The 27th Foreign Correspondent Report

Sumiyah : Empowerment from Within
Ms. Astri HIDAYATI (Indonesia)
Sumiyah is a 49-year-old woman living with her husband who works as a fisherman andthree children who are currently enrolled in high school and junior high school. Living by thesea where many people work either as fishermen or fishmongers, Sumiyah has found anopportunity to make some extra income for her family, which is also related to fish and fishing.
Due to the fact that she is from a poor family, Sumiyah never got a proper level ofeducation for herself. Therefore, when she got married and tried to support her family’s income,all she could do was an informal job that didn’t pay much. As a mother of three with a husband
who works on the sea for days, Sumiyah was extremely busy managing her time. Financial
hardship due to the lack of income made her do many things by herself since she had to savethe money.
Until 2010, Sumiyah was working as a snack seller to support her family. The spirit ofgetting more income to support her family made Sumiyah actively look for information nearher home, in case there are job opportunities for her. Sumiyah’s home is located not far fromthe sea and her village is known as a fishing village. Around the area, there is a fish auction
center where the fishermen sell their fish. When Sumiyah received news about theopportunity to get a job of deboning milkfish at the auction center, she applied for it. But, firstof all, she had to take training for five days. The training was provided by the Ministry ofMarine Affairs and Fisheries for free of charge. 50 participants took part in the event. Thosewho passed the training would have the opportunity to work at the auction center.
The five-day training made Sumiyah trained to; 1. remove bones from milkfish, 2. create
long-lasting snacks using the fish as the main ingredient. This experience really opened
Sumiyah’s eyes. Now she got many points of view that might increase her family’s income.
After passing and completing the training, Sumiyah got the job at the auction center. She
became a worker who specializes in deboning milkfish. Her working time is from 10:00 a.m.
to 2:00 p.m. every day. For the job there, she earns approximately Rp.100,000 (almost 1,000yen). After finishing the job at the auction center, Sumiyah gets home and then prepares tostart selling snacks for school children. Indeed Sumiyah still continues her previous activity
to double her income. She works until about 5:00 p.m. Sumiyah then proceeds to cook andprepare dinner. After 6:00 p.m., when her husband is about to work as a fisherman, Sumiyah
prepares his food, clothes and drink. Her husband comes home on the following day at around
11:00 a.m.
According to Sumiyah, her life drastically changed after 2010 when she completed thetraining and began to get more income from the auction center. Before 2010, she doubted
whether her children could get proper education due to the familiy’s low income. Since she
finally got the chance to increase her family’s income, all of her children are now at school,
which makes her so happy.
Sumiyah’s determination to change her life by herself is a picture of how women
empowered by the situation can create a good result in the end. Such empowerment wasgained due to her own mind or outside pressure. Sumiyah showed us how life can be madebetter if we try. In the case of Sumiyah, she had the opportunity to empower herself with thehelp of the government through the training which was provided for free, in addition to herhusband’s support.
As we have seen above, women’s empowerment can happen in many forms. Sumiyah
determined to get a better life, and she got the chance. Her determination was supported by

The 27th Foreign Correspondent Report
the chance provided by the government as well. To some extent, governments must also be
there to actively support empowerment. Such trainings as the one attended by Sumiyah have
proven to be very useful. Of course the willingness of women to be empowered is the mostimportant point. But at the same time, there should also be some kind of active supports fromgovernments everywhere. Empowerment doesn’t have to be complex and complicated. As seenin Sumiyah’s case, tailored programs must be provided considering the livelihood and what isneeded by women around the area.
Photo below: Sumiyah is cleaning the fish