Some factories require women to use an IUD if they want to keep their job. In the city of Bogar government workers are forced to participate in population control programs and their salaries are linked to the type of contraception they use. Those who use Norplant or Depo-Provera are paid on time. Those using the pill or condoms are paid three days late, and those who refuse to comply have to wait a further week. The issue of reproductive rights is critically important for Indonesian women.
Abortion is illegal.
Untold hundreds of poor women die from backyard operations. There is also no socially oraganized childcare. Wealthy women hire servants to care for their children. The servants labor seven days a week, start work at five in the morning and work until late at night. Alison Thorne is a union activist in Melbourne and an editor for the Australian Freedom Socialist Bulletin .