GENDER TRAINING AMONG FEMALE

INDONESIAN WORKERS IN WEST MALAYSIA

PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA SELANGOR (PSWS)

29TH JANUARY 2023, 10.00 AM-1.00 PM, Adamson Hotel Kuala Lumpur

INTRODUCTION

This gender training is attended by 14 female Indonesian workers.

The session begins with an introduction comprised of a brief
background such as name, job or role, current address, and favorite
person. All the female Indonesian participants stand in a round and
each of them was given a sticker which is placed behind their back.
3 groups were formed based on the number of stickers placed
behind their back. Each of them must find their group member and
stay in the group until the end of the training session. They were
skeptical, slightly reluctant, and lost in finding their group member
as the rules of the game are no talking as well as no touching,
rather keep on searching for ones who have similar stickers.

The reason for this game was to reflect on the participant's

experience when they first arrived in Malaysia where they have little
or no information about their next steps in Malaysia. Some of the
participants commented on their experience the first time landed in
a foreign land, they fear getting into human trafficking or abuse by
their employer.

Therefore, the lesson they gained from this game is that life is much
easier when ones are staying in a group. Also, you’ll get accurate
and quick information about anything when you have a group.

ACTIVITIES

SESSION 1
The next session continues with a group discussion about being a
woman means a multi-talent. However, according to a guest
speaker saying that among Indonesian the meaning of being a
woman and girl (Wanita or Perempuan) has different perspectives
to which “Wanita” refers to being weak, and “perempuan” refers to
strong.

Table 1 until table 3 shows the group presentation on how they

elaborate on their multi-talent as women. Each of the group
members contributed to the multi-talent discussion based on their
perspectives and experience which was presented in a white paper
(mahjong paper).

Table 1: Group 1

No Talents

1 Women are beautiful and strong in any situation. Although family

pressure occurs, women stay true to her faith and will keep on working
any job to provide for the family.

2 Women are independent as they are the backbones of the family back
in their home country. Because 2 million rupiahs is not sufficient for
the households, this made them come looking for a better job
opportunity in Malaysia.

3 Taking care of health by practicing a healthy eating style. They must

avoid falling ill as they must work to continue providing for their family.

4 Women are brave for being risk-takers. This is proven by traveling

alone to a foreign country.

5 Women are patient. This is related to financial management. They

need to keep a balance of their wages for themselves as well after
putting their family first.

6 Always smile no matter what happens. Even if the pressure come from
family or work.

7 Women are smart because they built networking with people around
them and gain new knowledge as well as experience.

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 Table 2: Group 2

No Talents

1 Women know how to hide their problems to not make their family
worry about them.

2 Sharing with the family on monthly salary and how much will be
provided.

3 Women are about personality. Internally strong, while soft externally.

Women are able as well to get a man's job done such as carrying a
heavy stuff.

4 Looking for a job opportunity is easy.

5 Being a woman means 2 in 1. Women's roles that able to take over a

man's job.

6 Although, with the current technology being able to communicate with

family through a video call, unfortunately without physical touch or
face to face still brings them sorrowful feelings.

Table 3: Group 3

No Talents

1 Based on the group members who get a kind employer.

2 Gained trust from the employer.

3 Related to knowledge and experience.

4 However, working in a remote-control factory has its pros and cons

other than getting some benefits. Working in a factory means you’ll
be under pressure because you must comply with the company's
target sales.

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5 Next is, unable to get a day off on weekend. Day off is on weekdays.
Benefits working with this company is that the work permit is
guaranteed by the employer.

6 For the cleaner job scope: Under pressure because working hour is
not flexible and must fulfil the working hours, e.g: 2-hour job must be
completed within the time given.

7 Working based on contract. Example, 2 years contract. Breach of

contract will be given penalty.

SESSION 2
The next session is about four (4) important points which are 1)
employee rights; wages and working hours, 2) self-progress, and
3) well-being. Participants were asked to place green dot stickers
based on these three categories based on their importance and
priority. It shows that the majority of the participants chose well-
being as their important choice.

Table 4: Option Based on Priority

No Employee rights Self-progress Wellbeing

1 9 green dot stickers 5 green dot stickers 14 green dot

stickers

SESSION 3
The third session of the training is about ways how to deal with
stress and emotional distress. Three groups presented their ways
of dealing with stress and their answers were given in Table 5.

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 Table 5: Dealing with emotional distress

Individual Community/Company

• Closer to God, spiritually. • ?

• Entertainment such as Tiktok.
• Sleeping.
• Shopping and window shopping.
• Sightseeing.
• Joining an organization's activities.
• Food hunting
• Reflexology: Spa, Massage, Pedi,
and medicare.

Employer Government

• ? • ?

CONCLUSION

A. The conclusion based on the three presentations in session 1

are as follows:
i. Women have multi-function when it comes to a role. This role
refers to for being a mother, father, or single mother.
Whether you like it or not, there are no options given that,
you however must carry this responsibility taking the roles to
keep the family functioning.
ii. The well-being of the Indonesian workers has to be the
responsibility of the Indonesian government or the
stakeholders who are involved in the labor policy to improve
the existing problems faced by the migrant workers abroad.

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 iii. It must be a mutual benefit between the Indonesian
government and migrant workers. This is because migrant
workers abroad contribute to boosting the country's
(Indonesia) economy with the inflowing money coming into
Indonesia.
iv. Migrant workers are advised to question the Indonesian
government's stance on protecting their well-being in holistic
measures.
v. Next is, what would be the role of SERANTAU regarding this
matter. Voicing out relevant and crucial matters with the
Union must be taken aggressively.
vi. Being a Union means, one must be strong and stand firm.
vii. Must be alert of the working hours allowed by the law.
viii. An employment contract is the most important which contains
benefits and rights for the employee.
ix. In addition, having good networking with the local Union is
highly favorable in achieving the goals.
x. Emotional matters at the workplace need to be addressed
holistically with a better plan this includes stress at work,
discrimination, overload, and bullies by the local workers to
migrant workers.
xi. Lastly, get the right information to avoid oppression.

B. The conclusion for session 3 is that it can be observed in which

the participants focus more on the individual part in dealing with
the emotional distress. However, the roles of the employer,
company, and government were not taken as part of the plan
for dealing with emotional distress. In addition, medical care
and insurance are important for migrant workers to protect their
rainy days. Next, the participant did not mention a physical
activity such as working out or exercise. Therefore, during a
discussion with the guest speaker, they proposed a Zumba class
in the future. Moreover, quality food is associated with better
health. In comparison with Malaysia’s government measure of

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 providing food aid to those who couldn’t afford food should be
adopted by migrant workers’ stakeholders to provide food aid
for their affected communities in Malaysia. Lastly, Serantau
representative Dwi, explaining on measures and plans under
Serantau is providing the migrant workers with leadership
training, skills class, and baking class, and any information is
shared directly through their main WhatsApp group (Serantau).

APPENDIX

Figure 1: Choices based on well-being, self-progress, and employee

rights

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 Figure 2: Presentation

Figure 3: Group Discussion

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 Figure 4: The participant’s kid is engaged in a drawing session

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 Figure 5: Babysitter Is Engaged with Participant’s Children

Guest Speaker: Jana

PSWS Representative:

1. Rebecca Alissa (Program Officer)

2. Rubiah Anak Ajan (Rapporteur)

3. Vashanty (Babysitter)

Serantau Representative: Dwi

This Report is prepared by Rubiah Anak Ajan on 1st February 2023.

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