Networking with Women Community Organizers and Activists

Rare finds

It is quite rare to find women activists working on women workers' issues in the oil palm plantations of Indonesia. They are generally part of the administration but very few are involved in organizing workers. Generally, NGOs organizing labour are very focused on broad issues like wages, land grabbing and unfair treatment by capitalists and agribusinesses. The focus on women is minimal as a target group for organizing and considered for supplementary activities to support the men who are being organized. 

They may have be aware of gender inequality but this does not extend to efforts to implement gender mainstreaming in the programmes and campaigns. There is still an obvious gap and women are not benefiting from programmes. A higher level of commitment and focus is required to ensure women benefit from labour organizing.

Solidarity

As a feminist researcher working on social justice issues affecting women in the oil palm industry, I want to establish a network linking women with similar interests, both activists and researchers. Thus fa, I have managed to connect with two dynamic women who are enthused about their work. I started communicating with Intan Cinditiara of Sawith Watch in 2011 when I was preparing my proposal for my current fellowship. It was a pleasure to discover that she had similar interests. We have been in touch though via formal communications. However, yesterday I discovered her brilliant blog about her experiences working with women workers in oil palm plantations. Her description of their lives and analysis revealed the inequality present in the lives of these women. Her most current writing can be found at her Jarijemari Blog. 

At present, I am based at Perhimpunan Lentera Rakyat (Lentera) in Rantau Prapat, North Sumatera. This is a grass roots based organization working on plantation workers' issues. They work extends beyond the borders of North Sumatera. Though she is new to the organization, she is passionate about the issues affecting women. One of the things which struck me about her ability to analyze the exploitation which the women experienced on a daily basis. She spoke about the lack of latrines for women working in plantations. Most of them would have to relieve themselves in secluded areas which offers very little privacy. She also mentioned that women were of exposed to sexual harassment by management staff of plantations. Affected women would not report the violence for fear of their spouses losing their jobs. The reality is unemployment is extremely high in Indonesia, it is a matter of survival for the working classes to hold on to their jobs.