March 8 is a global day of celebration for women around the world. For Indonesian women, International Women’s Day (IWD) has long been celebrated. 

Initially, it was only women who joined an organization celebrating this day. Nowadays, celebrations of IWD get livelier annually with the many women’s organizations both from big and small cities in Indonesia.

If we go back and look at the history of women’s organizations, there are obvious periods to draw the celebrations of IWD in Indonesia. I will divide them into: The Old Order of Soekarno (distinguished between the early 1950s mass movement and after increasing the influences of Gerwani), The New Order of Soeharto – although in this era IWD was strictly forbidden, the historical turning point towards reformation was a marker for the reemergence of women’s organizations owing to the yawning gap among society), the post-reform era, and meeting the global idea of “Women’s March” in 2017 to the present. 

Here’s a more detailed explanation.

The Old Order of Soekarno

Women’s organizations are flourishing in this era. Formally, since the first decade of the 90s Indonesian women’s organizations have existed. However, the first attention of IWD was given by Gerwis (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia Sedar/Movement of Conscious Indonesian Women) – the former name of Gerwani (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia/Indonesian Women’s Movement) that was changed in 1954. 

For the first time, IWD was celebrated on March 8, 1952; it has yet to receive good attention from women’s organizations. Gerwani’s encouragement to celebrate IWD is closely linked to its international relationship with WIDF (Women’s International Democratic Federation) in 1950. 

According to Saskia E. Wieringa, since 1952, Gerwani continuously encourages other women’s organizations to celebrate March 8 as a solidarity day of women around the world. Wieringa argues that the March 8 celebration is a linkage symbol between Gerwani and WIDF (Wieringa, 2002).

Gerwani’s call to action paid off; several women’s organizations have celebrated IWD. The 1995 celebrations featured peaceful action and protest against nuclear experiment and the Dutch occupation of West Irian. 

In March of 1957, Gerwani conducted an intensive campaign in support of Soekarno’s presidential speech outlining the constitutional changes that would lead to ‘Guided Democracy’. The fact that Gerwani’s position getting stronger and stronger in KWI (Indonesian Women’s Congress), by that on March 8, 1958, they formed a “mass movement” (Wieringa, 2002). Though this is disapproved by the head of KWI, Gerwani coordinated various organizations and progressive activists to demand the right of women labor. 

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The street protest has starkly been used as a strategy by women’s organizations. For example, during the era of Parliamentary Democracy. In Wieringa’s study, while in the 1950s the Western women’s movement lay largely dormant, the Indonesian women’s struggle was employing boycotts and mass demonstration. Where many window panes were broken to show anger and frustration of marriage reforms. 

The movement, mobilized by Perwari (Persatuan Wanita Republik Indonesia/Women’s Federation of the Indonesian Republic) led to strong criticism of president Soekarno’s fourth marriage which caused him to become angry – may well, Gerwis which was silent at the time because it wanted to maintain a stance with Soekarno, became one of the causes of tension among women’s organizations. 

IWD celebrations continue each year. In the 1960s the main issue was rising prices of basic necessities. PKI (Indonesian Communist Party – the party to which Gerwani would later lean on) had barely paid attention to this even though Gerwani repeatedly demanded an end to rising food and clothing prices (Wieringa, 2002). There is no clear record of IWD celebrations before the disaster that struck Gerwani in October 1965. At the very least, Wieringa notes that at IWD 1964, Soekarno gave a fiery speech in which he explicitly threatened imperialist power.

Post-1965 to the New Order Era

It is worth to note that the IWD celebrations after the massacre of the Gerwani following the 1965 failed coup are still commemorated. KWI celebrated it in 1966 (Wieringa, 2002) – although two months later after their internal consolidation, some of the members were fired for being accused of communist (Janti, 2018). 

In contrast, the Old Order era provided more space for women to speak out compared to Soeharto’s era.  Many progressive women’s organizations are dwindling. In return, under the authoritarian regime, organizations like Dharma Wanita were created to resubordinate women. According to Wieringa, the coining of state-controlled Panca Dharma Wanita (Five Women’s Duties) values to propagate the submission of women’s organizations (Wieringa, 1985). 

The last decade of the New Order era there were significant changes in Indonesian women’s organizations. In the 1980s several progressive women’s organizations emerged and reorganized their agendas. Organizations that began to be established include the Anisa Swasti Foundation (Yasanti) in Yogyakarta in 1983, followed by Kalyanamitra in 1985 in Jakarta (Arivia, 2017), Solidaritas Perempuan (SP) in 1989, Asosiasi Perempuan Pendamping Usaha Kecil (ASPPUK) in 1994, LBH Apik in 1995, Yayasan Jurnal Perempuan in 1996, Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia (KPI) in 1998 (Aripurnami et al, 2013). 

Different from the organizations created by the New Order, these organizations had different principles. In general, they strongly criticized Soeharto’s development policies that were detrimental to women, as well as various forms of human right violations, rape, and harassment of women. This culminated in a street action on February 23, 1998, called “Suara Ibu Peduli” (a political strategy in a situation of economic crisis).

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Even before the massive overthrow of Soeharto’s authoritarian regime, IWD had been celebrated. In 1991, IWD began to be commemorated by holding a free pulpit on the campus of Universitas Gajah Mada (UGM), Yogyakarta. At that time, the issue raised was the eviction of small traders and laborers in the Beringharjo market. 

Then the 1998 struggle continued at the IWD celebration in Jakarta, which become the culmination of the unity of various women’s organization such as Solidaritas Perempuan, Jurnal Perempuan, Suara Ibu Peduli, Kalyanamitra by holding interfaith prayers and fundraising for migrant workers (Lasminah, 2008). Another source mentioned that IWD was only heard again when Seruan Perempuan Indonesia (Seruni) held an interfaith prayer in 1999 (Janti, 2018). 

Post-Reform

Reformation is a great achievement not only for Indonesian women’s organizations, but also for all Indonesian people. With the fall of the regime that oppressed women’s freedoms and rights, IWD continued and became more vibrant. Women’s organizations in the big city (Jakarta) that had formed in the 1980s had strong branches in various regions. As a result, IWD celebrations have become more widespread. 

IWD in 2000 was used to demand Kartini’s release, who was sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates. Solidaritas Perempuan mobilized in front of the UAE Embassy. Meanwhile, in the same year the commemoration was also held in Palembang by APIK Palembang. 

In 2001 IWD was held in Lampung, and in 2002 by the State Ministry of Women’s Empowerment (Lasminah, 2008). Since the early 2000s, IWD has been continuously organized. The issues raised are related to criticism of government policies, ranging from women’s labor rights, children’s education, the price of basic commodities, and violence against women. 

Long march is one of the methods that is considered effective for conveying messages to the government. This method has been massively used since the 2000s, including IWD in 2003 Aliansi Perempuan Menggugat (APM) who took action by a long march from Monumen Bundaran HI to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) office and then to the State Palace. 

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The same year, in Yogyakarta, around thirty activists Front Perjuangan Rakyat Miskin (FRPM), Partai Rakyat Demokratik (PRD), and several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) activists have celebrated at the UGM roundabout. They rejected the increasing prices of basic commodities carried out by President Megawati, increasing exploitation number of working women. In the following year, IWD 2004, at least 100 students of Front Perjuangan Rakyat Miskin conducted a demonstration in front of the governor’s office (Grahadi State Building) in Surabaya. 

They called the society to unite seeing that the government has failed to provide welfare and security to the mothers and children (www.indoleft.org). Through the second decade of 2000s, IWD continues to be celebrated annually. 

From the Global Idea of The Women’s March to The Present Day

A new milestone for the IWD movement was reached in 2017. The Women’s March movement was originally a movement in the United States on January 21, 2017 – the day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated. This becomes a protest and disappointment expression of the misogynistic rhetoric and policies of Trump. 

Furthermore, Women’s March was launched simultaneously in over fifty countries every March 8, coinciding with IWD. In Indonesian context, the Women’s March was only held on March 4, 2017. To this day, every March 8 IWD is celebrated as Women’s March with a long march. The initiator of this movement is Perkumpulan Lintas Feminis Jakarta (or Jakarta Feminist) – a community that was originally formed from a Facebook group discussion (https://jakartafeminist.com).

In the hands of Jakarta Feminist, the younger generations of the feminist communities have been on the rise. This is certainly supported by infiltration of a new feminist movement model that has started in Indonesia since 2016 – in particular, the massive use of social media (Ardiani, Puti, 2023). 

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The regional groups (small towns) will continue to be linked together and coordinated by Jakarta Feminist. They named their group by adding the city name such as Women’s March (WM) Semarang, WM Malang, WM Ponorogo, WM Serang, WM Tegal, WM Ternate, WM Indramayu and many more. It was they who eventually paved the way for IWD celebrations in small cities of Indonesia to this day. 

This year (2024), IWD is celebrated under the global theme “Inspire Inclusion”.  This theme invites everyone to understand women’s inclusion, and to create a more inclusive world for women through collective work. As in previous years, the Women’s March and IWD were also used by women’s organizations to criticize government policies. There are many issues that the government must follow up on. As a result, the IWD celebration will continue to be a moment of collective remembrance. A space to criticize the regime of power that must fulfill the rights of every citizen, regardless of their sex and gender.