Group photo of the SouthEast Asia participants at the Women Workers Forum held in Bangkok in July 2022. Photo by Jennifer Janssen

In July, we organised a convening of the Southeast Asia partners of the Women Workers Forum (WWF) programme in Bangkok. The core aim of WWF is to create a supportive space for workers’ political education through peer-learning processes, which would aid in realising their rights at work and strengthen their self-organising. Building their collective strength and voices is a way to challenge the invisibilisation of women’s work in society. It is premised on the belief that women workers can set their own learning agendas and articulate their visions for change, with external agents such as NGOs only supporting the process. We hope that through the process of mutual learning and increasing awareness, women workers will be able to engage with the state, employers, and other stakeholders to make their demands for dignified work and living conditions. The programme’s partners span several countries across Southeast, South and West Asia.

The Bangkok meeting involved participants from seven organisations from Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand, all of whom work with women workers of different sectors. From Indonesia, we had Jala-PRT which is a national network of domestic workers; Yasanti which works with women in the informal sector including porters and home-based workers; and OPSI which works with sex workers and sexual minorities. From Thailand, we had Essan Community Foundation which works with migrant workers and women farmers in the north-east of the country; and HomeNet Thailand, a support network of women in the informal sector.  From Cambodia, we had three organisations, all part of the United Sisterhood Alliance: Women’s Information Centre (WIC) who works to empower garment workers; Women’s Network for Unity which is a network of sex workers, and The Messenger Band, a music group formed by workers to bring change through cultural expression.

After getting to know each other's work better, our sessions were organised around three main themes: organising, documentation, and skill-sharing. In the session on organising, we discussed the motivations for organising, the different methods and how they work in different sectors, as well as the challenges. Some of the common motivations shared were to have informal and domestic workers recognised as workers by state authorities and gain entitlement to social security benefits; campaign to change social attitudes towards women’s labour; and to enhance awareness and confidence among women about their rights. One inspiring example, as shared by Yasanti, was achieving free access to public toilets for women porters in the traditional markets in Yogyakarta; before that, the women had to pay to use the toilets at their workplace.

A participant from Yasanti shares their documentation example. Photo by Jennifer Janssen

Criminalisation of sex work is one of the biggest issues that sex workers face, and so, one of the goals of organising for OPSI in Indonesia and WNU in Cambodia is to challenge this both at the level of state authorities and society. Criminalisation is also the reason that rampant sexual abuse and violence faced by sex workers remains hidden and unaddressed. In its organising work, OPSI raises human rights-based critical thinking in their sex worker members so that they can fight societal stigmas.

The session on documentation was prompted by the recognition that documenting our work, lives, struggles, dreams, and realities is an important part of transformative work. As an example of one documentation tool, GAATW presented and discussed our publication Our Work, Our Lives which shares stories of women workers in their own words. Participants from ECF, Thailand made a moving video of them speaking about their daily life as women who carry the burden of work at home and outside - doing paid work as farmers all day and then unpaid work at home. A participant from OPSI wrote and read out her story as a sex worker in Jakarta. She spoke about what situations in her life led her to become a sex worker, her struggles, and the stigma faced in society. This was then made into an e-story for sharing on social media. Other partners created posters, videos, and banners.

Two members of The Messenger Band, a garment worker girl band from Cambodia, perform and share their story. Photo by Jennifer Janssen

The Messenger Band from Cambodia has been using music for expression, organising, documenting, and advocating. Formed by garment workers, the group writes and sings its songs about the lives and situation of the common people and workers in the country, and about the need to fight against the system. Throughout our meeting, they performed many of their songs, and shared with others the process of writing and composing them.

In one of the sessions, participants could choose to share a simple skill with others. The idea is that everyone possesses something of intrinsic value. This is particularly important for women to realise as women’s skills have always been devalued and invisiblised in society. Yet some of these skills can be shared to enable us to learn from each other, build connections, experience fulfilment and joy. It can also become a way of collective care and connections, at a time when people across the world increasingly go through feelings of isolation. There are also skills that some organisations are strong at and sharing these with others may help a group with less experience or resources.

A participant works on making their Tung, a traditional craft from Thailand. Photo by Jennifer Janssen

During the session, our sisters from Yasanti, Indonesia shared with others their skill of making eco-prints on cloth and also herbal drinks. With a piece of plain cloth, a few leaves and flowers gathered from our surroundings and a hammer, the participants created a beautiful shawl in less than two hours. Our sisters from Essan Community Foundation, Mahasarakham taught us how to make Tung. Tung is a handicraft from Thailand and this particular variety required only thread and sticks. With this simple craft making, many of us spent a few hours creating a vibrant piece of art. In addition, through the act of making patterns with colourful threads, we also got to unwind and relax.

Members from Jala-PRT shared how they use their phones to make campaign posters and videos. Documentation is often an aspect that many workers’ organisations neglect because of the lack of access to technology. Many are intimidated by the idea of video or digital documentation, as it seemingly requires a high level of digital literacy and resources. But Jala-PRT helped us realise that this is not the case, that we only need a smartphone and internet to make videos, posters and much more for our campaigns and work. Within a few hours, the participants became familiar with basic skills for documentation and campaigning, and many were able to make a poster or video of their own by the next day. This was surely a skill that they can build upon and utilise in their work in the future. A brother from OPSI shared his skill of line dance. Line dance strengthens the feeling of unity and togetherness through coordinated dance steps. On upbeat Indonesian music and lyrics, participants learnt new dance movements. Having to match steps with each other gave a sense of solidarity and joy. Line dance is also a method that can be put into practice for public campaigns.

Over the five days, as people from different countries spoke to each other, language could have been a barrier but our diligent translators helped us traverse those. We also learnt to communicate in ways other than spoken language. The gathering gave us a determination to go forward with our basic beliefs – that all women are workers, and all workers are entitled to rights, decent work, and dignified living conditions.