J00246

1

Uncover the Invisible:

Home-workers in Micro-Small-Medium Industries

Based

on“Putting

-

out”

System

(The Case Study of the Batik and Batik Convection Industry in a Sragen-Surakarta-Sukoharjo Cluster of Indonesia)

Arianti Ina Restiani Hunga,

Satya Wacana Christian University Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia

Abstrak

Micro-small-medium-scale industries (MSMsI) based on the “Putting-out” System (POS) with home-workers (HWs) have long existed in Indonesia, but recently show significant and prominent growth that is complex and different from POS in general. The POS works through decentralisation of production, where the largest part of the production processes are taken out from factory to the HWs and their families. This strategy that MSMsI employ to enhance efficiency and competitiveness, and which –at the same time marginalises the HWs– has not been exposed. This obscured POS phenomenon is the drive of this research. Accordingly, the research includes the following characteristics: the strategies applied include case-studies in gender-perspective; the commodity is batik (not general garment); applying cluster approach; the actors are entrepreneurs and HW; and gender analyses. The analyses focus on the dialectical relationships between capitalism logic and patriarchical values as shown in three-level relational dimensions, which are entrepreneur-HW, among HWs, and HW – family. It covers a literature discourse that describes ‘invisibility’ of POS and HW-based MSMsI and uncovers it. It is argued that the HW integration to the global market has contributed to the fundamental POS transformation processes, which differentiate it from the common POS. The transformation impacts generally push HW to take strategic roles in supporting the existence of the industry, but also push aside and marginalise female HW in particular. The POS transformation happens through deconstruction and reconstruction processes which maintain the exploitative and gender-biased relationships.

Keywords: industry, home-workers, “putting-out” system, capitalism, gender.

Introduction

Since the monetary crises struck Indonesia at the end of 1997, the micro, small, medium-scale industries (MSMsI) have been receiving increased attention and become an interesting topic for research, as they play a role in absorbing work opportunities for the communities. Generally, researches in Indonesia show that they have a tremendous resistance against the impacts of economic crisis, and in particular, some that are export-oriented, immune against those impacts of crisis. The same assertion was made by Cameron, Rustanto, Thamrin, and Sandee (in Sandee, 2000); Sandee (eds., 2001), and Rutten and Sandee (2002). MSMsI are considered a strong economic power in time of crisis, although empirically there is no improvement in their performance and quality of life at a micro level, especially workers in this sector (Manning and Dierman, 2000; Kian Wie, 2004). The endurance of the industry has been well documented, but the actual phenomenon of MSMsI is still systematically difficult to explain. The industrieshave many variations1; there are MSMsI whose activities are based in the company and others outside the companies

or their workers’ houses. The current definition of MSMsI is mostly directed to company-based ones. It means that most of MSMsI whose activities are at their workers’ houses or based on the putting-out

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system (POS) and whose workers are known as home-workers (HW2), are not yet recognised or understood in the researches of the field.

This paper describes the POS phenomenon in Indonesia context, and explains the transformation in POS and its impact on the changing roles of HW, by discussing: 1) The literature that describes the “invisibility” of POS and HW-based MSMsI; 2) the “uncovering of the invisibility” of POS and HW-based MSMsI in Indonesia which can be distinguished from POS in general.

Conclusion

The particular POS phenomena may be explained as follows. POS has been experiencing a transformation process that impacts on structural and systemic changing that support all activities in it, from which it is getting more important strategic for economy. POS reorganization that follows production decentralisation impels changes in the system and structure in it. However, they are still flexible and informal in nature. HWs play more strategic role, though informal, and are stratified. The employer can perform work interaction to each of HWs’ strata in different form of interactions. Global capitalism joined with patriarchal values may continually uses this system by making changes on it through deconstruction and reconstruction processes. This can be done by starting from value basis and material basis attaching to commodities, places, actors, and types of work that tend to reflect gender bias and are dominated by men. Besides, the government policy mediates and legitimatises this transformation process. Meanwhile, the existing economic crisis develops as momentum pushing the POS transformation process. The transformation generally impacts on pushing HWs to take strategic roles in supporting the existence and endurance of the industry. On the other hand, it also pushes aside and marginalise in particular female HWs. POS is no longer dominated by women.

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