Women Workers and Digitalization-Komnas Perempuan Strengthens the Agenda for Rights Protection
Jakarta, August 20–22, 2025 – The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) organized a Focused Group Discussion (FGD) titled “Input for Preliminary Study and Mapping: Women Workers and Digitalization” at Jambuluwuk Thamrin Hotel, Jakarta.
The event was led by the Women Workers Working Group of Komnas Perempuan, involving the Community Participation Division and the Resource Centre Division, which have been focusing on digitalization issues, and facilitated by Luviana Ariyanti and her team.
This activity is part of Komnas Perempuan’s efforts to map the opportunities and challenges faced by women workers in the era of digital transformation. While digitalization creates new job opportunities, it also presents risks such as online harassment, labor exploitation through digital platforms, and technology-based surveillance that threatens privacy.
The FGD aimed to develop a Preliminary Mapping Report and produce strategic policy recommendations to strengthen the protection of women workers’ rights, identify the risks and opportunities of digitalization, and promote policies that ensure decent and equitable work for women.
In her opening remarks, the Chairperson of Komnas Perempuan, Maria Ulfah Anshor, emphasized the importance of ensuring that digital transformation upholds justice, equality, and the protection of women’s human rights. She highlighted ongoing vulnerabilities in the workplace, limited social protection, double burdens, technology-based exploitation, and digital access gaps experienced by women in marginalized areas. Nevertheless, the digital space can also serve as a platform for solidarity and advocacy for women workers.
The FGD was conducted over three days with different representative groups participating each day. The first day involved labor unions, the second day involved civil society organizations (CSOs), and the third day brought together government ministries/agencies and academics.
From the labor union sector, participants included the Media and Creative Industry Workers’ Union for Democracy (SINDIKASI) representing media and creative workers, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Indonesian Transport Workers’ Union (SPAI) representing online motorcycle taxi drivers, organizations representing migrant workers, organizations representing domestic workers in the informal sector, and other labor unions.
From civil society organizations (CSOs), participants included the International Labour Organization (ILO) as an international body, digital-based organizations such as SAFEnet, ICT Watch, and Purple Code, as well as organizations focusing on workers and women workers’ issues, such as Lembaga Informasi Perburuhan Sedane (LIPS), Gajimu.com, and Marsinah.id, along with other CSOs.
From the government sector, participants included the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection, the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI), the Ministry of MSMEs, and other ministries/agencies.
From the academic sector, participants included Ellen Kusuma, Muhamad Isnur (STH Indonesia Jentera), Iron Sarira (Binus University), and other academics.
The results of the discussion will serve as an initial foundation for Komnas Perempuan in developing a comprehensive study while strengthening the advocacy agenda for the protection of women workers’ rights.
