D

espite an improvement in female participation in the public sector, more effort is needed to fully end discrimination against women, with the government leading the way in promoting gender-sensitive policies, the World Bank says.

In its 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development, the bank says that the Southeast Asia and Pacific region has seen significant economic and social progress, including in gender equality.

According to the report, the region has seen around 70 percent female participation in the labor market. In Indonesia the figure was 52 percent in 2010. The percentage of female participation in education has also increased from the 1 percent recorded in 1970 to 23 percent in 2009.

The figures, however, masked a number of problems.

Indonesian working women, for instance, have lower salaries compared to their male counterparts because for every dollar men make, Indonesian women only receive 77 cents, less than the 96 cents received by Thai women.

World Bank estimates found that between 2006 and 2011, Indonesian working women often had less secure contracts of employment compared to men. The percentage of women with temporary contracts in exporting companies was around 25 percent, compared to 10 percent for men.

Andrew D. Mason, the World Bank’s lead economist and coordinator of the gender program for East Asia and Pacific, said governments should initiate affirmative action for gender equality.

Mason proposed other practical solutions.

“Governments need to invest in good infrastructure, such as clean water and transportation, because in rural areas, women must spend hours fetching water and traveling to their workplaces,” he said.

He said that an affordable national childcare system should also be in place to ensure children received healthcare and education programs which could enable mothers to find better jobs.

“Developed countries have laws that give parental leave for both fathers and mothers, so they can take turns in pursuing career and taking care of their children,” Mason said.

Gender-equality programs could also take different forms.

He said that governments should also encourage boys and girls to study non-traditional subjects that fit with their interests and abilities. For example, he cited, boys could try studying cooking, while girls should be encouraged to study engineering.

The World Bank report says that the highest percentage of Indonesian women in tertiary education was in medicine or health, at around 75 percent, followed by education at around 60 percent and business or administration, at 55 percent. The subjects with the lowest female participation were engineering, at 20 percent, law at around 35 percent and agricultural technology at 40 percent.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that political leadership played a crucial role in setting up gender-sensitive policies.

“When local leaders step down so do their policies. So we need to better handle the situation by establishing gender-related policies through bylaws or local ordinances,” she said.

She cited Bantul regency as an administration that managed to record the lowest maternal-mortality rate in the country, in part thanks to a bylaw which mandated pregnant mothers to have their health checked regularly by health workers at community health centers. She also mentioned Sinjai regency in South Sulawesi which applied universal health care for all residents.

“New administrations can change these laws but that takes time. Besides, if the bylaws benefit everyone, I’m sure nobody will want to change them,” she said.