SIWI Community’s Access to Information in Protecting Child

Domestic Workers

Tri Joko Sri Haryono

and Sri Endah Kinasih

Department of Anthropology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Child Domestic Workers, Exclusion, Exploitation.

Abstract: This study explains the limited access of child domestic workers to information, which causes them to have

difficulties in obtaining information and access regarding any efforts to develop organizations or join

organizations that are able to advocate for their rights as women, children and citizens. The purpose of this

study is to explain the SIWI community assistants who have concern for the conditions of children who are

working in the worst job sectors. This research is descriptive research using the qualitative method. The

research location is in Surabaya by conducting observation, in-depth interview and Focus Group Discussion

(FGD) as its data collection method. The informants for this research were the child domestic workers, the

community leaders, the Department of Human Resource Development and Culture, the Child Protection

Institution, the Department of Social Services, Labor, and Transmigration and the Department of Education.

The results of this research show that those child domestic workers are prone to exploitation and social

exclusion because they are treated like an employer's property. Through this SIWI community, they can gather

together, share stories about their daily lives, knowledge and skills to gain information and access towards

better jobs and no longer be domestic workers anymore. This study implies that the access to basic services

and policy advocacy at various levels must be enhanced to ensure the realization of child labor protection.

1 INTRODUCTION

Domestic workers can be grouped into two types.

The first is adult domestic workers and the second is

child domestic workers. Child domestic workers are

then also classified into two categories, namely child

domestic workers for local needs or domestic

(Irawaty, 2011). The second is for foreign countries

or overseas where the child domestic workers will be

sent to Vietnam (Gribble & Tran, 2016), Mexico, and

The Philippines (Espinosa, 2016) which menas they

can be categorised as migrant workers. There is also

differentiation from the origins of CDW that is the

one who still has family relations and the one who is

not.

According to ILO (2013), there were 67 million

domestic workers around the world, and 83% of them

were women. While in Indonesia, According to the

National Labour Force Survey there were 2,555,000

domestic workers in 2013 then increasing to

4,034,290 in 2015 and from this total 74% are women

(ILO, 2017). The ILO data are the result of a study on

the estimation of the total number of domestic

workers based on the National Labour Force Survey,

which is available in the report with a title Toward a

Better Estimation of Total Population of Domestic

Workers in Indonesia. Based on an ILO survey that

was conducted in Jakarta in 2016, there are 4.5

million local domestic workers who are working in

the country. The number will increase and is in line

with the level of economic growth in Indonesia.

These increasing numbers show that domestic

workers are an essential part of the social and

economic order.

The increase in the number of domestic workers

shows that the tendency of the localworker's presence

is needed and becomes an employment field that is

able to absorb a lot of workers, especially women

(Venny, 2005, p. 4). This work has the prospect of

becoming a regular job. Unfortunately, however, the

increase in the number does not mean they have

robust bargaining power. They are still far from

prosperous and far from having decent working

conditions (ILO-IPEC, 2004, pp. 109-110).

Socially, the domestic workers have lower

positions towards their relations with their employers

(Muryanti, 2005, p. 9). It can be seen in the condition

of the people who are more familiar with calling

128

Haryono, T. and Kinasih, S.

SIWI Community’s Access to Information in Protecting Child Domestic Workers.

DOI: 10.5220/0008817801280131

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs (ICoCSPA 2018), pages 128-131

ISBN: 978-989-758-393-3

domestic workers helpers rather than calling them

domestic workers. This situation indicates that the

community still does not genuinely acknowledge the

vital role of domestic workers and is always looking

down on them (Utami, 2005, pp. 46-47).

When viewed from the significant increase in the

number of domestic workers and most of them are

experiencing unfavourable work situations, they are

able to reverse the situation. Thus, consolidating the

power of domestic workers through unions is one

possible answer. The organisation experience has

been best exemplified by the workers. Through the

unions, the workers could build awareness regarding

decent work and gather the power to fight for it. The

establishment of the International Domestic Workers

Federation (IDWF), an affiliate of domestic workers'

organisations in 54 countries, is evidence that

domestic workers still need support in organising a

movement.

The right to associate for domestic workers and

child domestic workers can be found in Article 1,

Paragraph 3 of Act no. 21 the year 2000 about trade

unions. The assistance conducted by the National

Network Advocacy for Domestic Workers with ILO

Jakarta found that there are 13 domestic worker

organisations spread in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok,

Tangerang, Bekasi, Lampung, Makasar, Yogyakarta

and Semarang, and five of them have become unions.

Limited access of domestic workers to the

information makes it difficult for them to obtain the

knowledge regarding how to develop organisations or

join organisations that can fight for their rights as

women, domestic workers and citizens. In Surabaya,

there is no organisation for domestic workers, there is

only a community called SIWI that is a platform for

CDW activities.

SIWI Community is a community that consists of girl

domestic workers. This community provides skills

and crafts training in order to break the chain and help

girls not to continue to work as domestic workers. It

is because if the parents become a domestic worker

then their children will follow the same path. Besides

that, the SIWI Community has also informed their

members regarding gender injustice that is faced by

women and children.

2 TRAINING ABOUT GENDER

INEQUALITY IN AN EFFORT

TO PROTECT CHILD

DOMESTIC WORKERS IN

SIWI COMMUNITY

Community participation which has developed to

avoid the act of exclusion from any group is perceived

as an indicator of social involvement in the

community development program (Shortall, 2008, p.

452). Community development is characterised by

avoiding the labelling attitude towards several groups

or society who are socially different to the dominant

culture, and it is essential to attract participation from

all stakeholders. According to Cornwall (2008, p.

296), the concept of the involvement is to be

beneficial by inviting all parties to take part in the

activity.

SIWI is a community which consists of girls who

work as domestic workers and some adult associates

from Samitra Abhaya KPPD, Center for Human

Rights Studies of Universitas, also from the arts and

cultural community who have a concern for the

conditions of children who work in the worst job

sectors. The SIWI community was officially

established on October 10, 2013, and served as a

place for girls to learn, to organise and practice their

life skills for their survival, although their formal

education is insufficient. The embryo of SIWI

formation began with gathering several Child

Domestic Workers in the area of Gunung Anyar

Tambak Surabaya.

These small groups often gather to make

handicrafts. Furthermore, the idea to create a

community for young women especially those who

work as Child Domestic Workers began to appear.

The members consist of part-time Child Domestic

Workers who come from Gunung Anyar Tambak

Surabaya. The SIWI community hopes that they can

reach out to the other friends who work in the same

field, especially ones who work full-time and live in

their employers' houses. Such children are more

vulnerable to exploitation and more socially

excluded, and treated like an employer's property.

Whatever they want to do, they must receive approval

from their employer.

The difference between part-time and full-time

child domestic workers lies in their working hours.

The part-time ones work after school or before going

to school. Their jobs include babysitting, house

cleaning, washing clothes, dropping off and pick up

their employer’s children to school. Their parents

usually work as housing security guards, domestic

SIWI Community’s Access to Information in Protecting Child Domestic Workers

129

workers, gardeners, factory workers, builders and

laundry workers. In contrast, the full-time workers

work and stay in their employer’s house. There is a

high probability that they will works 24 hours a day,

without any day-off except when there is an Eid

holiday. Most of them come from outside Surabaya

from places such as Malang, Madura, Jombang,

Nganjuk, Blitar and Kediri. The work that they do

includes cleaning the house and babysitting. Some of

them are working from morning until afternoon in

their employer’s home, then, in the evening, they are

asked to take care of the store such as the food stalls.

They receive this job information from their family or

relatives, such as mother, sister, aunt, a brother-in-law

who already becomes domestic workers in Surabaya.

The children who are part-time domestic workers

should be able to go back home if they are sick. On

the contrary, the full-time child domestic workers, if

they have mild sickness, only receive medicine; they

are only allowed to go home when they have a severe

illness. They find it hard to obtain health services in

their working place since most of them come from

outside Surabaya and they also do not have identity

cards.

There are similarities between child domestic

workers and their parents who also work as domestic

workers. The reason why children are willing to work

is mostly to help their parents and improve their

economic conditions, although some of the children

also work to fulfil their lifestyle needs. There is an

assumption that working in the city is a cool thing for

people who come from the village or suburban area.

Some of them prefer to work as Child Domestic

Workers as this seems a better choice than being

married at a young age. Parents assume that their

child is an asset, so when the family economic

conditions are difficult, they are not reluctant to send

their daughters to marry at a young age. It is because

if their child is married, then all their responsibilities

as a parent are finished. However, if the children do

not want to get married, then they are required to help

the family economy by working, even though this

requires them to work outside their region as a child

domestic worker including facing all the risks.

The impact of the lack of interaction among child

domestic workers means that many of them are

unaware of the difficulties of their fellow child

domestic workers and do not know that they have

rights to join the union. Employers seem to disagree

and prevent child domestic workers from meeting

with the other child domestic workers, because they

will gossip and vilify their employers, compare their

working environments to other domestic workers and

find new jobs. In the housing complex in Gunung

Anyar Tambak Surabaya, meetings between domestic

workers are very rare. Generally, child domestic

workers only go shopping with their friends to fulfil

their needs as well as their employers’ need, not to

organise a movement to fight for their rights as child

domestic workers. Those employers’ restrictions are

because they are afraid that the child domestic

workers would ask unfulfilled demands and expose

their weaknesses.

On the other hand, child domestic workers make a

lot of friends and have a place to share their work

problems. It is possible that, since the children are

freer to say all kinds of issues to their peers, this

interaction will reduce their burden. Moreover, it is

possible to find the best way out of their problem.

SIWI is an institution that has an intervention

program and opens vast opportunities for child

domestic workers to report and tell their problems.

SIWI Community has several approaches or

strategies; those are: (1) outreach and organising child

domestic workers; (2) increasing the knowledge and

skills of domestic workers through training and

providing education sessions; (3) promoting decent

work for child domestic workers through social

media, religious leaders and government; (4)

conducting monitoring of the domestic workers’

community by involving the head of the housing

complex, and Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga

(Fostering Family Welfare) within the monitoring

area; (5) building networks with unions and hotline

services.

The SIWI Community is a model for monitoring

or control in the case of child domestic workers in

their environment, including dealing with their

relationship with their employers. Besides that, the

intention is to provide empowerment or educate the

employers in how to provide a decent work

environment including the treatment of child

domestic workers. The establishment of the SIWI

community is just one of several approaches and

strategies to promote a proper work environment, and

to eliminate or reduce child domestic workers as a

profession.

3 CONCLUSIONS

SIWI Community is a model that has been built and

developed by Samitra Abhaya KPPD. The intention

is to monitor or control the existence of domestic

workers in their environment including dealing with

their relationship with their employers. It is also

intended to provide empowerment and educate

employers regarding a decent work environment

ICoCSPA 2018 - International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs

130

approach including the treatment of child domestic

workers. The establishment of the SIWI community

model has its own activity programs to conduct

promotion and eliminate or reduce the number of

child domestic workers. Therefore, it is expected that

the rights and responsibility of domestic workers and

the employers will be more transparent, measurable

and monitored which will result in harmonious and

better relationships between child domestic workers

and the employers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research was supported by the Ministry of

Research, Technology and Higher Education

Indonesia

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