Social Protection for Indonesian Domestic Workers in Taiwan

Abstract

When working overseas, domestic workers are susceptible to a variety of risks that can compromise their level of living. These risks encompass a variety of types, including health and work accidents. Social protection is a form of action or policy that is present to counteract this. Nonetheless, the activities of domestic workers who work abroad cause the social protection that is applied to them is not only from one side, namely the country of origin or the country of destination,  but also  both. The purpose  of this paper  is to examine  various types of  social protection for Indonesian domestic workers in Taiwan. This paper analyzes the experiences and knowledge of five informants who have or are now employed as domestic workers in Taiwan by interviewing them about their access to or utilization of the various social protection programs available to them. The discussion of their experiences is separated into two types of social protection: formal, provided by the governments of Indonesia as well as the government of Taiwan, and informal. The findings of this paper indicate that, on the one hand, the informants do not share the same awareness of the existence of social protection provided by the Indonesian government and, on the other hand, they are aware of and have utilized the health insurance provided by the Taiwanese government, although they do not share the same understanding of other insurances, such as the work accident insurance provided under the employment contract. Moreover, donations and training provided by non-government agencies are identifiable informal social protection in this study. This paper also argues that the awareness of Indonesian domestic workers about the importance of social protection can be improved by providing socialization regarding awareness of their future potential risks.