Dilemma of the Kinship and Formality Relationship between Employer and Domestic Worker in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Labor relations between employers and domestic workers is one of the very old form of relationship influenced by cultural and social development of society. The purpose of this study to determine the forms of employment relationships of kinship and formal working relationships and form working relationships between them are preferred by employers in Yogyakarta. The theory used in this study is the concept of patron-client (Scott, 1985) and patriarchy (Delaney, 2005) to explain the two forms of the employment relationship in domestic sphere. This research used post-positivist paradigm with mixed methods, quantitative and qualitative (Guba & Lincoln, 1997). The results showed kinship relationships occur in household domestic worker, working full time and living in the employer’s home. Formal relationship occurs in the working relationship where domestic workers work part time (fill-in), such as baby sitter. Generally, employers prefer kinship relationship because domestic worker are regarded to be part of the family. In contrast, domestic workers prefer to work part-time, work-specific and do not live in private homes because they have more wages and they have more free time. Employers and domestic workers have individual rationality in determining the form of employment relationship. The study found that kinship relationships wane and the quantity of formal relations, characterized by the use of part-time domestic worker increase.