Female workers still under suspicion: Lawyer
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian workers in general are afraid to fight for their own interests, including to organize themselves, because they are treated with suspicion by the authorities, an activist said yesterday.
"Workers still need to request permission to get together. They are suspected of jeopardizing stability," Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, who is also a lawyer, said.
"I am afraid that recommendations (which do not address such issues) are of little use." she said when addressing participants of a seminar on women workers in the formal sector. The seminar was organized by the local offices of International Labor Organization (ILO) and United Nations Development Program.
Nursyahbani said she agreed to a recommendation of a study by the ILO here regarding the need to increase worker's awareness of their basic rights through legal literacy programs.
"However, the most important requisite to increasing awareness is an open climate, to enable empowerment and access to information," she said.
An inconducive political condition for the rights of free speech and organizing, she said, isolates women in light of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
"The essence of the convention is that it can be implemented as long as social and political rights can be developed," Nursyahbani said.
Although Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief has dropped a regulation justifying military intervention in labor disputes, Nursyahbani said "at the local level, things have not changed much."
The ministry's assistant on labor supervision, Payaman Simanjuntak, told The Jakarta Post that military intervention involves individuals who cannot differentiate between matters to be tackled by ministry officials and those which are security problems.
"Security officers should only be called in when ministry officials feel things have gotten out of hand," Payaman said. "As long as demonstrations are peaceful, there is no reason for security people to be called in."
However, demonstrations should have permits from the ministry, he added.
Nursyahbani also supported Minister of Women Affairs Mien Sugandhi's urging for employers to respect the rights of women to obtain "special" treatment, such as maternity and menstrual leaves.
"They (women workers) deserve such treatment. Giving birth cannot be replaced by men, so employers must guarantee fully paid maternity leave," Sugandhi said.
In response to opinions that such claims go against women workers' demands for equality, Nursyahbani said this is because of "the incorrect perception of a woman's nature."
Protective legislation, such as the ruling against employing women on night shift, is discriminative, she said, citing the recent protest of women billiard hall attendants in Surakarta, Central Java.
"Employment opportunities for women includes those which require night hours, but it is facilities like transport and security which should be guaranteed. Protection should not mean banning women from night work."
The seminar discussed recommendations of a 1993 study by ILO. The seminar is meant as input for members of the Indonesian delegation attending the World Women's Conference in Beijing next month.
The study, titled A Comprehensive Women's Employment Strategy for Indonesia, noted that, until 1990, for each 100 women in the formal work sector, there were 223 women in informal employment. (anr)