Fighting for women's rights in Indonesia
By Bronwyn Powell and Susan Austin
Under the Suharto regime, feminism in Indonesia was stifled and progressive women's organisations banned. Now, with more democratic space opening up, women are again starting to organise for their rights.
The situation for women makes this a necessity, given the workload placed on them by their traditional role in the family and the discrimination they face in the workplace, from the military and in the home.
Ninety percent of workers in Indonesia's garment and textile industries are women. Many work up to 12 hours per day, and after that have to face hours more domestic drudgery.
According to the independent union SBM in Semarang, central Java, a typical day for women textile workers begins at 4am when they start household tasks, before starting work at 7am. During busy periods at the factory, people are forced to work for days around the clock, with only two hours rest per day. Their average daily wage is 7,000 rupiah (less than $2).
The long working hours, their domestic responsibilities and low education and literacy levels make it difficult to organise women into unions. Many worker-organisers are fired for their political activities and often women need permission from parents or husbands to attend actions.
The military also sexually harasses women demonstrators, so as to intimidate them away from organising and mobilising.
But despite these difficulties, women workers are increasingly becoming unionised and more are taking the logical next step and becoming involved in political struggles.
While consciousness of women's oppression and of the struggle for liberation is not widespread in many worker and pro-democracy organisations, it is beginning to be discussed more often.
A large union in Malang, the APSM, is organising a women's symposium on International Women's Day. The symposium will discuss the rights of women workers, education and the need for international solidarity.
The Indonesian National Front for Workers' Struggle (FNPBI) is planning to hold International Women's Day actions on March 8.
The People's Democratic Party (PRD) is planning to hold a debate between themselves and some other feminists, who take a separatist outlook on how women should organise for their rights. The PRD believes that the struggle for women's rights has to be led by women but that women will only gain their rights if their struggle is supported by other oppressed sectors in society, including the working class, students, small farmers and urban poor.
Some student organisations, such as the LMND, include feminist actions in their campaigns. An International Women's Day action was organised in Jakarta in 1999, by an alliance of women from four student activist organisations. All 200 women at the rally were arrested and imprisoned for two days.
Women's Solidarity for Democracy in Indonesia (SPID) is a radical organisation established in Surabaya in 1999 to redress the sidelining of women's rights. As well as being involved in the broader pro-democracy movement, SPID campaigns for a constitution for women's rights and challenges the traditional role of women in society. They encourage the participation of men in the women's liberation movement.
Their most successful action to date was a rally in November, demanding an end to state violence against women. The rally highlighted the case of Marsinah, a woman activist who was employed by PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch manufacturing company in Sidoarjo, east Java, who was murdered by the military on May 8, 1993. The rally condemned the use of rape by the military as a means of oppression in Aceh and East Timor.
SPID activists are currently working with other women's groups to organise large discussions and a rally for International Women's Day in Surabaya.