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Dreams of female migrant workers are often shattered, but hope remains
Women migrant workers make vital social and economic contributions to their communities and countries of origin and destination, and can be a crucial source of empowerment for women.
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Setting off: Indonesian migrant workers board a bus on March 15, 2023, in Padang, West Sumatra. Some 100 women migrant workers from the province and neighboring Jambi, Riau and South Sumatra departed for Malaysia. (Antara/Iggoy el Fitra)
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urwanti (name has been changed to maintain confidentiality) was just 17 when she arrived in Hong Kong. When she saw the stunning views of glittering lights, lines of high-rise buildings, beautifully dressed women and the lavish lifestyles she came to know from many Hong Kong-produced movies and TV dramas, Purwanti felt her dream had come true.
She had decided to work abroad to support her elderly parents and four younger siblings in her village in Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. She had been promised by her recruiter or broker that she would work as a waitress at a restaurant or a hotel in Hong Kong.
Her father had to take on a large amount of debt from a loan shark in his village to pay the broker the Rp 10 million (US$833 in 2016). The money was used to pay for her travel, work documentation and predeparture training sessions.
Once she arrived at Chek Lap Kok International Airport, together with several girls from various parts of Indonesia, Purwanti realized she was being deceived.
Instead of working at a hotel or a restaurant, Purwanti was taken into a small, crowded apartment in the busy Kowloon business district to work as a domestic helper for a family of four.
“I worked almost 20 hours per day, without any day off. Worst of all, they did not pay my salary for two years,” she recalled. Language and cultural barriers had made her condition worse. “I was beaten or slapped when I made mistakes.”
Purwanti is just one of millions of Indonesian women pursuing their dreams as worker overseas.
