Women factory
workers at Batu Caves squatter settlement, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. Women are recruited as cheap labour
in factories producing electronics components or chemical products. The
workplaces are often unhealthy or unsafe, but women are not properly informed
of the dangers. There is no compensation for muscular injuries or loss of sight
caused by the work. While factory work is considered to provide women with new
freedoms (many leave villages to work in the cities), these Tamil women are
still subject to family restrictions. Many have to ask the permission of
fathers, brothers or husbands when they go out. In this Hindu culture, it is
imperative that an unmarried woman remains a virgin: at the same time, women
must deal with deal sexual harassment in the workplace.
Photo: Jennie Clarke.
Part 2
Analysis and Reflection
69
Women and social activism
Checks and
balances: social activism and womens lives
A
woman activist speaks out. SCM Malaysia interviewed K, a social
activist, community organiser, mother, and teacher,
for a 1985 edition of its newsletter. Candid and sharply critical, she told of
her hopes and dreams, her life, her work and her commitment to justice and
peace.
On Malaysian women workers:
"Because
of economic developments, many women are beginning for the first time to earn a
wage and have the power to spend the money as well. But when you're talking
about a working class woman, you find that she does not see such a role for
herself yet, even though she may be economically supporting the family.
"When
women go to work they are paid low wages, must work long hours, are forced to
do overtime, and work almost seven days a week.
"Because
of this new and exploitative situation, the woman worker must be able to
determine her role as a worker. She has to understand the social structure, the
labour laws, trade union laws . . . and I would say
that, for the most part, women are ignorant of their rights as workers. They
must undergo a long process during which they can realise
how to contribute to society. In our experience, women workers have a low
impression of themselves, especially if they have low education, were school
dropouts, or have no confidence in themselves at all.
"But
we have also seen women who have changed after going through adult or informal
education and realising that they have a lot of
resources within themselves. They begin to realise
they are intelligent people after all even though they have never been to
university.
"Women
workers, I feel, are the most oppressed sector in society. If a worker is
oppressed, then a woman worker is doubly oppressed."
On the family:
"Although
the role of women in the family is very important, I don't feel it should be
confined there. I find fulfilment in things I feel
strongly about. That's why I get involved with women workers.
"I
do set myself allotted times for the family, work and outside activities. But
it is difficult to integrate all of these. Of course there are lots of problems,
especially the availability of time you wonder whether you have enough time
for the family or not.
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"Why
didn't I remain unmarried? I think it's a question of checks and balances in
one's life. I don't see myself getting into the ideal situation where
everything works out fine. Anything can happen: sickness in the family,
children's educational problems but if you can make the children understand a
bit of what you're trying to do ...
"I
think it's important that the husband and wife understand each other's work and
support one another. This sort of work is hectic and frustrating, and there can
be lots of tension which is being brought back home."
On being burnt out:
"Burnout
comes from a feeling of loneliness and frustration, but if there is support
coming from friends and a team it helps. Activist work is difficult without
tangible results, and one can easily get frustrated. A single-minded conviction
about your priorities and what you yourself can do is very necessary, because
if we are not clear about our intentions and priorities, then we can be shaken
up along the way. We need to have a bit of faith in ourselves be able to see
where we are going and to assess the situation continually."
On the middle
class:
"They
are conscious of the situation of the
poor and workers, but they still organise at
the middle-class level.
"Nuclear
disarmament, pollution and even human rights are middle- class issues because
these people have time to sit down and discuss them. But workers are continually fighting for their survival; they
have no time for these issues. Workers work around the clock, and are too
disoriented to think about these things which are important, but are
not worker issues.
"If
they [the middle class] wish to do concrete things, they must come down to the
grassroots level which I think is difficult for them, given their situation,
their lifestyle, their priorities. To be involved continually is not within
their scope.
"Those
of the middle class who come down to the grassroots, I think make a very
conscious choice especially those who believe in a long-term struggle of ten
to twenty years."
On spirituality and motivation:
"My
faith is in people (this also comes from my Christian background), and the idea
that one person cannot exploit another. Because people are human beings, there
is a tremendous amount of dignity and respect that should be accorded to them.
Man [sic] must be restored... as a human being particularly the
workers.
"I
think it's more than just ethics and morality. It's much more, for if we are
Christians, exploitation cannot take place. The whole purpose of Christ's
coming was not just to convert people (which is what some churches are trying
to do) but to make us more humanising. I think that's
very spiritual for me. "Because activists have different reasons and
motivations for working, we need to come together to redefine our visions.
Otherwise you have pockets of people working at different tangents."
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On the future
and hopes
"In
the short term, we hope to organise activities
through which workers can rally around, and take on, their issues. We have to
see which are the burning issues, so that workers can take responsibility for
them.
"In
the long term [we hope] to create a broad workers' movement so essential in a
country divided by race, religion and, sometimes, even caste. Workers groups
will have to link up, to create the solidarity which is very important."
SCM
Malaysia asked Ms K how she would sum
up her experiences, and the word she used often was
"meaningful".
"Life
becomes meaningful. It makes us look beyond our daily struggle, to have a
better hope and vision for ourselves, our children and the future."