Jakarta
A year into the COVID-19 epidemic in Indonesia, many are struggling for survival with limited income and access to food. But women in informal work have proven to be resilient, as they faced challenges head on while navigating the intricacies of traditional gender roles that call for them to be caretakers and housewives. The informal work sector has been a significant source of employment and income for women in Indonesia, with many engaging in part-time jobs. Based on Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data from last year, some 56 percent of the nation’s total workforce, or around 74 million people, work in the informal sector. And while women have been doing most of the world’s lowly-paid jobs even before the onset of the pandemic, women in the informal sector are often unseen or left behind, especially when the government does not provide adequate legal recognition for their...