INDONESIA’S parliament today passed a law to protect the rights of domestic workers, more than 20 years after the law was introduced.

Indonesia is home to some 4.2 million domestic workers, of whom almost 90 per cent are women. They were previously not legally classified as workers.

The domestic workers will now be entitled to health insurance, rest days and pensions and agencies will also no longer be allowed to deduct wages.

It will also now be illegal to employ children under the age of 18 as domestic workers.

The Domestic Workers Protection Law was first introduced in 2004 but its implementation was repeatedly blocked.

Regulators will now have one year to draft detailed implementation policies.

Many domestic workers were employed informally without any legal contract with some being forced to work from as young as 12 for long hours for little pay.

“It feels like a dream,” Ajeng Astuti, one of the domestic workers, told BBC Indonesian. “This is our 22-year struggle as marginalised women to gain protection.”

But the Jala PRT rights group reported that there were more than 3,300 cases of violence against domestic workers from 2021-2024, including cases of physical and psychological abuse. 

They warned the new legislation would not stop this abuse on its own.