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Gerwani (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia, or Indonesian Women's Movement) was a women's organization founded as Gerwis (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia Sedar, or Movement of Conscious Indonesian Women) in Semarang on 4 June 1950. In 1954, Gerwis as an activist-based movement changed its name to Gerwani to signify its move towards a mass organization to appeal to communist supporters. Beginning with only 500 members in 1950, Gerwani claimed to have 1.5 million members in 1963. As one of the largest women’s organizations in the 1950s, its broad membership was also a product of its close affiliation with the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI, or Communist Party of Indonesia) – reflected in Gerwani’s concerns particularly with helping poor women workers, as well as their alliances with various labor unions. Nonetheless, Gerwani was an independent organization with both a feminist, and PKI-led wing. By 1965, Gerwani claimed to have 3 million members. Under Sukarno’s Guided Democracy beginning in 1958, Gerwani’s advocacy for gender equality, equal labor rights, and women’s issues began to shift towards one more adherent with PKI and Sukarno’s interests. Gerwani’s priority by the 1960s was no longer feminism, but anti-imperialism and the “national unity of women to liquidate the remains of colonialism and feudalism.” Founding members such as S.K Trimurti, eventually left Gerwani after becoming disillusioned with the trajectory of Gerwani’s political involvement. Gerwani’s affiliation with the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI) eventually led to their demise after the events of Gerakan 30 September, G30S and the “attempted” coup. The arrest and imprisonment of Gerwani members was justified by the fabricated involvement of Gerwani in the killings of the six Generals during G30S. The Lubang Buaya myth, as described as discussed by historians, claimed that Gerwani had performed sadistic, sexual crimes before and after killing the six Generals during G30S. More seriously, Lubang Buaya was used to justify the mass killings of communists in the period immediately after the G30S – an incident that also led to the demise of Gerwani. The memorialization of the Lubang Buaya myth continues to be represented in the Monument of the Sacred Pancasila at the Lubang Buaya site today. ==Historical Context: The Women's Movement in Indonesia (1950s)== See also: Sukarno, Nahdlatul Ulama, Parliamentary democracy, Guided Democracy in Indonesia Following Indonesian independence in 1950, the political milieu was fraught with competing interests between the military and the Partai Nasional Indonesia (National Indonesia Party, or PNI) represented by Sukarno, Islamic groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama (Council of Islamic Scholars, NU), PKI, and other women’s organizations all vying for legitimacy within Indonesia’s new parliamentary democracy. Scholars agree that in newly independent Indonesia, the short-lived democracy allowed a new space for women’s organizations to flourish in their struggle for equal rights to political participation, economic opportunities and “social and cultural” spheres. The new political freedom of the period allowed the full participation of women’s organizations to push for equal political, economic, and social rights. As Blackburn relates, however, the lack of resources made the task of implementing policies aimed at gender equality, such as adult literacy, education, and equal pay for civil servants, difficult. Nonetheless, this period was essential for establishing political equality for men and women – seen in the constitution that provided “the right to vote, participate in government and hold office” for men and women. Women’s organizations in the early 1950s diverged on a number of issues related to their stance on issues of marriage, work, polygamy, and their perceived position as political or social organizations. Many of the national women’s organizations were also aligned with political parties as “sections of” political parties – their affiliation thus determining how politicized their organization would be. For example, Gerwani was associated with the PKI, Muslim women’s organization ''Muslimat'', was affiliated with Masjumi, and Wanita Demokrat Indonesia with the ''PNI''. The ties between women’s organizations and political parties were often contingent on the expectation that gender interests would be fulfilled as part of the party’s goals. Yet as Martyn describes, the failure to create a united women’s political organization was the result of the divergent and conflicting ideological differences between the numerous women’s organizations – political, religious or otherwise. Women’s organizations affiliated with political parties were also greatly influenced by the respective politics. There were also women’s organizations that did not align themselves with any political party. Perwari for example, decided in 1952 that it “offered nothing new” because there were already women’s political parties – and it had been difficult to gain seats in parliament due to the diversity of its members’ varied political alliances. Nonetheless, there was a central national body that did attempt to coordinate independent women’s organizations: Kongres Wanita Indonesia (Kowani). Kowani was the central national body that coordinated independent women’s organizations working towards the common goal of improving the lives of women. As Martyn aptly describes, gender was the central signifier of difference between women’s organizations because of the different interests represented that ranged from “Muslim women, as army wives, as secular non-aligned women, as university graduates, as doctors’ wives, as communist women, as Catholic women, as nurses.” As such, it was too varied to take a single political stance. Under Kowani’s directives, women’s organizations often tried to work to meet the socio-economic needs as part of the “development of the young state” through initiatives that focused on education, social welfare, and health. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gerwani」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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