Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah urged all stakeholders in the labor market, including employers and workers, to be at the forefront in preventing sexual violence in the workplace.
Fauziyah made the statement while delivering her remark at the commemoration of the 2022 National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Month in Bekasi, West Java Province, on Wednesday.
Furthermore, she highlighted that recently, several cases had surfaced of sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.
Both genders experienced harassment and abuse, she noted.
Such cases decrease productivity as well as disrupt the health and psychological stability of the victims.
Furthermore, the minister spoke of having earlier participated in the launch of the national emergency movement against sexual harassment and violence.
“Through the movement, I am optimistic of massive dissemination of information regarding the issue and strict law enforcement against the perpetrators,” she emphasized.
The National Commission on Violence against Women recorded an increase in violence against women in 2021.
Some 1,967 reports surfaced from January to June 2021, a rise of 57 percent as compared to the same period in 2020.
Meanwhile, the national survey on women’s life experience conducted by the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry in 2021 found that physical and/or sexual violence was experienced by 26.1 percent of Indonesian women aged 15-64 years, or a ratio of one in every four people.
However, the figure declined as compared to a previous survey. In 2016, it was found that 33.4 percent of women — or a ratio of one in every three people — had experienced physical and/or sexual abuse.
In addition, the ministry noted that 8,800 cases of violence against women were registered between January and November 2021. Some 11.33 percent of those cases were related to sexual violence
Source: Antara News