Involving Female Household Heads in Empowerment Program
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has a critical role in helping to alleviate the financial and social burdens of female heads of households
By
KOMPAS TEAM
·3 minutes read
DOKUMENTASI RITA WATI SIRAIT
Rita Wati Sirait (47), women-headed household, in her shop in a fishing village in Tanjungbalai City, North Sumatra, Saturday (1/8/2020). Rita has been struggling alone to support her three children for eight years since her husband died.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — During the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has a critical role in helping to alleviate the financial and social burdens of female heads of households. In this regard, the government also needs to include female household heads in its social assistance programs and involve them in its economic empowerment program.
The Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry has asked village heads to take a census of female-headed households to ensure that these families receive direct cash assistance (BLT). The existing integrated social welfare data (DTKS) excludes a number of female heads of households.
"When our ministry introduced the BLT assistance program, I asked that female heads of households be recorded. It turns out that, 31 percent of the 7.8 million beneficiary families, or 2.42 million [families] are headed by women,“ Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Abdul Halim Iskandar said on Tuesday in a virtual interview in Jakarta.
The BLT assistance is distributed to poor households that have lost their source of livelihood due to the Covid-19 health crisis. However, families that already receive assistance through other government programs, such as the Family Hope Program (PKH) and non-cash food assistance (BPNT), are not eligible to receive direct cash assistance.
According to current data, 34 percent of the female household heads who receive the BLT are aged over 65 years, 21 percent are between the ages of 55 and 64 years, 16 percent between 45 and 54 years old, and 20 percent are between 30 and 44 years of age. The remaining 9 percent are between 15 and 29 years old.
The majority of these women work as farm workers (42 percent, or 1.03 million women), farmers (31 percent) and tenant farmers (15 percent), while the rest are fishers, factory workers, or teachers.
Kompas/Bahana Patria Gupta
A woman transport worker carries goods at the Pabean Market, Surabaya, East Java, Thursday (21/4/2016). To help the family economy, the woman works to lift things up to weigh 80 kilograms above her head.
The data shows that 69 percent of female household heads have received BLT assistance, but are not included in the DTKS. The rest are registered, but have not received any social assistance.
Female household heads must therefore be prioritized in the labor-intensive village program (PKTD). The ministry has sent a letter to village heads to involve all female household heads in the PKTD.
Social assistance
Social protection and security director general Harry Hikmat at the Social Affairs Ministry said that women were prioritized in the ministry’s social assistance programs. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had instructed that the PKH and BPNT social assistance programs be given to women (wife or adult women in the family).
