''Gerakan Wanita Sosialis'' (GWS; ) was a women's organization in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. It was the

women's wing A women's wing, sometimes also known as a women's group or women's branch, is an auxiliary or independent front or faction within a larger organization, typically a political party, that consists of that organization's female membership or acts to ...

of the

Socialist Party of Indonesia The Socialist Party of Indonesia (, PSI) was a socialist political party in Indonesia which existed from 1948 until 1960, when it was banned by President Sukarno. Origins In December 1945, Amir Sjarifoeddin's Socialist Party of Indonesia (P ...

(PSI). Before the founding of GWS, PSI had relied on close political contacts with another women's organization,

Isteri-Sedar Isteri-Sedar (IS—Aware Women) was a women's organization established in Bandung, Indonesia in 1930 by Soewarni Pringgodigdo. It was a radical nationalist group founded on its anti-polygamy stance after the First Indonesian Women's Congress in 1928 ...

. But after the 1955 elections, the PSI felt that Isteri-Sedar had failed to mobilize women voters for the party and thus the party decided to form a women's wing of its own (GWS). Wijono. ''The General Elections in Indonesia and the Partai Sosialis Indonesia'', in ''Socialist Asia'', Vol IV, November 1955/February 1956, Nos. 3-4. pp. 16-17 GWS membership was open to women 16 years old and above. As of 1960, GWS had 115 branches.

References

Women's organizations based in Indonesia Organizations established in the 1950s 1950s establishments in Indonesia Women's wings of political parties in Indonesia {{Indonesia-party-stub