Day (born 1879, regent's daughter, quoted letters on education, polygamy and anti-colonial sympathy, died aged 25), and 'The Growing Family of the WIDF' on new affiliations (India, Japan, Sudan, Cameroons, Senegal, Ceyl
WIDF magazine 1958, one page carrying two pieces: a profile of R. A. Kartini for Indonesia's Kartini Day (born 1879, regent's daughter, quoted letters on education, polygamy and anti-colonial sympathy, died aged 25), and 'The Growing Family of the WIDF' on new affiliations (India, Japan, Sudan, Cameroons, Senegal, Ceyl
A Brief Look Back
Article by Kukilowarsi (1959) for 17 August, recalling women's roles in the Indonesian revolution: 1926 rebels and Digul exiles, anti-Japanese resistance, women's guerrilla brigades, Red Cross and kitchens, and stories of Suparmi and a mother fighter. It cites the first women's congress of 1928, the 1955 vote, and dema
Birth and Growth of the Indonesian Women's Movement, Part I (Sulami, 1959)
Part I of Sulami's 1959 history of the Indonesian women's movement in WIDF's magazine: Kartini, Putri Merdika (1912), Wanita Sedar, the 1928 Women's Congress, the Congress League of Indonesian Women, and demands on marriage, education and voting rights through 1941, with PKI influence noted after 1920. Prefaces the bir
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
'From Our Mailbag' (WIDF magazine, 1959): readers' letters from France, Germany, USA, Sudan, Egypt, Colombia and Indonesia. The Jakarta letter, from Mrs Lies Said, editor of the women's magazine Wanita (30,000 readers), says Indonesian women still await the Marriage Law and will keep struggling for equal rights. Gerwan
Sulami's 1960 piece 'Kartini' for the anniversary of R.A. Kartini: biography (b. 1879, child-marriage custom, letters, schooling of girls, marriage as Regent's wife), Kartini as symbol for Indonesian women's national and emancipation struggle, quoting Sukarno's 1959 lecture. Paired with a parallel profile of Egyptian f
Minah: short story (Sulami, 1960)
'Minah', a 1960 short story by Sulami in Women of the Whole World, winning that magazine's monthly contest. Set in colonial and Japanese-occupation Java: Minah fights for schooling at Kartini's school, is married off, then resists Japanese Commander Josida's attempt to take her as second wife; Josida is shot as the ind
Neue Zeit, 20 Feb 1960, p. 4: Kartini did not want 40 secondary wives
Neue Zeit, 20 February 1960, p. 4: women's-page feature "Kartini wollte keine 40 Nebenfrauen", signed Sulami, on Kartini (1879–1904), pioneer of the Indonesian women's movement. It recounts her opposition to child marriage and polygamy under Dutch colonial rule, her letters, and her sympathy for socialism, and quotes P
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 Communist Party of Indonesia 1951-1961: A Decade of the Aidit Leadership (Hindley, 1961)
Donald Hindley's 1961 ANU PhD thesis on the Indonesian Communist Party under the Aidit leadership, 1951-1961, covering PKI strategy, party-building, finances, mass organisations and elections. Section 'Women' (pp. 422-448, esp. 'Gerwani', pp. 428-441) traces Gerwis from its founding on 4 June 1950 (about 500 members) t