Working Women in Indonesia

Speech by U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Gelbard

Distinguished Guests and Fellow Workers:

I am pleased to see this conference taking place, especially as the spouse of a woman worker. During the more than 30 years of our marriage, my wife and I have always tried to accommodate each other's careers. I am proud to say that she is now working with USAID as a consultant on maternal and child health.

It is appropriate that the leadership of Indonesia's women workers come together at this juncture to combine your talents and energy, to claim the power that you and your sisters represent, and to let the world know that you are taking your rightful place in the forefront of the forces for change in Indonesia today.

You are truly the backbone of Indonesia's economy and society, as women comprise 55 percent of the workforce in the formal and informal sectors and 100% of the workforce at home. Since long before this country began to industrialize, women have been the mainstay of small-scale agriculture and rural enterprise in Indonesia. But, in addition, the growth of the industrial economy during the last two decades has brought unprecedented numbers of women into the formal workforce.

From Medan to Makassar, from Serang to Surabaya, as factory doors opened, a large and still growing number of the workers who entered those doors were women. In addition, during the last few years the number of women migrating to work outside Indonesia has more than doubled that of men. Thus, it can be fairly said that Indonesia's economic boom has ridden on your shoulders.

But even when the economy was growing at its fastest, women were not reaping the full benefits of their toil. While women's wages grew faster than men's during the early part of the 1990's, they started from a much lower base and still lagged behind. After the economic crisis hit, a disproportionate share of women workers in the manufacturing, financial, and trade sectors were laid off. Women still have less access to education than do men, and the economic downturn has forced hundreds of thousands of girls to leave school and join the informal economy to help support their families.

Women workers have paid an even higher price for their leadership of efforts to promote worker rights:

-- No one should forget the fate of Marsinah, who was brutally tortured and murdered in May 1993 after she protested the firing of fellow workers at a watch factory near Surabaya who led a strike to obtain the legal minimum wage.

It is truly appropriate that Ratna Sarumpaet will perform "Marsinah Menggugat" this evening. This is a great drama about a courageous woman who sacrificed herself for worker rights. We were honored that during Ibu Ratna's recent visit to the United States, she directed performances of her play in several cities, bringing this powerful story to American audiences.

-- Less well known, but no less courageous, was Titi Sugiarti, a worker at a textile factory south of Bandung who was found dead under suspicious circumstances in the company's industrial waste pond in April 1994 after she sought to organize a strike to improve conditions for the company's women workers.

It is outrageous that the persons responsible for the deaths of these two brave women have never been brought to justice. It is equally shameful that many other women labor leaders--including women participating in this conference--have been arrested, imprisoned, fired, demoted, threatened, and harassed, only because they sought simple justice in their workplace. It is indeed time for a change.

The fact that you are here demonstrates that you understand the value of collective action to fight against injustice. In the workplace, history has shown that one of the most effective ways of doing this is to join a union. My own experience certainly proves the value of this approach. I got my first union card when I went to work at the age of eighteen in New York as a janitor, and I am still a union member today - though not as a janitor.

Just as I am proud to be a union member, I am also proud of the cooperation between the United States Government and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity to support the development of free, democratic, and autonomous trade unions in Indonesia and in fact, throughout the world.

For more than a quarter of a century, we have been working together in this country to help people like you master the tools of organizing unions, managing them fairly and democratically, bargaining constructively with employers, earning a living wage in a safe, dignified workplace, and struggling with like-minded groups for justice, liberty, and a better life for your families.

Our partnership in sponsoring this conference is a concrete demonstration of the importance we attach to your struggle, and our commitment to see you succeed.

This conference is not the only way in which the United States Government is working to help you and your colleagues around the country.

-- Through a regional initiative called ARIAT, the U.S. is working with Asian governments and NGOs to eliminate the scourge of trafficking in women and children for forced labor, prostitution, and other exploitation;

--Second, through our economic aid program, we are supporting the involvement of women in micro, small and medium-scale enterprise development throughout Indonesia;

--Third, we are working with the American Center for International Labor Solidarity and a consortium of NGOs to address problems of Indonesian women migrant workers, and promote leadership programs for women in unions;

--And fourth, as part of our effort to enhance the position of women in the global economy, we are also promoting women's access to education and the enforcement of legislation against discrimination, so that women will have the opportunity to make full use of their talents.

And just in case any of you forgot, my boss is a woman. She is the first American woman to become Secretary of State. As one of the most important and powerful women in America, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, has said, "Efforts to advance the status of women can never again be confined to the backwaters of American interest. They . . .have become part of the mainstream of U.S. foreign policy."

Secretary Albright also said, "Of all the forces that will shape the world in the 21st century, [the women's movement] may be the most important." Everywhere she has gone, Secretary Albright has been witness to women reaching out to each other, standing up for their rights, and building platforms for future progress. In fact, I should tell you that she has formed a working group of all women Foreign Ministers around the world.

We can help you as you seek the empowerment of women workers in Indonesia, but only you can summon the collective energy and will to bring about real change here. A. Philip Randolph, one of our foremost labor organizers and a crusader for civil rights, once said, "Freedom is never granted: it is won. Justice is never given: it is exacted. Freedom must be struggled for by the oppressed of all lands and races."

Through your discussions here over the next three days, I hope you will find greater strength in ideas, spirit, and solidarity, that will prepare you to go out and organize your sisters and brothers throughout Indonesia to work for the betterment of all Indonesians.

I certainly would never want to be accused of interfering in Indonesia's internal affairs, but in closing I can't resist passing on a profound piece of wisdom from one of our greatest women labor leaders, Mary Harris Jones, fondly remembered as "Mother Jones." She was a tireless defender of America's most vulnerable workers during America's industrialization in the 19th century.

Here was her advice to those who joined her in the struggle for social justice: "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living." I can't think of a better creed for you and your compatriots in the struggle for industrial justice and democracy in Indonesia.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you this morning. I wish you well in your work here and in the days ahead.