One of Malaysia's biggest oil palm plantation companies recently created a Gender Policy for their women workers. INTAN SHAFINAZ SUHAIMI takes us through the process.

Written by Intan Shafinaz on 19 Aug 2008 with 0 comments. Be the first!

August 11th, 2008 marked the launch of a Gender Policy for Sime Darby Plantation, catapulting the company as a leader among Malaysian plantation companies in addressing fundamental issues concerning women and children in oil palm plantations.

The company has embarked on a rather unorthodox approach by going into a first-of-its-kind collaboration with external experts Tenaganita and Wild Asia to address ground issues affecting women and children in a holistic manner. Using the bottom-up approach of directly consulting the plantation women workers, the issues gave rise to a credible rights-based Gender Policy for the company.

Background

Sime Darby Plantation was actively involved in the testing of the Principles & Criteria (P&C) of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) during the two-year trial phase since the endorsement of the P&C in November 2005 by the members of the RSPO.

A series of independent baseline assessments by Wild Asia and pre-certification audits by RSPO-approved certification bodies identified compliance gaps, especially for Principle 5 on environmental responsibility and biodiversity protection, as well as Principle 6 on social responsibility towards employees and local communities.

A social impact study was planned in collaboration with local social non-government organisation Tenaganita, with the aim of identifying gender-sensitive issues that are affecting the employees, particularly the women workers in the plantations.

The starting point was RSPO Criterion 6.9, which requires that "A policy to prevent sexual harassment and all other forms of violence against women and to protect their reproductive right is developed and applied". Two major indicators apply to 6.9, i.e. that a policy on sexual harassment and violence and records of implementation, as well as a specific grievance mechanism, are established.

The guidance for the criterion clearly states that the policy should be developed in consultation with employees and other relevant stakeholders, and that there is a committee to address women's concerns in plantations. Furthermore, the implementation of the policy must be regularly monitored.

Developing the Gender Policy

In order to realise the goals of RSPO and comply with gender-specific indicators, a one-year programme was developed with Tenaganita, beginning January 2008, with the aim of identifying issues that are affecting the women workers in the plantations environment, which will form the basis for the development of a detailed complaint and grievance procedure, as well as a credible gender policy that deals with sexual harassment and all other forms of violence.

Using the rights-based approach, the objectives of the programme are:-

• To develop a gender policy and a specific policy to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace

• To conduct capacity-building workshops for the women workers to ensure effective implementation of the Policy

• To conduct gender-sensitization training workshops for supervisors and managers to ensure effective implementation of the Policy, and

• To develop grievance procedures to support the effective implementation of the Policy.

Tenaganita, led by one of Malaysia's champion for women's rights, Dr. Irene Fernandez, spared no effort at ensuring that the laws and regulations embedded within Principles 2, 4 and 6 of the RSPO will be applied to safeguard women plantation workers and their children.

Five one-and-a-half day regional consultations with women plantation employees (i.e. office and mill staff, as well as field workers) were held according to Sime Darby Plantation's regional locations of their operating units. All consultative workshops were conducted outside of the oil palm plantations in neutral locations.

• Central Region (Genting View Resort, Genting Highlands, February 2-3)

• Northern Region (Seri Malaysia, Ipoh, March 29-30)

• Southern Region - Part I (Muar Traders Hotel, Muar, April 19-20)

• Sabah Region (Sandakan Hotel, Sandakan, May 3-4)

• Southern Region - Part II (Casa Rachado, Port Dickson, May 24-25)

The topics of the lectures as well as themes for group work and discussions were designed to give the women sufficient background knowledge to better understand RSPO and its certification process and how such a process presents an opportunity for positive change.

Wild Asia found it rather challenging to explain RSPO to the participants without getting too technical but the trainers and facilitators from Tenaganita worked well together and the participants found the training modules and group discussion highly beneficial.

Through highly visual presentations, key messages were conveyed in the participant's languages (i.e. Bahasa Malaysia and Tamil) introducing concepts such as:-

• Being a woman in plantations

• Concept of gender in plantations

• Gender-based violence (at home, at work and within the community)

Group activities and discussions included:-

• Body-mapping: Understanding how work affects health

• Motherhood responsibilities

• Protection of their reproductive rights

• Understanding their overall legal rights as a woman and a worker

Through this a very open and constructive approach, the programme, launched in February 2008, has resulted in extensive consultations involving some 300 women plantation workers in Sime Darby Plantation's Malaysian operations.

In his speech, YBhg Dato' Azhar Abdul Hamid, Managing Director of Sime Darby Plantation, said that the voices of the women were heard loud and clear. Their concerns, ranging from the protection of their health and reproductive rights, gender-based violence, their representation in Committees and participation in decision-making process, particularly in areas that affect them directly (for example, occupational safety and health), were highlighted and deliberated upon in-depth.

Sime Darby Plantation has accepted these concerns as relevant, and the requests and suggestions made by them to better their daily life out there in the plantations, as fair. The company will be reviewing its current policies and practices to assess how it has impacted their women workers and make the necessary changes. This will not only help them to effectively realise the goals of the RSPO, but also in upholding their true corporate values of integrity, respect and responsibility.

Moving forward

The launch, which was held at the Sime Darby Convention Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was a success. Tenaganita and Wild Asia will be working closely with Sime Darby Plantation over the next few months to finalise the a manual, specifically crafted to assist plantation managers and the Gender Committees in the implementation and monitoring of the Gender Policy.