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Women activists ask govt, House to protect domestic workers
A group of women's activists has demanded that the government and the House of Representatives protect domestic workers by legally acknowledging their profession
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group of women's activists has demandedthat the government and the House of Representatives protect domestic workersby legally acknowledging their profession.
Women's Action Committee coordinator Lini Zurli said that the government, as well as many workers, had not acknowledged domestic work as a profession, which had led to a denial of rights for the workers, most of whom are female.
"That's why we need to endorse the domestic workers' protection bill, which is under consideration at the House but has moved nowhere since 2004," she said on Thursday.
Lini said that the government should also ratify the 189th International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Domestic Workers, as promised by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Geneva in 2010.
Lini added that the committee had voiced its concerns for domestic workers and female workers for the past two years, without receiving an adequate response from the government or the House.
She went on to say that domestic
workers are still often ordered to work for 24 hours per day without decent
wages, and many of them are only paid an average of Rp 300,000 (US$25.80) per
month. She also cited discrimination between male and female workers as being among
the problems.
She said the committee had met with Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, presidential
hopeful for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), to discuss the
concerns, before holding a rally for Labor Day.
"We regard Jokowi as a presidential candidate who wants to listen to our
concerns," Lini said. (gda)
