The Government of Indonesia through the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (KPPPA), with support from the ILO, has outlined seven key strategic issues for Indonesia’s Road Map and Action Plan on Care Economy. These topics were presented by Lenny N. Rosalin, Deputy for Gender Equality of KPPPA during the consultation workshop on the formulation of the National Road Map and Action Plan on Care Economy for Gender Equal World of Work.

The identified strategic issues are the following: 1. Childcare service; 2. Long term care for the elderly; 3. Inclusive-based care service for people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups; 4. Recognition and protection for care workers; 5. Maternity leave; 6. Paternity leave; and 7. Social protection for care work.

In her presentation, Lenny highlighted the importance of childcare service for providing a greater employment opportunity for women considering women are dominantly in charge of paid and unpaid care work. Meanwhile, the elderly care work is in line with the current condition of Indonesia entering an ageing society. “In 2022, the percentage of elderly over 60 years old has reached 10,48 percent or equal to 28.6 million,” said Lenny.

In terms of inclusive-based care, 8.5 percent of Indonesian population in 2023 is people with disabilities—equal to 22.97 million people. However, only 5 percent of them enter the labour market. The care work is also important for other vulnerable group such as people with HIV, special need children and so forth.

“However, due to its informal employment nature, not many consider care workers as a profession and as result, the care burden has fallen to women family members. Thus, this is linked to the urgent need to recognize care workers as workers like any other workers,” she added.

Meanwhile, lack of implementation of maternity and paternity leaves have now been reviewed under the draft bill on maternal and child health (RUU KIA) and the social protection would be able to provide equal protection for all women and men.

Maliki as the Director of Population Planning and Social Security of the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas) explained that the care economy has been included in the Long-Term National Development Plan 2025-2045 under Agenda 5 on Quality Family and Gender Equality. “Meanwhile, the National Action Plan on Care Economy is still in the discussion process to be included in the Mid-Term National Plan 2024-2029,” he added.

These strategic issues were identified based on inputs and responses from relevant stakeholders involved in the series of the stakeholders meeting. The first meeting was held on 16 August, followed by the second meeting on 11 September and the third meeting on 19 September.

These series meetings had involved relevant stakeholders from relevant ministries, employers’ organizations, trade unions, national and international organizations, among other, such as Bappenas, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Social Affairs, national union confederations, the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo), private companies, care workers’ association, Early Childhood Educators Association (Himpaudi), relevant civil society organizations for HIV, disability and other vulnerable group.

Early Dewi Nuriana, ILO’s Programme Officer for Care Economy, said that the next stakeholder meeting will be conducted in early October. The meeting will be organized in East Java and will also include site visits to various types of day cares.

“To have a better understanding about the challenges faced by day care services and the important role of companies in providing a balance between work and family responsibilities, we are going to learn from various day cares organized by community, by company and by private sector,” she explained.

To strengthen its support to the development of the Road Map, according to Early, the ILO is now conducting a knowledge and perception survey on care at work in Indonesia, highlighting the importance of 5R cycle (Recognize, Reduce, Redistribute, Represent and Reward) and targeting 1,500 respondents. The final result of the survey will be used to enhance the development of the Road Map.

The initial key findings of the survey will be presented during the next stakeholder meeting to provide a view of people’s knowledge and perception about care work. “By having a better understanding about how the respondents think of care work in the country, we can formulate a road map that caters the needs, challenges and opportunities of people in general,” Early emphasized.