Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, Vol. 6: Supplement & Index (Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures) (Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Cultures)

of the motherhood state. Modelon Djajadiningrat
(1987) argues that “ibu or mother is a concept of
ideology which sanctions any action provided it is
taken as a mother who is looking after her family,
a group, a class, a company or the state without
demanding power or prestige in return.”
The public role of woman was based on the domes-
tic role, since women’s functions were simplified to
being mothers and wives. The state erected barriers
to prevent women from demonstrating their abili-
ties in the public political space. The new political
climate put an end to women’s movements, and
only allowed “motherhood” organizations such as
Dharma Wanita, the PKK (Family Welfare Move-
ment), and other similar woman’s organizations,
which were associated together under Kowani
and which sustained Kowani. Kowani consisted of
independent organizations such as Perwari (Persat-
uan Wanita Indonesia, Organization of Indonesian
Women), Aisyiyah, and Wanita Katholik (Catho-
lic Women), and organizations of the wives of
Indonesian civil servants or military such as PKK,
Dharma Wanita, and others. Inevitably, Kowani
became politically and economically dependent on
the government; the government provided support
to Kowani in the form of transportation, office,
finance, and so forth. In short, the government
more or less occupied and controlled this orga-
nization. Woman’s organizations no longer had
freedom to organize at the grassroots level, except
for socio-religious or charitable activities. Only
organizations such Aisyiyah, PKK, and Dharma
Wanita were permitted to be active at the village
level (Wieringa 1995











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