Susan Blackburn – författare

In the first study of the kind, Susan Blackburn examines how Indonesian women have engaged with the state since they began to organise a century ago. Voices from the women's movement resound in these pages, posing demands such as education for girls and reform of marriage laws. The state, for its part, is shown attempting to control women. The book investigates the outcomes of these mutual claims and the power of the state and the women's movement in improving women's lives. It also questions the effects on women of recent changes to the state, such as Indonesia's transition to democracy and the election of its first female president. The wider context is important. On some issues, like reproductive health, international institutions have been influential and as the largest Islamic society in the world, Indonesia offers special insights into the role of religion in shaping relations between women and the state.

In the first study of the kind, Susan Blackburn examines how Indonesian women have engaged with the state since they began to organise a century ago. Voices from the women's movement resound in these pages, posing demands such as education for girls and reform of marriage laws. The state, for its part, is shown attempting to control women. The book investigates the outcomes of these mutual claims and the power of the state and the women's movement in improving women's lives. It also questions the effects on women of recent changes to the state, such as Indonesia's transition to democracy and the election of its first female president. The wider context is important. On some issues, like reproductive health, international institutions have been influential and as the largest Islamic society in the world, Indonesia offers special insights into the role of religion in shaping relations between women and the state.

Every year on 22 December, Indonesia celebrates Women's Day. The date marks the recognised beginning of the organised women's movement by commemorating the start of the first Indonesian women's congress in 1928, leading to the first federation of women's organisations. Although this fact is quite well-known in Indonesia, the details of what happened at the congress are not, because the record of the congress has been lost to view. This book restores to light the contemporary account of the congress as reported in the women's federation publication of 1929. The original version of the report, included here, is worth studying for what it reveals of the discourse of the time, as young women spoke publicly in the new national language, Bahasa Indonesia, an unfamiliar exercise for most of them. The report also shows the ideals of national unity and progress for women that inspired the congress participants, and the ideas that divided them, especially those relating to Islam and marriage laws. Reading these speeches gives lively insights into the minds of young women at the start of the women's movement and highlights the concerns that have continued to motivate women's organisations in Indonesia. Susan Blackburn has translated the congress report into English and prefaced it with an introduction that sets the background to the congress and analyses its proceedings.