The lived experience of female factory workers in rural West Java

Abstract

This article focuses on the lived experiences of rural factory women in West Java. The women discussed currently work and have lived all their lives in Banjaran, a rapidly industrialising district of rural Java. The article explores the working conditions factory women face, the role of foreign managers and Westernised production methods, and the impacts of these upon the status of factory women in their villages and homes. The argument in the paper is based on the premise that; while exploitation of factory women by foreign factory managers, the Indonesian state and military, and the nature of global capitalism, is plainly evident; working women are not necessarily victims. Research suggests that, for a slim majority of the 323 women studied, factory work did not mean reduced status. Factory women in Banjaran had to fight, however, against the tide of extreme exploitation by management and the complicity and corruption of the Suharto regime. Show more