Launch and Dialogue on Women Workers in the Midst of Pandemic and Technology Change

The Special Edition aims to encourage gender perspective research and/or feminist research on labour market in Indonesia and to strengthen gender mainstreaming in public discourse on labor policies in Indonesia.

In the past twenty years, ILO (International Labour Organization) has recorded the improvement of gender equality in labour market (ILO 2014). However, women still face inequality both at home and labour market. Consequently, up to today, the labour market and working condition have not fully reached gender equality. Women still face various barriers to participate freely in labour market and still face injustice in domestic sphere.

How is the current situation of women in the labour market in Indonesia? Until 2020, gender inequality in labour market remain high. Labour participation rate of women by August 2020 was 53.13 percent. Although this shows an increasing trend compare to the labour participation rate in 2019 (51.81%), but the percentage was still much lower than the rate of men participation in labour market in 2019 of 82.41%. Meanwhile, the percentage of women who undertake part time work was higher as of 36%, compare to men as of 19.39%. This statistic reveals the quite low rate of women who enter full employment compare to men. Women also face discrimination of wages. This inequality of pay can be seen in the lower wage of women compare to men from the same education level, or from the same group of age (BPS 2020).

Meanwhile, due to their reproductive role that require women to give birth and nurturing children, women who work in formal labour market usually have shorter career time compare to men. The shorter career time of women have cause lower access of women to labour security and/or protection. Therefore, women in labour market, in general, continue to face classical problems such as discrimination of wages, vulnerability and precarious working condition, underestimation over women’s work; compare to men in labour market.

Speakers

Opening remarks
Ida Fauziyah, Minister of Manpower and Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO for Indonesia and Timor-Leste

Panel discussion

Elly R. Silaban, President of the Confederation of All Indonesian Labour Union (KSBSI)

Maya Juwita, Executive Director of Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (IBCWE)

Asfinawati, Director of Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI)

Lusiani Julia, ILO's Programme Officer and Gender Focal Point

Moderator
Atnike Sigiro, Editor-in-Chief of Jurnal Perempuan