Housemaids deserve humane treatment: NGO

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Concerned non governmental organizations have called on families employing domestic housemaids to start treating them as individuals with equal rights, in a bid to curb the rampant abuse and discrimination against them.

Activists from the Legal Aid Institute for Health (LBH Kesehatan), the Women's Association for Legal Aid (LBH APIK) and Yogyakarta-based Tjoet Njak Dien school for domestic helpers said on Thursday that although housemaids played an important role in the day-to-day life of families, most of them were still living in dire conditions.

"Most housemaids in Jakarta are underpaid and working overtime. They work up to 15 hours a day and are paid between Rp 100,000 (US$11) and Rp 150,000 per month, far below the regional minimum wage," August Pasaribu of the LBH Kesehatan told a seminar on the eradication of violence against housemaids here.

The minimum wage in Jakarta is Rp 631,000 (US$75.1) and will increase by 6.3 percent starting Jan. 1, 2004, to Rp 671,550.

Fellow activist Vony Reyneta of the LBH Apik said that housemaids were also prone to abuse by their employers.

"There are many cases where housemaids were intentionally beaten up and even raped," she said.

The activists regretted that the public remained largely unaware of housemaids' rights, compared to other workers.

"The city in fact has a bylaw to regulate contracts between employers and housemaids. However, the city administration has not done enough to make it public," August said, referring to bylaw No. 6/1993 on domestic help.

The activists also agreed that housemaids must be granted the right to set up a union because this would boost their standing if a dispute arose with their employer.

The City Manpower and Transmigration Agency recorded a total of 978,821 housemaids in the capital. Most of them come from several regencies such as Indramayu, Subang and Cirebon in West Java and Tegal and Brebes in Central Java.

Approaching the Idul Fitri holiday, when most domestic helpers return to their hometowns, there will be a surge in the demand for seasonal maids among families in the capital.