ABSTRACT
The revitalization of the Indonesian labour movement began in the feminized, labour-intensive export-oriented industries from the early 1990s after decades of repression by Suharto’s New Order regime (1966-98). After the New Order fell in 1998, it was workers’ organizations in these same feminized sectors that most eagerly embraced new opportunities to register and operate as formally recognized unions. Women comprise the bulk of workers (and union members) in textile, clothing and footwear (TCF) and in other labour-intensive exportoriented industries such as electronics. However, they have relatively little access to executive positions at even the plant and branch levels, let alone positions in unions’ central committees.
