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The New Ibu Pertiwi: What a “Revolutionary Woman” Meant in the Early 1960s

Fri, April 1, 10:30am to 12:30pm, Washington State Convention Center, Floor: 3rd Floor, Room 304

Abstract

Indonesian women, as citizens of the new republic, were expected to take part in the nation-building projects and be active in various social and political activities outside the house. Yet, as women they were still expected to tend to their household affairs and be responsible for the welfare of the family. Women activists engaged in discussions about a “new type of personality” which expanded the role of the motherhood beyond the confines of the private homes and manifested the ideal of the “Mother of the Nation.” In the early 1960s, during Sukarno’s Guided Democracy, they were also expected to be “revolutionary.” They were constantly warned about the precarious political situation and were asked to participate in civic defense activities to guard the nation against neo-colonial forces. What did it mean to be a revolutionary woman? Who had the authority to define what being revolutionary was? How was that ideal being defined? How did that ideal help or hinder women when dealing with other concerns, such as sexual harassment and assault, polygamy, and unequal pay. What were the limitations of the ideal of the revolutionary women? As some women activists who became the victims of the anti-Communist violence in 1965-66 looked back at their experience, they began to wonder if the political education they received was sufficient to prepare them to understand the catastrophe.

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