UNJUK RASA OR CONSCIOUS PROTEST - RESISTANCE STRATEGIES OF INDONESIANWOMEN WORKERS

This paper explores the ways in which Indonesian women workers activel y devise strategies through which they can counteract the exploitative practices typical of their working environments and use their labor i n ways that are more beneficial to them. These strategies-sometimes di smissed as ''emotional displays'' (urjuk rara)(1) rather than consciou s protests-are examined in a manner that deemphasizes divisions betwee n formal labor struggles and the alternatives that workers devise, sin ce it is clear that women are involved in both. The authors stress tha t the awareness of the importance of women's strategies should not obl iterate the recognition of the personal and structural conditions that may limit and repress women's participation in more collective, forma l and overt labor struggles in Indonesia. This paper makes use of Scot t's notion of ''everyday forms of resistance,'' pointing out that thes e forms differ from institutionalized struggles in that ''everyday res istance is informal often covert, and concerned largely with immediate de facto gains.'' The paper advocates an actor-oriented approach that shows the agency of individuals and groups in shaping social change, as well as the force of the structural conditions that frame their liv es and choices. The authors acknowledge that the scarcity of suitable empirical information makes it difficult to document this approach in detail.