Proceedings of International Conference on Neuroscience and Learning Technology (ICONSATIN 2025)

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Colonial Control of Women’s Reproduction in the Dutch East Indies, 19th-20th Centuries

Authors
Kartika Ainun Fitri1, *
1Departement of History, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gajah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
*Corresponding author. Email: kartikaainunfitri@gmail.com
Corresponding Author
Kartika Ainun Fitri
Available Online 31 December 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-525-6_55How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Colonialism; reproductive control; women; gender history; Dutch East Indies
Abstract

This study discusses how the Dutch colonial authorities controlled women’s reproduction in the Dutch East Indies in the 19th and 20th centuries. The main focus is how colonial law, morality, and medicine were used to regulate women’s bodies and maintain the colonial social-racial order. The approach used is gender history with an emphasis on social history, utilizing legal sources such as thr Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Nederlandsch-Indie (Penal Code for the Dutch East Indies), colonial medical regulations, colonial newspapers, and secondary literature. The results of the research show that reproductive control was a multidimensional project, prostitution was regulated through mandatory venereal disease examinations, mixed marriages were restricted to maintain racial boundaries, abortion was criminalized in favor of western medical authority. However, women also resisted in the form of everyday negotiations.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of International Conference on Neuroscience and Learning Technology (ICONSATIN 2025)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
31 December 2025
ISBN
978-2-38476-525-6
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-525-6_55How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Kartika Ainun Fitri
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - Colonial Control of Women’s Reproduction in the Dutch East Indies, 19th-20th Centuries
BT  - Proceedings of International Conference on Neuroscience and Learning Technology (ICONSATIN 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 607
EP  - 614
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-525-6_55
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-525-6_55
ID  - Fitri2025
ER  -