Although Indonesian women are well known as economically independent and active within the workforce, their role as workers has rarely been prominent in the eyes of either women's organisations or the state. Yet evidence of the exploitation of women workers abounds throughout the twentieth century. In this chapter, therefore, the interest lies in explaining why women have had such difficulty in drawing their work problems to the attention of the state, and why the state has largely ignored the issue. In public discourse, the sheer concept of economic exploitation of women has been confronted at few times in Indonesian history, and only in relation to a few groups of women. Why have those workers been in the spotlight and not others, and who has proposed taking what actions to improve their situation? Which elements within the state and the women's movement have dealt with these issues and why?

The background to labour issues in Indonesia is, of course, the wider context of the economy and the state's concern for economic growth. In most of Indonesia (and more particularly Java), throughout the last century too many poorly educated workers have sought too few unskilled jobs. Such an environment favours the employer side in industrial relations and tends to silence all but the better-educated workers who are less afraid of dismissal and replacement if they ‘cause trouble’. Lagging behind men in education levels, women have a worse negotiating position, even without taking into account cultural pressures on them to be docile.