Batik: The Making and the Division of Labor
Batik is an art of decorating a cloth using wax and dye. This art can be found in Indonesia and some other countries. In Indonesia, both the art and the product are called Batik. In 2009, UNESCO acknowledged Batik as the world heritage from Indonesia and inscribed it on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity (UNESCO, n.d.). Since, then, Batik has become the national costume in Indonesia and people in many institutions are required to wear it as a uniform every Friday.
The word “Batik” originated from Javanese language Tik, which means to dot (The Batik Guild, n.d.). This is related to the process of making the decoration in form of patterns by drawing dots and lines using canting, a small copper reservoir with a spout on a wooden handle. In the past, Batik was associated with upper-class society because it was only the royal family and priyayi, the aristocrat family in Java island, made and owned the Batik cloth (Dwiyanto & Nugrahani, n.d.). The women from this society usually made Batik in their spare time at home while waiting for their husband and father to return home from work outside.
There are several techniques in making Batik based on the tools used. The most popular techniques are Batik Tulis or Drawn Batik, Batik Cap or Stamped Batik, and Batik Sablon or Printed Batik. The development of these three techniques is closely related to the change of the division of labor between men and women in the process.
Batik Tulis is the original technique of making Batik. Since the beginning, the skill on this technique is the expertise of women. Women usually make Batik at home after they finish doing the house chores. Women work in the first phase of the process, which is making the patterns on the cloth and coloring them, while men then work in the second phase, which is dyeing the cloth, cleaning it, and drying it. Women are needed in the first phase because it needs diligence, accuracy, and patience. On the contrary, men are needed in the second phase because it needs more energy and it must be done quickly (Dwiyanto & Nugrahani, n.d.). It takes 3-10 weeks to make a Batik cloth using this technique with the first phase takes a longer time, depends on the material of the cloth and the complexity of the pattern.
The invention of the second technique, Batik Cap or Stamped Batik, shortens the time to make a Batik cloth to one day. This technique replaced canting that used in the first technique with a copper plate stamp. This new tool changes the division of labor because women’s task to draw the patterns is now replaced by men using the tool. Men are preferable because it is heavy. Men still work on the second phase, so their role is bigger in the process now. Conversely, women’s role is limited only to coloring the patterns and this brings a further negative consequence to women. As found in Pekalongan, a city of Batik in Central Java, women’s wage is smaller than men’s because their job is considered easier, in line with their assumed nature (Rahmawati, Rismawati, & Zaduqisty, 2013, November). Moreover, skippers called their wage as payment rather than wage or salary with a reason that the work is not considered a full-time job because women do it at home, different from men who do it at the workroom. This reason is then used to pay the women worker below the minimum wage.
The last technique, Batik Sablon or Printed Batik, completely marginalized women. Creating and coloring the patterns can be done within minutes using plangkan, a printing equipment. This technique does not need wax and dye so it can produce Batik cloth massively within a short time. The process of making Batik with this technique is no longer conducted at home but at workroom or factory.
This technique has two versions, manual and automatic, and men are preferable to work on both versions because it needs more energy to carry the manual tool and more advanced skill in operating the machine. Thus, women’s role in this technique is no longer necessary as men can handle all the tasks.
Conclusion
The process of making Batik has a gender dimension, particularly on the development of the technique and its impact on the change of the division of labor. Since the beginning, the activity of making Batik is the domain of women and it is conducted in the private space, which is at their own home, and men’s role are needed only at the end of the process. The division of labor between men and women are based on the assumptions that women are handy, diligent, patient, and thorough, while men are strong and fast. However, these assumptions are further used to discriminate women from having a fair payment in the second technique, Batik Cap or Stamped Batik. This technique also reduced both women’s role in the process because the new tool makes women’s role and their associated characters irrelevant. Women’s role in making Batik is then replaced by men’s completely in the development of the third technique Batik Sablon or Printed Batik. Men take all the role from the beginning until the end of the process. Thus, it can be said women’s role in making Batik reduces along with that the development of techniques and tools used in the process.
References
Dwiyanto, D., & Nugrahani, DS. (n.d.). Perubahan konsep gender dalam seni batik tradisional pedalaman dan pesisiran. Retrieved from http://arkeologi.fib.ugm.ac.id/old/download/1180425701djoko-nia-gender-batik.pdf
Rahmawati, R., Rismawati, S. D., & Zaduqisty, E. (2013, November). Sistem pengupahan dan pembagian kerja Perempuan buruh batik berbasis putting out system di kota Pekalongan: Proses dan implikasi marginalisasi terhadap Perempuan buruh batik. Jurnal Penelitian, 10(2), 274-293.
The Batik Guild (n.d.). What is Batik. Retrieved from http://www.batikguild.org.uk/whatisbatik.asp
UNESCO (n.d.). Indonesian Batik. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/indonesian-batik-00170
