Soeharto calls for joint efforts to help women workers
Soeharto calls for joint efforts to help women workers
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto encouraged the public
yesterday to help solve the myriad problems facing women workers
in Indonesia today.
Speaking at the opening of a national seminar on women workers
at Merdeka Palace yesterday, Soeharto said that the large number
of problems facing women in the work place is a call for everyone
to help find a well-planned, overall solution.
Soeharto pointed out that women have the same rights,
obligations and opportunities as men but, he added, "in reality,
they face sexual discrimination here and there."
The opening ceremony was attended by Minister of Manpower
Abdul Latief, State Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi,
Minister of Home Affairs Yogie S. Memet and Minister of Social
Services Endang Kusuma Inten Suweno.
Soeharto said discrimination was present in terms of
recruiting, salary and job opportunities. In the rural areas
especially, he said, women face greater difficulty finding jobs.
"Some of them leave the suburbs to try their luck in the
bigger cities, he said. "Others even go so far as leaving the
country to seek jobs."
Soeharto pointed out that since many less educated women work
to add to the family income, the main solution would be to
increase their skill levels.
"To improve the skills of women workers, opportunities to join
various kinds of training programs and courses should be open to
them," he said, adding that for this reason information on such
education programs should be better distributed.
Soeharto also emphasized the need to support and supervise the
informal sector, which employs a large proportion of workers.
"Workers in the informal sector are usually poorly paid and
with minimal security. Most of the time they have no permanent
working place and they are unfamiliar with any form of social
insurance," Soeharto said.
He asked the various agencies dealing with workers and women's
affairs to join hands to find a sound solution to the problems.
The number of women workers in Indonesia has continued to
increase over the last decade. In 1980, women workers made up 33
percent of the total work force in the country and by 1990, the
figure rose to 39 percent.
Most, however, are employed in menial jobs which require low-
level skills.
Presently, women make up about 46 percent of the Indonesian
work force and 32 percent of the industrial laborers.
Although it is generally understood that a woman's salary is
supplementary to her husband's, critics have dismissed this
saying that many women are now the main providers in their
families.
Certain attitudes, including the tendency of parents to give
greater priority to a son's education and welfare rather than to
a daughter's, for example, is a major obstacle to eradicating
sexual discrimination.
The Indonesian government's policy of sending women overseas
has also been widely criticized due to poor, if any, legal
protection to combat sexual harassment from their employers.
Furthermore, women working overseas are generally sent to work
as domestic helpers, a job which requires minimal skill and
knowledge and one which relies on physical exploitation. (pwn)