Non-Disparities Principles to Establish a Sustainable Garment Industry for Indonesian Female Workers

¹ Faculty of Law, State University of Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia
² Faculty of Law, Universiteit Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands

^* Corresponding author: jokoismono@unesa.ac.id

Abstract

The garment industry is a top-five contributor to Indonesia’s that associated their counterparts in the metal and chemical sectors and contribute to Indonesia’s economic growth in recent years. This industry is also an essential source of employment, accounting for about a quarter of all manufacturing jobs. The textile industry faces the challenge of competing with other textile-producing countries, with labour costs affecting competitiveness. Another challenge is fulfilling international labour standards regarding the treatment of workers including working conditions in garment factories, especially in MSMEs scale. Indonesia has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and eight core of International Labour Organization Conventions. The main issues are occupational health and safety, the rights of women to be free of sexual harassment in the workplace, working hours and conditions, freedom of association, and the right to collective bargaining, because ensuring non-disparities principle is about integrating moral and social imperative above economic gain so it aligns with ILO framework and Indonesia’s constitution.