Over the last few months a new organisation has appeared in the Jakarta social movements. Yayasan Perempuan Mardika (YPM — Foundation for the Liberation of Women) has been instrumental in organising women workers in the Jakarta area.
YPM holds that women are of the most exploited sections of Indonesian society. "The logical consequence of the economic growth policy designed by the government is the opening wide of the door to foreign capital", says a newsletter produced by the group. "... women are wanted ... because of their low access to education, which makes them a source of cheap labour. They are looked upon as creatures of perseverance but having no inclination to rebel against their extreme exploitation ... the capital owner can reduce production costs to a minimum."
MIKAEL HIDAYAT recorded the following interview with YPM activists "A" and "B" for Green Left.
What do you see as the main problems faced by Indonesian women?
A: In Indonesian society, women are seen as second-class citizens. Society rarely allows Indonesian women to exist independently. Economically and socially, women are tied to men and families.
Today Indonesia is a capitalist society, but it has developed out of a form of feudalism. The structure of feudalism held women as subordinates. Under feudalism there was no chance for Indonesian women to progress.
In the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the only thing that has changed for Indonesian women is the methods of exploitation. Additionally, women still suffer from the consciousness of the former feudal society. With a feudal image of women, she must be dependent on her family relationships with males. If she does work the only respectable option is domestic work. However, the economies of Indonesian society compel women to work in many places. So women are oppressed not only by their wage exploitation but by society's image too.
B: Women who work usually find themselves in factories with bad health and safety conditions and low wages. It is the view of women described by A that is used to justify keeping women's wages low, i.e. a woman's husband can support her, so there is no reason to pay her as much as a male.
Women who work also are still expected to clean, cook, raise children and do all the other domestic jobs.
Women remain trapped in their condition, with little chance of improving their individual circumstances. The society denies women access to knowledge, to education, to skills and to develop opinions. Because of this, few women who work in anything other than the lowest strata of jobs.
Recently Jakarta has witnessed a number of large campaigns organised by Jakarta's women's groups. B: Last year there was a horrific case where a housemaid, Sulastri, was locked in her employer's house for two years. She was repeatedly abused by her employer, a member of parliament. If he was not satisfied with her work, she was beaten. If she denied being a thief when her employer lost belongings, she was branded with a hot iron. She was often punished with boiling water, and her meals were few and far between.
She eventually managed to break out of the house through the roof and call to neighbours for help. Throughout the court case that followed, a Jakarta women's group, Kelompok Kebangkitan Perempuan Indonesia, KKPI (Group of Rising Indonesian Women), conducted a campaign against violence to women and in support of Sulastri.
As a follow-up and with the support of women's groups in Yogyakarta, Bandung and Jakarta, an action was conducted demanding that the minister for the role of women provide legal protection to women working as housemaids. At the moment, their working hours, holidays, wages and benefits are entirely at the whim of the employer. Usually a housemaid lives in the house of her employer, so this makes her particularly vulnerable.
A: Women have also experimented with dramatic actions. More than 100 women workers from Bogor, Jakarta, Tangerang and Bekasi united in a joint action at the Department of Manpower. The action was held in April in commemoration of Kartini Day. Kartini is one of Indonesia's historical figures of women's emancipation. The action was not in common with the usual official celebrations, such as the domestic work competitions, cooking, flower arrangement and national dress.
The women workers marched on the department, carrying posters and placards, singing songs and reading poems. Outside the department the workers performed a one-act drama depicting their conditions and demanding better conditions.
The theme was "Better conditions for women workers", but this did not exclude male workers' participation. At least 30 attended, voicing the common demands of the workers.
YPM has also been involved in a workers' training program. Can you describe this?
A: Without training and learning from common experience, it will be difficult for us to find solutions to our problems. Therefore YPM organised a training course for worker militants from Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi in July.
In it the workers tried to come to the heart of their problems. The conclusions were that workers have to sell their labour to meet their basic needs. The problem is that the factors of production are privately owned. The workers are kept under private control by capital because all they possess is their ability to work. With the emphasis on capital accumulation, the workers' wages are the first item to suffer.
In Indonesia there is an alliance between capital owners and political authorities; consequently the workers are driven further into poverty.
The awareness of workers of their position will, however, mean nothing nised. The training program also paid a lot of attention to the question of organisation, looking at the history of the Indonesian workers' movement and accounting for the present difficulties.
The effects of poverty have a particular impact on women. What is the situation in Indonesia?
A: Because society views women as second class, in times of poverty women suffer more. They have less access to education, food, health and information.
High population growth is a result of poverty. The government has a policy of only two children for every woman. This policy puts the responsibility solely on women. There is not a similar policy directed towards men. But women alone do not make children.
Poverty is also directly related to health. Poverty means women have little or no access to information about health, let alone the resources needed to secure basic health equipment and medicine.
Many women are forced into prostitution. In Indonesia prostitution is extremely exploitative. Prostitution is not recognised work, and prostitutes are viewed negatively by society. It is the society, however, that benefits from their work. Their income is used to pay taxes and support families.
Prostitution is also a big health problem. Access to contraception is limited, especially to those who are poor. Information about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases is not widespread. Sex is a taboo topic, and thus the information about AIDS is not distributed. The government also withholds information about the seriousness of the problem, how widespread the disease is.
The culture is also a problem. Often those afflicted by STD will hide the fact because, if it became known, society would view them and their family as dirty, without God.
How does the lack of democracy affect the women's movement?
B: It means that women can't organise openly. There is only one official women's organisation, Dharma Wanita (Ladies Service). This organisation does not represent the interests of women. It does not address the problems faced by most women; instead it works on such important issues as how to cook properly, how to make better clothes, to look beautiful, to please the husband.
In Dharma Wanita, the internal structure is directly related to the position of a woman's husband. If the husband has a high job in the government apparatus, then his wife will have a high position in Dharma Wanita.
A: One of the most urgent demands of Indonesian women and Indonesian society must be for greater democracy. We cannot organise effectively for lasting change without a greater level of democracy in our society.
That democracy is, however, not the answer. It is the structures press women. Our strategy must be to replace those structures. Our enemy is not men. We must fight together with men to overcome our common oppression. We need a mass movement.
Women's action is not seen as political in Indonesia. Striking men are crushed by the military and the police, but women are laughed at. They can think that women workers organising is funny today, but try to laugh tomorrow.