Activists rallying at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta to mark International Women's Day, in this file photo taken on March 8, 2013. (JG Photo/Safir Makki) |
Jakarta. As
they celebrated International Women’s Day, Indonesian female laborers on Sunday
demanded longer maternity leave and better access to menstrual leave.
The women
staged a rally in the center of Jakarta — quiet on its weekly car-free morning
— urging the government to immediately ratify the International Labor
Organization’s convention on maternity protection, under which female workers
are entitled to 14 weeks of maternity leave instead of 12 weeks as currently
applied in Indonesia.
“A
three-month maternity leave is not enough for female laborers to take care of
their newborns because babies need to be breastfed exclusively [for a longer
period],” Indah Saptorini, the project coordinator of the All Global Union
movement for women, said during the rally on Sunday.
The
protesters, comprised of female laborers from 11 federations of worker unions,
also demanded an end to the controversial practice of company representatives
performing a physical check before menstrual leave is granted.
“The
laborers feel that taking menstrual leave is difficult because there’s a
certain procedure they need to go through, and as a result many opt not to use
their right to menstrual leave,” Indah explained.
The
protesting women said they wanted the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration,
the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection and the Ministry of
Health to issue a joint regulation for better maternity and menstrual leave
procedures.
No comments:
Post a Comment