Women's Work Participation Must Increase
Increasing women's participation in the world of work by 3 percent could add 135 billion US dollars to the Indonesian economy by 2025.
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The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI. The original article can be found in Partisipasi Kerja Perempuan Harus Meningkat
Production activities at one of the clothing production locations in the Small Industrial Village (PIK) area of Pulogadung, East Jakarta, in October 2022. Data from the Central Statistics Agency shows that only 35.57 percent of women work in the formal sector.
The 2023 ASEAN Summit has just finished. Indonesia as Chair of ASEAN for 2023 wants ASEAN to remain important and relevant for its members. Indonesia also wants ASEAN to become the center of regional and world growth, a motor for peace and prosperity with the theme "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth".
ASEAN, which has 11 members, is estimated to grow 4.2 percent in 2023, while global economic growth is 3 percent. Indonesia encourages a growth focus on improving the architecture of health, food, energy and financial stability.
The ambition to become a center for regional and global growth requires full utilization of each country's potential and cooperation among members. ASEAN has a great opportunity to become the center of global economic growth. One of the opportunities comes from women as labor force.
The level of female labor participation in ASEAN varies. The participation rate of women aged 15 years and over in 2022 is lowest in the Philippines, namely 46 percent, the highest in Cambodia at 69.6 percent even though 93.8 percent are in the informal sector. Meanwhile, the participation rate in Indonesia is 52.7 percent, which has not changed much since 2000 when it was 52 percent (The Asean Magazine, 22 May 2023). Indonesian women's work participation is not much different from Malaysia (52.7 percent) and Brunei Darussalam (55.5 percent). In Indonesia, the male work participation rate is 82 percent.
If further examined, half of the female workforce in Indonesia works in the informal sector, excluding agriculture. Data from the Central Statistics Agency shows that only 35.57 percent of women work in the formal sector, while men make up 43.97 percent in 2022.
In the financial sector, only 51.35 percent of women aged over 15 have accounts with financial institutions or digital financial service providers. The highest financial inclusion for women is found in Singapore (96.31 percent), Malaysia (82.48 percent), and Thailand (79.78 percent).
Benefits of participation
Increasing women's participation in the workforce has a tangible impact on the economy. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute stated that raising women's participation in the workforce by 3 percent worldwide could add $135 billion to Indonesia's economy by 2025. This increase is equivalent to IDR 2,065.5 trillion with an exchange rate of IDR 15,300 per US dollar. In 2022, Indonesia's economy is expected to reach IDR 19,588.4 trillion.
This growth is necessary if Indonesia wants to become a wealthy country by 2045. In 2012, McKinsey made projections that Indonesia needs an additional 113 million semi-skilled and skilled workers by 2030 to achieve 5-6% economic growth. The need will be greater if Indonesia wants to grow by 7% annually to become a wealthy country. This need can be met if more women who have completed junior high and high school enter the formal job sector.
Access to higher education for women needs to be supported in order to help them achieve their dreams. A group of female students from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta were seen participating in a real-work learning program in Purworejo Regency, Central Java.
The low level of female participation in the workforce in Indonesia is related to a culture that does not provide women with the opportunity to fully participate. Patriarchal culture, as mentioned by the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, I Gusti Ayu Bintang Darmawati, on various occasions, is still believed by most society. This causes women to lag behind in access, participation, access and benefits of development.
As a result of this view, women have a greater burden in care work that has no economic value. The care economy (care economy) places women as the main person responsible for caring for children, the elderly, people with disabilities and the home.
The need can be fulfilled if more women with education up to junior high school and high school enter the formal job sector.
During a Forum for Development Studies discussion on August 16, 2023, Lisa Cameron, a researcher at the University of Melbourne, Diana Contreras Suarez (University of Melbourne), and Diahhadi Setyonaluri (University of Indonesia) stated that women with junior high school education are most affected by the responsibility of caring for their children. Additionally, the likelihood of returning to the workforce after having their first child is very low until the child is 12 years old.
Lisa and others discovered that men and women have a common perception that is not supported by their communities when a wife works outside of the home. Voices of concern are heard, among others, from male spouses and mothers or mothers-in-law. Some concerns when a wife works outside of the home include the wife's income exceeding the husband's, it being inappropriate for the husband to help with daily childcare, and the child being neglected if the mother works outside of the home.
In order to support his wife at college, Mirza Idham Saifuddin stepped in to become a full-time housefather. He takes care of various domestic affairs and children's needs.
The perception, as found in Lisa's research, can be changed through intervention in the form of information that their perception is incorrect. The community actually supports women working outside the home to earn income and husbands help take care of children and the house. This intervention is relatively low cost and does not disrupt social relationships, but is quite effective.
Policy intervention
Another cultural barrier is the view that girls are less capable or less suited to mastering knowledge in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (science, technology, engineering, math/STEM). Mastery of STEM is critical for women to be able to compete in a high-income workforce amidst rapid technological change. Currently, the manufacturing industry is characterized by automation and digitalization which requires mastery of STEM. Central and regional governments can intervene through education policies, making STEM more interesting for girls and boys to learn. Interventions also need to be carried out through communities and formal and informal local leaders.
On a national scale, the government is expected to make broader and more substantive policies, making gender issues mainstream in every policy and not just focusing on empowering women, which generally prioritizes practical needs. There are still local governments that combine women's empowerment with social and youth programs. This stereotype shows that gender mainstreaming has not yet become an inherent part of development policies.
The government is also demanded to make more courageous policies to fulfill women's strategic needs, such as access to financing without depending on their partners, participation in determining the use of village funds, or equal rights to assets such as land. Without progressive steps, women's employment participation will slowly increase, even when women have received higher education. This will result in losses for all Indonesian citizens.
