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)