ria's corner

Kathleen Staundt, Public Safety, Peace and Violence against Women, pp159-174.

Abstract
The article discussed on violence against women in the peacetime and war, by analyze the separation between public and private, and include violence. Violence against women is compounded by legal pluralism, double standard and male-only human right enforcement. Staundt emphasized, no matter with gender specific or gender neutral law, law must be gender-strategic, addressing the institutionalization of female subordination and media portrayals of gender relations. Promoting women’s right meaning that women’s practical and strategic interest should be expanded in the public agenda with including their safety whether in the peacetime or war and rehabilitation.

from my assignment for Gender politics, civil society and human rights

Abstract
Susan Moller Okin in this article discusses the dichotomy of public and private (hereinafter she refers the dichotomy as public and domestic) through gender lens. As well as many feminist, she also criticize the separation of the public and the private, not only in many political theories in the past but also in most of contemporary political theorist, that ignoring the family (family is non political) also the false gender neutrality (using gender neutral term without real awareness of gender). Overlooking political thought of family and the use of gender ‘neutral’ language have been influence in strengthening the dichotomy of the public and the private and neglecting the issue of gender. She argued that public and domestic sphere can not be separately interpreted, and gender plays crucial significance for the political theory and also in understanding those two spheres, also the need of revision in liberal theory related with the public and the domestic, which is still remain as the basis of political theory today. On this article, she also discussed the value of privacy and questioning it regarding the legal equality of women and child rights. She concludes with the importance of women having equal opportunities as well as men in the public sphere or for benefiting from the advantages that privacy has to offer.

"I was a better man with you as a woman than I ever was with a woman as a man. I just have to learn to do it without a dress."

-Michael "Tootsie"-

Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia and also metropolitan city. Amid the frenetic capital, we can see the contrast between the have and the have not. It is ironic, you can found luxurious house and almost 65% circulation of money in Indonesia taken place in this city, but in the other hand you can found poverty.
The poor in Jakarta are the people that can not compete with another people because they did not have enough education and skill. Most of them are immigrant from the rural area and mostly from Java (because of the ease of transportation) but also from another region in Indonesia (i.e. Sumatera and Sulawesi). It means that the poor are heterogeneous. They live in slum areas. Mostly the slum area located near with the river or the rail road or under the bridge or near with rail way station or bus station or traditional market. Their live are haunted by flooding (since Jakarta is vulnerable with flood) and eviction from the government officer because they live illegally. The poorest live in the street.

Based on the National Statistic Bureau’s data, the numbers of the poor in Jakarta are decrease. In 2008, there are 379.600 people and in 2009 there are 323.170 people or 3.62% (BPS, 2009). But I am sure that in the reality the number might be bigger than that data, and the number of the poor are increase, because every year a lot people come to Jakarta to find a job and some of them did not have enough education and skill so they can not find job and increase the number of the poor in Jakarta.
The condition in the slum area are getting worse, because of too much people come, and make the slum are more crowded. It worsened by the environmental degradation, like in case of rubbish, flood, etc. The poverty gave impact to women and men differently, and also to the children. Most of them both women and men are working in the informal sector. Mostly the men jobs are scavengers (by using small ship), sailor, worker in the fish exporter company, street musician, beggars. And for the women, their jobs are scavengers, beggars and domestic worker. Even for the pregnant women, they should still work. Different with men, besides generating income, women should do the reproductive work. Most of them have a lot of children, because of the expensive price of the contraception so they can not access it. The women also face difficulties when she having a birth, because the expensive cost of the hospital. The government giving subsidiary for health access but it’s only for the Jakarta citizen. Unfortunately most of them did not have Jakarta ID Card.

Poverty also give impact differently to the children, they live in the unsafe condition. They were growing faster than their age, i.e. because of the small size of the house so children know the sexual activity of their parents. Children have less immunity than adult, so living in the slum area giving different impact to the adult and children. Poverty also gives different impact between girls and boys. Because of the economic condition, the children can not attend school. The girls take care of their little sister or brother and doing reproductive job while the boy working in the informal sector as a scavenger, street musician, etc. And also in case of drugs and alcohol, most of the children who use it are boys. For the street children, they are vulnerable with sexual harassment. There are some cases of sodomy and rape which appear in the newspaper, but I think the number of that case is big, just like iceberg phenomenon.

Abstract
The article is based on a research which conducted in two export zones in Philippine, to examine the linkage between work, gender, health and technology in the export zone as the consequence of the globalized economy. The study showed that the growing of export oriented industries which are followed by the use of new information technology as the intensification strategy in order to maximize the productivity, not only changed the work place, but also shaped gender division of labor and create new hazard and illness. Women as the majority of the worker threaten by new hazard and illness. Illness is no longer understood from the medical lens, but also through social lens, in where the social and material conditions also lead illness or social production of illness.

The globalization process not only alerted by the moving of people and information technology, but also capital. As a response to globalization, many countries develop their economic zones in order to boost their economic growth and strengthened the national economy. Along with the emerging of economic zone, in order to intensify the production, information technology is being used.

The emerging of economic zone also leads the feminization of labor phenomenon, in where there is high demand of women worker, especially in the garment and electronic company. The feminization of worker can not be separated from stereotype and also capitalist economy. Women are preferred rather than men because of the perception on women worker as low skilled and cheap labor and also their characteristic such as patient, docile, attuned to do boring, monotonous and repetitious task also women’s nimble fingers. This kind of perception leads the assumption that women are fit to the global definition of productivity (Lu,2007). Not surprisingly, beside identical with information technology and global capital, economic zone also identical with women workers.

As well as another developing country, economic zone became one of the economic strategies of the Philippine government. One form of the economic zone is Economic Processing Zones (EPZs). The formed of EPZs opened job opportunity to the Filipinos, and it employs more than half a million Filipinos with the majorities of the worker are women. The high number of women worker in EPZs, also can be found in Bangladesh, thousand of women working in the factories producing garment for export (Car, 1998). The emerging of EPZs seems giving opportunity to the women, but in her study, Edralin (2001) found that the company hired women, because they need people who are capable of repetitive and meticulous work and want to bring wages even lower. It means that the high demand of women worker is because of the perception and stereotype of women.
As well as the economic zone, the existence of EPZs can not be separated by the used of information technology in terms of maximizing productivity and profit. As the consequence, information technology has changed the working environment, such as fast pace of work, possibility to do multitask job etc. Beside these positive sides of new technology, it also brings negative side. The used of new technology caused some kind of health problem, and women as the majority of worker are being threatened because of it. It worsened by the race to the bottom, which keeps low wages and less social benefit, so the women as the majority of labor in the disadvantage position.
Through her research in Laguna and Cavite zones (two of the big EPZ in Philippine), Jinky Leilanie Lu showed how globalized economy through the garment and electronic industries in Philippine economic zone and also the use of information technology has affected women workers’ health. Beside wrote well organized article, she also give significant evidence through her research finding related with health condition of the women worker in two EPZs in Philippine. It was very important, to give explanation on women worker health condition and how the used of new technology and also globalized economy affected women’s worker health. Moreover, there are very few studies on women workers’ health (Attanapola, 2005), and it means that this article would enrich the information on women workers’ health with local specific.

Based on the research findings, the most of accidents which are reported by women workers are eye infection due to dust and wound due to sharp objects, while the most reported illness are headache, body ache also cough and cold. The research also found that the use of information technology create the new hazard and illness. The bad working place is exacerbated by the bad impact of information technology use which is change the condition of work.

The women worker also face bad working environment such as the implementation of apprenticeship system in the garment industry, over time work, less social benefit, bad condition of the workplace and too much work demand. The use of technology has created new forms of hazards and new types of organizational management. It also leads to intensify work, contributed on producing physical and psychological ill health (Lu, 2007). The article showed how bad working environment triggered stress and manifested on illness. There are also new health issue, such as chronic sleep debt, ‘mystery disease (could not be differentiated), and persistent fatigue. It means that the use of new technology not only caused physical illness but also producing mental illness, meaning health and illness can not defined by purely physical term but also consider on psychological effect on health and well being (Doyal & Pennell, 1979).

These research findings support the idea of social production of illness in the relation of work, technology and health. It means that illness is no more the product of biological/ physical agent and process but also because of social and psychosocial forces that influence the pattern and expression of illness (Burry: 2005). The relation between social-psychosocial factors (pressure of work, overload time and work, less social benefit, etc) and illness; is also explained by Scambler with effort-reward imbalance model. He argued that jobs which combine a high degree of effort but low level of gain in the form of financial or emotional rewards, employment security or career advancement lead to emotional distress, job strain and illness (Scambler, 2008).

In the end of the article, Lu argued the importance of accountable agencies in order to regulate the processes and procedures related with occupational health, the need of informal and formal capital for the women workers, also social responsibility and response from company and state. Furthermore the author suggest that the findings on the research can help on formulating policy in order to strengthen formal capital in terms of laws and regulation to protect workers (especially women).

Based that research, it is implicitly seen that the women worker face double situation. First in terms of globalization, in where women as the cheap labor and hired because of the perception of women worker, and the second one in term of the used of information technology. The use of information technology to maximize productivity and profit, not only affected the division of labour but also occupational health. These kinds of condition related each other and positioned women in the vulnerable position.

On my opinion, information technology is neutral. In term of health, the use of information technology can gives bad effect to everybody, whether women or men. But, in the reality because of the gender inequality, information technology gives impact to women and men differently. For example the gender division of labour as the result of gender inequality, that divide feminine and masculine job and it was strengthened by the stereotype and perception of women as I already mentioned earlier. This situation has placed women and men in the different position and situation, and further the different position and situation give different consequence. Because of the perception and gender division of labour, mostly women positioned in the repetitive, monotonous and low skilled job and these kind of job affected women worker’s health. Furthermore the situation is exacerbated by the women sub-ordinate position in where women have less power and the institutionalized of women roles.
The article only focuses on women, although it also a little bit compared the situation between female and male supervisor. In my opinion it would be better if the author also explain the different kind of female and male worker’s job and also the occupational illness that face by female and male workers. It would give better understanding in terms of how information technology affected women and men’s health differently.

The used of information technology, the working environment and the situation in the EPZs can not be separated with neo liberal system in the light of capitalism. As mentioned by Eliang that the effect of occupational health hazard in the third world are likely to be serious rather than the advanced capitalist countries (Doyal & Pennell, 1979). The third world as a source of cheap labour and resources should compete each other. As the impact the company giving less social benefit to the workers and seems did not care with the occupational health, because they only focus on how to maximize the productivity. Lu (2007) also mentioned that health is associated with the politics of representation of women in the new international division of labour. Meaning that health also determined by content and context of development. In the Philippine case, in order to maintain the low wages of labor and maximize productivity, the company hired women worker, and they face health risk because of the working condition.

In order to understand the effect of technology to the occupational hazard, we should consider the social differentiation in the society. And it is not about women and men, but also among women, among men, between developing and developed country. Technology gave impact to each group differently; as White (2009) argued that the experience of sickness and disease is an outcome of the organizational of the society. It means that social differentiation leads different risk of illness, even difference access to health and health care (Doyal, 2002).

To conclude, the used of information technology and in terms of globalized economy give positive and negative side. The positive side is giving opportunity to the women to gain economic independence and also help to maximize productivity and doing multiple tasks. But, in other hand it also has negative impact in terms of occupational health, which gave different impact to women and men worker due to the division of labour. Furthermore, the use of technology and the working environment creates social production of illness. Women as the majority of the worker in EPZs zone which positioned in the low level work are vulnerable in terms of occupational work. To cope with this problem, the policy to protect worker is needed and also the effort to enhance working condition.


“As we look to the future, we must always remember that human beings are not servant of economies. Rather, economic development and production must serve women and men. Occupational safety and health is a crucial means towards that end.” (Kofi A. Annan)




References
Books
Bury, Michael (2005). Health and Illness. Cambridge, Polity Press.
Doyal, Lesley and Imogen Pennel (1979). The Political Economy of Health. London, Pluto Classic.
Lorber, Judith and Lisa Jean Moore. Gender and the Social Construction of Illness. Oxford, AltaMira Press.
Lu, Jinky Leilanie (2005). Gender, Information Technology and Health. Quezon City, The University of Philippines Press.
Scambler, Graham (2008). Sociology as Applied to Medicine. Saunders Elsevier.
White, Kevin (2009). Sociology of Health and Illness. London, Sage.

Journal
Attanapola, Chamila T (2004). ‘Changing Gender Roles and Health Impact among Female Worker in Export Processing Industries in Sri Langka’. Social Science & Medicine, 58, 2301-2312.
_______ (2005). ‘Experiences of Globalization and Health in the Narratives of Women Industrial Workers in Sri Lanka’. Gender, Technology and Development, 9 (1), 81-102.
Doyal, Lesley (2002). ‘Putting Gender into Health and Globalization Debates: New Perspectives and Old Challenges’. Third World Quarterly, Vol 23, No. 2, 233-250.
Lu, Jinky Leilanie (2007). ‘Gender, Information Technology and Health: the Case of Women Workers in Export Zones in the Philippines’. Journal of International Women’s Studies, Vol 8#4, 93-106.
Thorborg, Marina (1991). ‘Environmental and Occupational Hazard in Export Processing Zones in East and South Asia: with Special Reference to Taiwan, China and Srilangka’. Toxicology and Industrial Health, Vol 7, No 5/6, 549-561.
Electronic Information - Internet
Edralin, Divina M (2001). Assessing the Situation of Women Working in CALABARZON. Retrieved from the PASCN Secretariat, November 12, 2010, from http://pascn.pids.gov.ph/DiscList/d01/s01-14.pdf.
Sarkar, Sumita (2007). Globalization and Women at Work: A Feminist Discourse. Retrieved November 12, 2010, from http://www.feministagenda.org.au/IFS%20Papers/Sumita2.pdf.
World Health Organization (2009). Gender, Health and Work: Today’s Evidence Tomorrow’s Agenda. Retrieved November 11, 2010, from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563857_eng.pdf.

source: thefiendish.com


What is patriarchy?
There are a lot of concepts to explain patriarchy, in the different ways. Nevertheless, patriarchy has 2 similar core elements, first, gender inequality and second is a degree of systematicity. The first core can be expressed as the domination of men over women. The domination here is based on the social dimension, not using biological categories. If patriarchy using biological categories, the way to overcome patriarchy is by eliminating one category it means the destruction of human species.



Patriarchy derived from patriarch, meaning: elder men. There are some definitions of patriarchy:
principle of the dominion of senior males over juniors, male as well as female, in the family, tribe or nations, allied with the reckoning of descent in the male line. (dictionary)

a set of social power relation that enable men to dominate women (sokoloff).

a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women (walby).

To sum up, patriarchy can be defined as a system of social structures and practices in which enable men dominate, oppress and exploit women as well as the domination of the older to the younger.

Walby defined 6 structures of system of patriarchy: patriarchal relations in household work, patriarchal relations in paid work, a patriarchal state, male violance, patriarchal relations in sexuality and patriarchal relations in cultural institutions.

There have been two major form of patriarchy (Walby): public and private. Private patriacrhy is based upon household production, in where a patriarch controlling women individually and directly in the relatively private sphere of the home. While public patriarchy is based on structures rather than the household.

women vs women
Patriarchy is embedded on the society and institutionalized. Ironically, sometimes women take a part on that system and oppress another women. This situation clearly defined on the relationship between mother in law and daughter in law.

capitalism and patriarchy
Capitalism has close connection with patriarchy. There have been various ways of analyzing that relationship, depending on the degree and form of their engagement (walby). First, they become not merely symbiotic but fused into one system (Eisenstein,1979). Patriarchy provide a system of control and law and order. While capitalism provides a system of economy, in the pursuit of profit. Second, patriarchy and capitalism can be regarded as analytically distinct (Hartman, 1979). Hartmann sees patriarchal relations as the oppression of women's labor by men in the two key sites, household and paid work. Patriarchy and capitalism are mutually reinforcing system. Third, mid way position on the separation and integration of patriarchy and capitalism. Mies sees capitalism as another form of patriarchy. Patriarchy is maintained by series of structures and practices, including family, systematic violence and the expropriation of women's labor. Capitalist-patriarchy is the current system which maintains women's oppression.


the end of patriarchy?

Mann (1986) has argued that patriarchy no longer exist, although there is still gender inequality. This assumption comes because he defines a patriarchal society as one which power is held by male head of households, there is a clear separation between private and public in the spheres of life. Walby countered that argument, that key element of patriarchy is systematically structured gender inequality.

I totally agree with Walby, the important key of patriarchy are the structures and practices in where women are oppressed. Until today, we still see that condition.

References
Walby, Patriarchy and Economic Development: Women's Position at the end of the Twentieth Century, 1996, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Patricia Uberoi, Problems with Patriarchy: Conceptual Issues in Anthropology and Feminism in S.Rege (ed), Sociology of Gender, the Challenge of Feminist Sociological Knowledge, 2003, Sage Pub

from my course task...

L’Indonésie est un pays tres varié.
Vouz aimez la montagne? Allez randonner dans Kelimutu en l’île de Flores. Au sommet de la montagne, il y a tríos lacs avec trois couleurs diferentes.

Vouz préférez la mer? Detendez vous sur la plage de Senggigi en l’île de Lombok.

Curieux d’histoire? Visitez le temple de Borobudur. Le temple est un gigantesque temple boudhiste et construit au 9éme siécle.

Envie d’un spectactle? Juillet est la saison des festivals. Par examples le Festival de Togian á Sulawesi Tengah, le festival de cerf-volant á Pangandaran et vous puvez aussi regarder le Ballet de Ramayana au temple de Prambanan.

Et n’oubliez pas en Indonésie, il y a 17.508 îles, 33 provinces. Chaques province, chaque île, chaque commune ont une histoire, des langues, des traditions, des paisages.

Il y en a pour tous les goûts!