Background

A group of 2 activists and some of their friends embarked on a journey to find out what grassroots women workers were doing in the plantations and in the Sungai Way Free Trade Zone.  With the plantation workers they were in touch with a workers credit cooperative which finally became Koperasi Kredit Pekerja in …  The second group was an informal women workers group in Sungai Way. These activists talked to about 50 women workers in Sungai Way and realised that they had many problems in the workplace, their accommodation and also in their personal lives. In the credit cooperative group these activists helped them to contact women workers and these women ultimately became women worker leaders in the credit cooperative.

A group of women in plantations in Perak, Selangor and Penang met regularly and decided to promote credit cooperatives to help women workers to save money and take out small loans to pay their debts. In the 1980s the activists decided to set up a society for women workers and which should be led by women workers. 

Thus the idea for Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor was born. In 1982, an application was made to the Registrar of Societies to form  PSWS.  In October 1984 the registrar approved the formation of PSWS.  Since then the society consolidated the work with women workers and trained women workers to lead a society. Today PSWS has undertaken projects with women workers on labour issues and gender issues such as sexual harassment and violence against women.  These issues include advocacy for labour laws.  PSWS was actively involved in the recent amendments to the Employment Act, the Industrial Relations Act and the Trade Union Act. The leadership of PSWS continues to have a majority of women workers.