During the Soeharto regime women were forced back to the domestic domain to implement their roles as wives and mothers. Women's rights were limited to voting. Women lost their freedom to voice their political rights and were not allowed to form organisations that were critical of the government. This was the result of the Indonesian Women's Movement's (Gerwani) association with the Communist movement. Gerwani was established on 4 June 1950 by six women's organisations and had a peak membership base of 1.75 million people (Wieringa 1999). However, the coup d'etat on the Soekarno government on 30 September 1965 was attributed to the Communist Party and its associated organisations,
including Gerwani. Due to their association with the coup, many Gerwani members were sexually assaulted, killed, tortured or sent to jail for many years without trial (Birks 2006; Wieringa 1999). Following the ban on the Communist Party as well as Communist and Marxist teachings, books and other references associated with Gerwani and Communism were burnt. The Minister for Home Affairs issued a regulation in 1981 that prohibited ex-members of the Communist Party and associated organisations, like Gerwani, to be members of political parties, public servants, army officials and village heads (Muhammadong 2003). In 1999, people formerly associated with the Community Party regained their right to vote (Birks 2006). Their right to stand for election was returned after the Constitutional Court ruled out Election Laws in 2003 that prohibited Communist members and their families to stand for elections (Salim 2004).
According to Suryakusuma (1996), an Indonesian feminist, Soeharto implemented "state ibuism" (womanhood) as state ideology which defined the ideal woman as an appendage and companion to her husband, procreator of the nation, mother and educator of her children, housekeeper and member of the Indonesian society. Put simply, this state ideology required women to be submissive and politically passive, the consequences of oppressing women's participation in decision-making (Wieringa 2003). This ideology is still seen today in dioramas at the Lubang Buaya Museum in Jakarta where the ideal model of a woman in the New Order is presented as being domestic and traditional. The museum also depicts how Soeharto portrayed the role of Gerwani in the coup d'etat: seductive temptresses torturing dying Indonesian generals. The museum was built by Soeharto to commemorate his victory against the 1965 Community movement.
To promote state ibuism, Soeharto supported the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) in 1970, a women's organisation at the village level that implemented activities of particular interest to women (Marcoes 2002; Robinson 1999). Participants of PKK were taught how to cook nutritional food, how to care for babies, how to dress as traditional women, and save money for the family. Additionally, Dharma Wanita, was established in 1974 as an organisation for wives to support their husbands' performance as public servants. Membership of Dharma Wanita was compulsory for wives of civil servants. Essentially, the Soeharto regime put structures in place to make women dependent on their husbands.
The women's movement during the New Order worked underground. There was very little freedom of association and movement. Freedom of speech was almost non-existent. Yuni Chuzaifah, the current chair of the National Commission for Elimination of Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) testified that she and her colleagues had to keep a low profile when they met and organised women's activities. They had to hide and be careful not to be caught by local authorities that patrolled and monitored gatherings that involved more than two people (Komnas Perempuan 2010).
Soeharto destroyed the women's movement that existed before he ruled (Mochtar 2000). As a result, there were only a few women's NGOs that existed during the New Order, including Yasanti, Rifka Annisa, Kalyanamitra, Solidaritas Perempuan and Women’s Legal Aid (LBH APIK). Yasanti was established by women activists in Yogyakarta in 1982 to focus on the empowerment and
promotion of women worker's rights in formal and informal sectors (Yasanti 2013). Yasanti was the first women's NGO formed in the New Order Era. Another NGO also based in Yogyakarta is Rifka Annisa which provides legal counselling services for women who experience violence. Rifka Annisa also forms community-based crisis centres and provides awareness training for perpetrators of domestic violence. Women activists established this organisation in 1993. Kalyanamitra (meaning good friend) was established in 1985. Based in Jakarta, the organisation works as a resource and information centre about women's rights (Kalyanamitra 2013). Solidaritas Perempuan (meaning women's solidarity) works on women's rights, including migrant worker issues. Women activists established Solidaritas Perempuan in 1990. LBH APIK was established in Jakarta in 1995 by seven feminist lawyers to provide counselling and legal services for women experiencing violence and to hold legal training for women (LBH APIK 2014).
During the economic crisis in 1997, Kalyanamitra and a dozen organisations such as the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), the Consumer Protection Organisation (YLKI), LBH APIK and the Cultural Working Network (JKB), established a cooperation for poor people and supplied meals for students during rallies against Soeharto's regime. At the same time, the Voice of Concerned Mothers' (Suara Ibu Peduli) movement emerged and advocated for the issue of baby formula as a means to gain political support from the wider community in the democratic movement. At that time, freedom of expression was strictly limited, therefore this group used the increased price of baby's formula which had increased by 400 percent to campaign for women's political rights. The women's movement played a significant role in the Reformation movement
including: forming many emergency response groups during the political and economic turbulence in 1998, providing counselling to women who were raped or had lost their loved ones in the 1998 May riots; as well as providing testimonies in public campaigns against Soeharto (Komnas Perempuan 2001).