Indonesian women activists have been involved in women's issues since the beginning of the twentieth century. Dewi Sartika (1884–1947), a Sudanese noblewoman in West Java who founded a school in 1904, was influenced by the ideas of Princess Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879–1904). In West Sumatra, Rahmah El-Yunusiah was concerned with women's education and Rasuna Said with politics and journalism.

Born in a strongly Islamic background on 20 December 1900, El-Yunusiah pioneered …