This book examines women's activism in the early years of independent Indonesia when new attitudes to gender, nationalism, citizenship and democratization were forming.

Part 1 Theoretical and Historical Background 1. Missing Images: Approaching Indonesian Women's Activism 2. Emergence of a Women's Movement: Nationalism and women's rights in Indonesia 1900-49 Part 2 Women's Mobilization in the 1950s - The National Level 3. The Promise of Independence: Women's Mobilization in a New Nation-State 4. Meeting Practical Gender Interests: Women's Organizations' Socio-Economic Activities 5. Representing Women in a New Democracy: Women's Organizations and National Politics 6. Confronting the State: The Fight for a Marriage Law Part 3 Challenging the National Level Perspective 7. Women's International Interests: Representing Gender and Nation at the International Level 8. Unity in Diversity: Women's Regional Interests in 1950s Indonesia 9. Constructing Womanhood in a New Nation-State: Indonesian Women's Experiences of Independence and Democracy Appendix: Examples of women's organisations belonging to Kongres Wanita Indonesia 1958 Glossary Bibliography