SHORTLY after the Movement of Conscious Indonesian Women (Gerwis) changed its name to the Indonesian Women’s Movement (Gerwani) in 1954, the organization became the talk of the town. In that same year, President Sukarno married Hartini.

Gerwis, which was founded in 1950, often spoke against polygamy, the main cause of divorces in 1951-1952. In Java and Madura (an island in northern East Java), at that time the rate of polygamy reached 60 p