Geeta Mukherjee, 'About the Movement of Indonesian Women' (lampiran surat edaran WIDF, 21 April 1958)

=== [PDF page 1] === dt ds OCRATIQUE INTERNATIONALE ERNATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FEDER) ERNACIONAL DE. MUJERES === [PDF page 2] === ‘About the Movement of Indonesian Women My next door neighbour is Suwarti Bintang Suradi of Tndonedia, She is a member of the Secretariat of the Women's International Democratic Federation, and a member . of the Constituent Assembly of Indonesia. She is not tall fete. stature, but her broad forehead and the delicately made knot of hair at the back of her head, so typical of Indoneseee ‘Suggests a blending of courage and nodesty. as, Suvarti ‘ds the Chairman of the Organisation Commibgion of Gerwa Bus oa Indonesia started trading in the ancient past, at eer one that can still be found in the language mre: Java, | | full text ‘of ‘Gexwont ig Gerakan Wanita idoneata. The word "wanita™ is a familiar word with us Indians; it is woman, The full meaning is "Indonesian Women's Movement." cook. and eat together. In the office of the Pederaoften difficult to discuss aay. things in detail thi gh pressure of work, so we utilised a few even- ) discuss the history and activities of Gerwani and art: the fruit: of these fire-side chats, the biggest” eae. the women’s organisations Afri a, In August, 1957, their membership was usand 460° (this is an eightfold increase over Last: August they had 182 branches; each 200 basic units, In the period from August 58 the number of all these increased. The ry 1958 th Vance within three years really gives food for is ee I tried to get all the details from ny € cabo. of this ponents. simpatigitd or is really ing. In June 1950, a few advanced women built up an eg combining six local women's organisations. They amed this organisation Gerwis - i.e. the movement of fees ouen of Indonesia. Millions of women in the hone, in the fields and factories who perhaps were not yet conscious and it also narrowed the vision of the organisers. Despite Yy restricted name> and oars they raised their 80, 000° inv tps ne ongress. held in 1954 hey secreed: their an, Meee obuectine., Gerwis became Lared their object in a simple phrase — ghts o vont and children and to act in With this appeal they went among count~ ~— nd a few well-known women. Within three years big: organisation. euoek ‘extended to cities, towns and the, Mleeere Soneneeee of their members are rely th ‘Third Congress of Gerwani was held. Gerwani a ights were rather scared by the name of the organisa~ === [PDF page 3] === from among peasant and working women. The middle-class women in the towns and cities alsc constitute an important sector of their organisation. I asked Suwarti "how and with what call did you organise the working women?" She started with an example. In the plantation of Tilayap district they have 40,000 members. What are the types of activities conducted in the plantations? In the beginning some of the leaders of the organisation toured the plantations and discussed with women workers. Though the trade union movement in Indonesia is quite powerful, the women workers were in many cases not organised as an active force. The women leaders started discussing with them the special difficulties “that they are subjected to. And so the work started. The women workers in the plantations are sometimes victims of immoral lust of the high plantation officers. Workers of Gerwani roused the united opposition of women against such vile acts. The women workers gained confidence in the strength of their unity. Various activities based on their needs as women workers were started. For example, they raised the demand of two days menstruation leave. Indonesian law provides for maternity leave only Spr State employees. Gerwani took up active campaigning for maternity leave for women workers in the plantations. They also raised the question of maternity benefit. At one and the same time they carried on campaigns on various demands and helped equip the women workers with more knowledge. Most of the plantation workers were illiterate, so one of the main tasks was to fight against illiteracy. Literacy classes. were started and women workers joined in great numbers. They also arranged to educate women workers on various subjects through a series of talks. The subjects of such talks included, among others, what women can do to protect the health of their children @espite their stringent financial position; the elementary rules of sanitation, how to have a balanced diet within their means, etc. They also promoted the demand for healthy recreation instead of the pernicious enjoyment of heavy drinking and gambling. They conducted regular propaganda so that the wives may try to influence their husbands on this question. Also, whenever there was a trade union struggle, Gerwani organised the women workers and the wives of workers in support of such struggles. While I was listening to my friend one particular question repeatedly came into my mind; from where did they get the workers to start and carry out so many activities? An illuminating smile appeared on my friend's face when I put the question to her. She described how in the beginning, apart from organising a tour of some leaders of Gerwani, they inspired the middle~class women from, the ‘longer period. Some of them might have gone to conduct classes against illiteracy, some might have gone for special talks on particular subjects mentioned before, while others might have gone for longer periods. But after sometime they helped the women who had learned to read and write to become cadres themselves. They organised/ ie pat pa ctat naan isch Sehashagliyades cai cu === [PDF page 4] === -3organised training for such cadres in their cadre-training classes. Gerwani conducts various training courses to teach the methods of agitation and propaganda, or campaigning and organising ~ and to that I shall return later. In this way leading cadres developed among the women plantation workers. I-asked her whether the women who went from the towns were all politically conscious. My friend said that this was not necessarily so. A sincere appeal to help such a large and important section of women evoked the response of even housewives, often mothers of children were even found to volunteer; perhaps not for a long time, but they went for a month or two. One of the largest sections of the Gerwani is from amongst peasant women. The method of work here was also somewhat similar. —Yhe majority of the population in Indonesia are peasants and among the peasantry, 70 per cent are agricultural labourers or poor peasants. Women here often participate in direct productive processes in the field. The issues on which work was conducted included their demands as peasants as well as women. ; Peasant women were organised to take possession of the Dutch-owned land, side by side with their menfolks. (Large tracts of arable land in Indonesia were under Dutch owner— ship). They actively joined the movement which intended to win the right of ownership of these lands for the peasants, They have helped the women agricultural labourers who get seasonal work at miserably low wages in kind, to demand that their wages in kind be raised bit by bit. | On the other hand they have especially stressed the demands of peasant women as women. For example, the problem of family life, particularly relating to marriage and divorce, has been one of the questions particularly dealt with. As a predominantly Muslim country, Indonesian women are subjected to polygamy, and it is easy for men to get divorced. Women are often left ina very difficult position being abandoned and without havéng legal papers proving the divorce so that they cannot remarry, On this question they built up a concrete movement to protect women's interests. Along with the general campaign for the reform of the marriage law which was conducted on a national scale among all women, they took up the demand to have women representatives on local government bodies which dealt with the question of divorce and abandonment, so that the women's interest were properly considered. Gerwani has now secured representation on such bodies and has thus been able to protect women's interests in many cases. They also organise peasant women in another type of movement. In Indonesia today the peasant movement has among its various demands the demand to extend irrigation facilities which is one of the indispensable factors for increasing production. While the peasant movement demands more irrigation facilities and campaigns for them, it also organises mutual co-operation for digging canals and wells, etc. When men gather to do such voluntary work in different places, women take the responsibility of collectively " cooking for them and carrying their food to the site of work and s thus helping them continue the work unhampered. === [PDF page 5] === Tey oak nar ‘neo and wilt Seaman literat men at -of women in general) up the others - _feahing 9 Eg sh, ty or “some “other h W BO. ‘ rooms in a Sap, “put “elegant nents bo dist. within: a.: apad gn: efor: They mobilise wogen: in: ie ol ioe arene consolidate the national -independe! example, at the moment ‘they “are ‘pu wane rene “of ae their oe rents === [PDF page 6] === During the last general election, Gerwani conducted an intensive campaign in favour of its members who stood as candidates. ‘The women candidates were nominated by different parties, but Gerwani supported them as Gepwani members. The Gerwani set up sponsoring committees in the constituencies of its member candidates, and through these sponsoring committees they collected volunteers who made house-to-house calls. Six members of the Central leading body of Gerwani have been elect- - ed to the Constituent Assembly, and five to Parliament. 69 ) local leaders have been elected to Regional Assemblies of Java ) and Sumatra. The flag of Gerwani with its emblem is highly significant. A malati flower with a bud blossoming forth to burst assunder the yellow circle surrounding. The background is blue — the \ colour of fighters for peace; the white malati flower, so dear tothe women in Indonesia, ‘represents all the women of Indonesia; the bud stands for their children, and the yellow cirlce is the éiyvcle of feudalism and backwardness; the leaf attached to the stem of the flower stands for life - that is the movement of Indonesian women. The movement of Indonesian women is helping the women of their country to blossom forth in all their fullness and to break the shackles of feudalism. The inscription, Gerwani, is in Roman script, but that does not mean it is in English, for the script of Indonesian language is also Roman. In the towns and countryside of Indonesia, the delicate white malati flower no more merely adorns the black silken hair of the Indonesian woman; it has become an emblem of courage and inspiration in their struggle to be the masters of their own lives. ee a ee ee ee eee ee