Publication: The Care Economy in Indonesia: A Pathway for Women’s Economic Participation and Social Well-being
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2024-08-12
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2024-08-12
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Indonesia has achieved impressive growth and poverty reduction in the past two decades, while closing gender gaps. Yet, there has been little change in women’s economic participation. The female labor force participation (FLFP) rate has remained unchanged for the last two decades at around 53 percent, compared to around 81 percent for males, despite improvements in women’s educational attainment and fertility, and the overall increase in economic opportunities. While 90 percent of married men work uninterrupted from ages 20 to 60, married women reach their peak labor force participation (LFP) rate at around age 45. It is well-documented that care and family responsibilities are among the most significant barriers to women’s economic participation in Indonesia. Social norms position women as the primary caregivers, and men as breadwinners. Workplace policies do not accommodate social expectations from women to balance paid work with their care roles or incentivize the redistribution of care roles between men and women. An enabling care economy, the sector of economic activities related to providing care, including paid and unpaid labor and services, is critical to promoting women’s entry and retention in the workforce and for promoting long-term social well-being. The success of Indonesia’s efforts to strengthen its care economy depends on the extent to which different elements of the care ecosystem work together. This includes, but goes beyond, improvements to the ECED or PAUD system. The Care Economy Roadmap and National Action Plan 2025–2045 provides a robust framework for Indonesia to align initiatives and incentives around a common vision while strengthening the weaknesses of the existing landscape. Possible actions that GoI can take in the first few years of roadmap implementation, informed by the detailed analysis in this report and lessons from other contexts, will set the pace at which Indonesia moves toward achieving its care economy targets by 2045.
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“World Bank. 2024. The Care Economy in Indonesia: A Pathway for Women’s Economic Participation and Social Well-being. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42038 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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