he House of Representatives (DPR) passed a law on Tuesday to protect the rights of domestic workers after more than two decades of deliberations and multiple delays.
The bill was first introduced in 2004 to protect the country’s 4.2 million domestic workers, almost 90 percent of them women according to data from the Ministry of Manpower.
They were previously not legally classified as workers, meaning they were forced to operate in an informal and unregulated economy, exposed to exploitation and abuse.
Cheers and claps erupted from the audience as House Speaker Puan Maharani brought down the gavel during Tuesday’s plenary session to indicate the law had been adopted.
“The enactment of a Law on the Protection of Domestic Workers aims to provide legal certainty for both domestic workers and employers, and to prevent all forms of discrimination, exploitation, and abuse against domestic workers,” Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas told the plenary.
Domestic workers will now be entitled to vocational training, health and unemployment benefits.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning.
The law also specifically prohibits the hiring of children under 18 as domestic workers — a common practice in a country where less than a third of people complete high school.
