Purwokerto – The Banyumas People’s Struggle Front (FPR) held a protest action in the Central Java city of Purwokerto to commemorate International Women’s Day which falls today, Friday March 8. Around 50 people took part in action which was held in front of the Purwokerto square.
The FPR said that violence and discrimination against women still occurs and the reality of his can still be found in numerous cases of violence and discrimination which befallen women.
As an example is the case which befell a Surabaya National Student Front (FMN) member who was sexually harassed by police. In addition to this there was also the case which befell a teacher name Baiq Nuril from West Nusa Tenggara and Agni, a female student at the Gajah Mada University (UGM) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.
Never mind the heavy struggle facing women who come from the working class, farm labourers and other oppressed people who are hemmed in by worsening poverty.
“We can see this just from the aspect of wages in the industrial sector, male workers receive an average wage of 2,900,000 rupiah [a month]. Women meanwhile only receive 2,200,000 meaning there is a 32 percent wage gap”, action coordinator Andes Henry told Tribune on Friday.
“For farm labourers in large scale agriculture the wage for male farm workers is 1,930,000 rupiah. Meanwhile women farm labourers only get 1,140,000 rupiah”, he added.
The group also highlighted job opportunities citing work force participation levels (TPAK) for men which stands at 83.05 percent. This is far higher compared with women at only 50.89 percent.
Based on this, the FPR is making 10 demands: End all forms of discrimination against women, allow freedom of expression and association for women and the ordinary people, raise wages and end wage discrimination based on gender, improve working conditions in all sectors, provide special facilities for women in all public spaces, end human trafficking in any and all forms and provide genuine protection to migrant workers, provide decent employment opportunities without discrimination against women, give women and the ordinary people access to quality and free education without discrimination, reduce taxes and the price of basic commodities and realise genuine agrarian reform and build a national industrialisation that is independent and sovereign.
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Hari Perempuan Internasional 2019, FPR Banyumas Gelar Aksi Tuntut Hentikan Diskriminasi”.]
