The Phenomenon of Ethnic Java Women as Weavers Hiou in Karang Rejo Village, Simalungun Regency

Working as a Hiou weaver is an alternative for
Javanese women for family economic welfare. Javanese
women learn to weave Hiou with a feeling of being aware,
happy and proud because they can weave Hiou like
Simalungun women. The woven products they make are of
good quality, which makes the owners of capital keep
empowering Javanese women so that they can still weave
Hiou. This study aims to examine: (i) the phenomenon of
Javanese ethnic women who work as Hiou weavers in
Karang Rejo Village, Simalungun Regency; (ii) the reason
Simalungun ethnic capital owners chose Javanese women as
Hiou weavers; (iii) the efforts of the Simalungun ethnic
group to empower Javanese women to remain Hiou weavers.
The type of this research is qualitative with an ethnographic
approach. Informants were the owners of capital and the
Javanese Hiou weavers. The results of this research illustrate
that initially there was only one Javanese woman in Karang
Rejo village who worked as a Hiou weaver and now
continues to grow to reach 80 people. All of them are able to
produce Hiou with good quality so as to increase production
and market demand. Hiou's good quality makes the capital
owners feel happy by providing convenience in work, one of
which is to provide looms so that Javanese women can
continue to weave Hiou in their own homes. Javanese women
with full awareness and pride, besides being able to weave
other ethnic traditional fabrics, they can also prosper their
families.