Women's Day should remind us of the sacrifices made
By Sri Wahyuni
In conjunction with today's commemoration of Women's Day, The Jakarta Post presents a series of articles on this page and page 14.
JAKARTA (JP): Women have been overpowered by men for ages, kept like accessories in golden cages.
The above comes from a classic Indonesian song called Sabda Alam (Destiny of Nature) but the lyrics no longer seem to hold true today. At least for Mbok (Mrs.) Lasem, a 45-year-old woman who washes clothes for the families in her neighborhood to support her family.
Mbok Lasem comes from the small town of Purbolinggo, Central Java. Her leg is crippled and she migrated to Jakarta 25 years ago after her husband died. She left behind her only daughter in search of a better life in the capital.
She began as a servant for a family in South Jakarta. Four years later, she got remarried to a Betawi (native Jakartan) and became a clothes washer.
"I'm not strong enough to have more than four clients," she said.
Every morning she goes from one house to the next to do her washing and ironing. She usually finishes around noon. She gets a monthly salary of Rp 40,000 (US$16.82) from each family she works for, bringing her monthly income to about Rp 160,000.
Her husband has been unemployed for years and only earns money when a neighbor wants his hair cut.
As the family breadwinner, Mbok Lasem complains about the rising cost of living. Two of her three children from her second marriage need Rp 30,000 each every month for transportation and high school fees.
She needs another Rp 50,000 a month to pay the rent of the 12- square-meter room she shares with her husband and three teenage children. Electricity and water bills come to Rp 20,000 a month. In addition, she has to cover daily food expenses and other unexpected ones.
"Sometimes I feel like I just can't go on, but I have to, haven't I?" Mrs. Lasem murmured in a heavy voice.
Some of her clients give her an occasional free meal or used clothes, others pay her in advance.
"It helps," she said.
Mbok Purnomo, a fruit vendor near Pasar Minggu market, South Jakarta, is another woman who has given up some or all of her housewife activities to supplement the family income. She lives apart from her husband, who works as a civil servant in a small village in the Central Java regency of Karanganyar.
The 45-year-old woman came to Jakarta in order to earn money to pay for her children's school fees. The Purnomos have two sons and two daughters. The first son recently graduated from the management school at a private university in Surakarta, Central Java. The second studies at the Indonesian Air Force Academy. The third is finishing her final years at a physiotherapy academy, also in Surakarta. And the youngest is in her first year at a high school in Karanganyar.
"We ran out of money. That's why I came here last year to do this," said the woman, showing her merchandise of imported apples and oranges on a bamboo tray.
"I'm not ashamed of doing this. I forgot about that feeling a long time ago," she said. One of her dark-skinned hands wiped her brow while the other held on firmly to a tray.
"I would do anything for the sake of my family, especially for the sake of our children's future," said Mbok Purnomo, as she adjusted the transparent plastic bag on her head that protects her from the falling drizzle.
There was a tone of pride in her voice as she recited her story. In a very plain way of acting and speaking, she told The Jakarta Post of how relieved she was to be able to provide an adequate education for her children.
She started her business with Rp 150,000. She usually works from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. She buys two boxes of fruit for Rp 120,000 everyday from Pasar Induk, East Jakarta, and sells it on the street.
She earns a profit of about Rp 10,000 a day, sometimes more. She spends Rp 50,000 a month for her room, which she shares with a friend. Every three months she goes home to give money to her husband. If she doesn't, he comes up to Jakarta to get it.
"I'm not planning to do this for the rest of my life. I'll stop when our elder children have jobs and earn good money. They have promised to support the younger ones," she said.
There are, of course, many others like Mbok Lasem and Mbok Purnomo. They are poor, strong-hearted women who are capable of doing almost anything. Because of their lack of skills, most have to work in the "informal sector" as hawkers, vendors, clothes washers, sellers of hand-made goods and home-based food producers.
Selling jamu (traditional medicine) is a favorite choice for many self-employed women. To be a jamu gendong, as the sellers are known locally, doesn't require much start-up capital. All that is generally needed is Rp 60,000, a bamboo bakul (basket), several glasses, some bottles and a lot of persistence. A jamu seller can earn between Rp 12,500 and Rp 25,000 a day if she's willing to put in the hours.
But why Jakarta and not back home in their native villages?
"It's not easy to earn big money here, but it's even more difficult in our village," said Mbok Purnomo.
According to Hans-Dieter Evers, a visiting sociology professor from the University of Kebangsaan Malaysia, the informal sector has long been part and parcel of urban life in most of Asia. It was once believed to help alleviate unemployment.
In the early 1980s, more than half of the Southeast Asian labor force made their livelihood in the informal sector. But, later, it shifted. Employment opportunities in the formal sector, particularly in urban areas, are declining rapidly. This is partly because more workers have moved into the formal sector due to stepped up government control.
In 1990, the informal sector in Jakarta accounted for 26 percent of the labor force, the lowest figure of the country's 27 provinces, according to a government report.
Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the lot of the poor women struggling for their families and their own lives. Many things need to be done to improve their livelihoods and to offer a more dignified way of life.
The Self Employed Women's Association in India, for example, offers loans to self employed women in rural areas to make leather handicrafts and embroidery. The association provides them with access to the market place so the women do not have to go to urban areas and leave their families behind.
For women like Mbok Purnomo and Mbok Lasem survival is all that matters. Women's Day for them has no meaning as they will be spending it working on the streets.