Online Discussion -- Maternity Leave and Benefit: Are Women Protected?
With the support from the Government of Japan and Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., the Social Protection Programme collaborates with Magdalene.co to conduct an online discussion on maternity benefit.
Background
The Government of Indonesia (GoI) is committed to providing maternity protection for their female workers, although it is still limited to the provision of fully paid maternity leave. The Labour Law number 13 in 2003 guarantees female workers to have 13 weeks of maternity leave with 100% wage paid throughout the period. Indonesia's maternity protection is fully funded by employers and not based on social security insurance. The absence of cash benefit schemes means that women are at a higher risk of losing their livelihood during maternity leave. Women have to rely solely on the employers' compliance and affordability to pay the full salary during the leave periods. In addition, an employer's liability scheme has also been argued to discourage employers from employing female workers of childbearing age.To date, there has been little evidence on the compliance of maternity leave provision in Indonesia. Studies examining maternity leave compliance are usually done at a small scale, at a specific industry or occupation, or region. However, a study estimated that maternity leave is applied to less than a third of female workers in Indonesia, and not all female employees are entitled to the scheme.
The Social Protection Programme at the ILO Country Office for Indonesia and Timor-Leste assists Indonesia in improving social protection policies and its implementation in Indonesia, including maternity protection. The Social Protection Programme aims at raising awareness of women’s rights during maternity period. With the support from the Government of Japan and Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., the programme collaborates with Magdalene.co, a media that brough women’s issues from gender perspective, to conduct an online discussion on maternity benefit.
Speakers
- Maya Juwita, Executive Director, Indonesia Business Coalition for Women’s Empowerment
- Vivi Widyawati, Koordinator Program Buruh Perempuan
- Lusiani Julia, Programme Officer, ILO