Public Campaign Calls for Students and Media to Speak Up to ‘Protect Homeworkers’

MAMPU and its four partners – BITRA, MWPRI, TURC, and Yasanti – in collaboration with Radio KBR – launched a campaign entitled ‘Protect Homeworkers’ in Malang, Medan, and Yogyakarta during September and October. The campaign aimed to engage students and the media to understand and speak up on the importance of protecting the rights of homeworkersin Indonesia..

The kicked off with a talkshow broadcasted on 100 radio stations nationwide, and included a writing workshop for the media on how to convey issues facing homeworkers to the public, and a village visit to the home of a homeworker.

For most of the students, it was their first time to hear the term ‘homeworker’, and they were able to see speak with them directly and see for themselves their poor working conditions.

“Why are these female homeworkers so “hidden”? Have they been socialized on gender equality to make them aware of their rights as women and workers?,” asked Ika Raudini, a student from Malang. The students were invited to share their ideas through an write my essay competition, which attracted attention from students from a number of cities namely Kediri, Bali, Makassar, and Bandar Lampung.

Warisah, the Chair of Bantul Female Homeworker Federation, said that the public campaign was very effective to gain public attention, which in turn would make female homeworkers like her be more empowered and know that they are not alone.

Until now efforts to develop sub-national policies for homeworker protections are still constrained by the absence of a legal umbrella at the national level. MAMPU Partners together with academics and sub-national governments have been advocating for the Draft Ministerial Regulation (Rapermen) on Homeworkers. Public consultations on the Rapermen has been conducted in Semarang and Medan Cities, to be followed by Cirebon, Sukabumi, and Bandung, to gather input  input into the academic paper (naskah akademik) required to initiate the draft law. Public consultations called for the Rapermen to include dispute resolution, protections, recognition, and freedom of association and assembly, provide for a written work contract between homeworkers and employers, and occupational health and safety (OHS) protections.