Morals, Harmony, and National Identity: "Companionate Feminism" in Colonial Indonesia in the 1930s

This analysis of three debates among the Indonesian (mainly Javanese) elite of the 1930s illustrates what was meant by "iboe jang sedjati", or "the true women", in a decade of striving nationalism and a more outspoken feminist movement. The debates concern a fashion show/beauty contest; concubinage; and the role of modern Indonesian women themselves. The article demonstrates that in response to ongoing processes of modernization or Westernization, Javanese gender perceptions were voiced in an Indonesian idiom of a moral character, as opposed to what was considered the immorality of Dutch colonial and Western culture. This gender idiom was infused with the idea of harmony: harmony among different Indonesian women's organizations and harmony between Indonesian women and Indonesian men. Moreover, in addition to a "maternal feminism," focused on women as child bearers and child educators, a "companionate feminism" emerged toward women supporting men. This companionate feminism betrayed traditional Javanese norms of being "halus" (refined), but it also served new political goals of Indonesian unity and Indonesian nationalism.