Our Thematic Areas
Improving Conditions of Employment and Removing Workplace Discrimination
Why this issue is important
Compared with men, women have less access to formal employment, at 51% compared to 82% of men in formal work (SUSENAS, 2017). Many poor women in rural areas with low education and limited alternatives to support their families work in informal sector, including as home workers. Indonesia’s national employment law does not specifically define home workers and Indonesia has not ratified ILO Convention No.177 on Home Workers. Without legal protection, home workers are employed without formal contracts, making them vulnerable to exploitation.
Our approach
MAMPU’s support for home workers contributes to the government’s medium-term development targets (RPJM 2015-2019), namely increasing labor participation and gender equality in laws and regulations to better protect women.
Providing good working conditions for home workers will help to achieve Goal 8 of SDGs namely decent working conditions and economic development.
MAMPU Theme 2 seeks to improve working conditions and eliminate discrimination in the workplace. It does this by supporting the activities of four partners TURC, BITRA Indonesia, Yasanti and MWPRI to raise public awareness among and about home workers, collect data on home workers, establish credit unions and advocate for regulatory and policy changes at national and sub-national levels.
Partners provide information and training on gender issues, community organising, negotiation, insurance, and small businesses support. By empowering women and raising the collective voice and influence of homeworkers, they have been able to negotiate for increased salaries, access to national health insurance, and attend village planning meetings for the first time.
There are now 140 groups of home workers supporting 3000 women to gain access to workers’ rights in 158 villages in 23 districts and 7 provinces.
