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Household maids: Slaves, whores or workers?
The bill for the protection of domestic workers was first proposed in 2004 to address “discrimination, abuse and humiliation.” It was added to and removed from the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) three times in 19 years.
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Members of the Militant Workers
Union hold a rally in observance of International Women’s Day outside the Gedung Sate city hall in Bandung, West Java, on March 8. They demanded the immediate passage of the long-delayed domestic worker protection bill and called for justice for victims of sexual violence. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
H
ow does a feature film about a household domestic servant, i.e., a maid, become the most popular film in a particular year? By commodifying women as sexual objects and relegating them to the domestic sector to do household chores, that’s how.
This was the case with the 1976 film titled Inem Pelayan Seksi (Inem, the Sexy Maid). The titular character was a sensual, voluptuous divorcee, who alternately distracted the husband and caused consternation to the wife of the family she worked for. The poster of the 1976 film displayed Inem sitting on the floor, crossed legged in an inviting pose, dressed in a black bra and a skimpy sarong which revealed more than her covered thighs.
The film was so popular there were two sequels to it, both in 1977. Imagine! In 1997, 20 years after the first Inem film, it was recycled into a sinetron (soap opera), and in 2019, remade into Inem Pelayan Sexy New.
The 1976 Inem film unabashedly commodified women as sex objects whose role was to serve men in any way they needed. The 2019 remake was devoid of exposed breasts and thighs, and adapted in keeping with the more conservative tone of these current times.
But the new Inem was nevertheless still an attractive sexy divorcee. Like the old Inem, the new 2019 Inem also received a marriage proposal from the wealthy boss of her boss.
Ah, the old Cinderella theme used in Pretty Woman (1990) and Maid in Manhattan (2002). That is one way to turn the tables around: The maid from the bottom of the social rung gets elevated to a high economic class status by virtue of marriage, and therefore can now lord over her erstwhile bosses. Hah!
But in real life, would a domestic worker get a marriage proposal from the boss? Pipe dreams! It’s more likely that they would be raped by the father or adult sons, or by all of them, in turn.
