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Supporting self-employment to solve female labor force participation problem
Stronger policies the promotion inclusion and gender equality are needed to resolve the dual responsibility expected of many Indonesian women, as both breadwinners and homemakers, so they can realize their potential as active contributors to developing the economy.
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Informal contributor: The owner of a warteg in Jakarta serves customers on Feb. 22, 2024 at her food stall specializing in the cuisine of Tegal, Central Java. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
G
ender roles in Indonesia are unique. While women are expected to take on domestic responsibilities, they can also work and study as they please.
Unsurprisingly, statistics show the female labor participation rate in Indonesia as among one of the highest in the world.
According to data from the World Bank (2022), female labor force participation in Indonesia averaged 50.39 percent from 1990 to 2022, reaching a minimum of 45.94 percent in 2006 and a maximum of 53.91 percent in 2019. Last year, the figure stood at 54 percent.
For comparison, the 2022 global average in a survey of 176 countries was 50.83 percent. However, this percentage is considered lower than the regional average of 58.8 percent as well as almost all East Asian comparators, except for Malaysia and the Philippines, according to the same World Bank survey.
In the Indonesian household is a kind of dynamic where women play the role of a “hidden” financial manager. Although it is men who own property and bank accounts, it is women who manage the money, such as allocating expenses, savings and investing.
In investment, Indonesian women traditionally save their money in gold or property to hedge against inflation in the long term. This awareness of investment further reveals the entrepreneurial spirit of many Indonesian women.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2022, the ensuing economic slowdown affected online home-based businesses of female entrepreneurs. Lost wages and layoffs among primarily male workers left women as the sole breadwinners in households.
