This national report provides an analysis of the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on safai karmachari communities and how they were subjected to higher risks and significant challenges due to caste discrimination. The report includes several case studies that share the stories of what people from the safai karmachari community had to face in this period.
This report provides a national analysis of the situation of safai karmachari communities, drawing on data collected by SKA from focus group discussions and interviews with 1,476 safai karmachari women in seven states as well as a desk review of available government data. The findings covered educational levels, employment status, economic status, livelihood opportunities, access to government entitlements, and the discrimination and challenges they experience. Finally, the report contrasts their experience to the relevant protections enshrined in the Indian constitution.
Since the New Order regime until now, Indonesia’s economic development is based on foreign investment, foreign debt, and international trade continues to push the extraction and exploitation of natural and human resources. This has caused economic disparities that encourage the poverty feminization throughout Indonesia. This means that more and more women are becoming poor and experiencing gender- based discrimination and violence.
The feminization of poverty due to structural economic inequality often does not get public attention because the circulation of information on this issue is not many. There needs for a lot of public attention and discussion about this poverty feminization phenomenon, not only from women’s organizations and civil society organizations but also through journalists’ reporting. Currently, many women journalists are needed who not only committed to fighting for women’s rights but also have the skills to analyse poverty in Indonesia, conduct investigations, gather facts or report news to the public with a feminist perspective.
Therefore, Aksi! for gender, social and ecological justice together with an Indonesian women’s media, namely konde.co, conducted training of feminist journalism for women journalists. The purpose of this training is for women journalists to strengthen their understanding of the reality of development in Indonesia, existing economic inequality, and the phenomenon of the poverty feminization using feminist analysis. In addition, their skills in feminist journalism, especially in covering issues related to poverty feminization, have increased. These two things, namely strengthening understanding and improving skills, are expected to build strong solidarity among the participants, women journalists and activists, and a commitment to be a voice for women who live in poor and marginalized conditions, with the desire to contribute to the efforts of women who are caught in the poverty feminization to achieve an overall better and more just life.
This proceeding describes the process of training feminist journalism of for 12 women journalists from 9 cities, and 8 women activists from 5 cities in Indonesia. The preparation of the proceedings is based on the flow of the Training Journalism Guidelines that were prepared and used for training and training minutes.
Aksi! for gender, social, and ecological justice (Aksi!) is an organization whose program, Economic Justice, strengthens the voices of women in the community in the struggle against gender and economic injustice. The country’s economic growth model, which relies on the exploitation of natural resources and labor, foreign debt, and foreign direct investment, is the root cause of the impoverishment process. This model continues to encourage the extraction and exploitation of natural and human resources. Consequently, economic inequality fuels the feminization of poverty in Indonesia.
The feminization of poverty due to structural economic inequality has received little public attention due to the limited information circulation on this issue. Much public attention and discussion are needed regarding this feminization of poverty, one of which is taxes, which generate economic and gender inequality in Indonesia. Aksi! believes that solutions to the economic justice crisis need to involve progressive tax reform to reduce income inequality and increase investment in education and skills training. However, this solution requires a holistic approach and cross-sector collaboration to create a more inclusive and equitable economic foundation.
Aksi! together with Solidaritas Perempuan (SP) had conducted a training/workshop on “Tax and Gender Inequality,” attended by 28 women from 16 provinces in Indonesia. This activity contributed to women’s understanding of taxes as a cause of gender and economic inequality.
The book entitled “Voices of Marginalized Women, a collection of Reportage from Women’s and Marginalized Perspectives” was written after the training of journalistic on economic inequality and gender injustice held on 27-29 October 2024 organized by Aksi! for gender, social, and ecological justice and Konde.co.
This book presents reports on economic inequality that drives the poverty feminization, namely that more and more women are becoming poor and at the same time facing gender injustice. So far, coverage of the poverty feminization due to structural economic inequality has not received much public attention because more writers are interested in writing about women’s lifestyles than the problems of poor women, the problem of women’s inequality that is ignored by the state.
This book is a compilation of coverage by journalists and a number of women activists from various regions in Indonesia to provide a critical perspective that the rights, interests and views of poor women must be fought for in the midst of development that impoverishes them.
In 2024, Solidaritas Perempuan recorded the experience of collective resistance and the layered situation of women against structural impoverishment through a Advocacy Annual Report (catahu). Catahu is recorded and documented with the Solidaritas Perempuan community as an effort to voice the situation and various feminist initiatives continuously and consistently to encourage the recognition and fulfillment of women’s rights.
The track record of women’s resistance stories is expected to foster a spirit of solidarity in waging collective resistance. In addition, Catahu 2024 can also contribute as a strategic document to support the advocacy work of Solidaritas Perempuan in realizing women’s human rights and equality in various domains amid layers of oppression due to the global economic power paradigm and the patriarchal political system that impoverishes women.
The National Executive Board of Solidaritas Perempuan expresses its highest appreciation to women at the grassroots level who have consistently remained in the line of resistance. In addition, we also express our gratitude to all administrators, members, and activists of Solidaritas Perempuan who continue to tirelessly maintain solidarity in strengthening and expanding the feminist political movement of the Solidaritas Perempuan.
This briefing was created by the CSO FfD Mechanism for activists and advocates who are interested in getting involved in or learning more about how global economic governance relates to different sectoral and/or local and national struggles in Asia – including feminist movements, food sovereignty and land rights movements, climate justice activists, youth and student movements, human rights advocates, and more.