ILO promotes a greater investment in care leaves and services for a more Indonesia’s gender equal world of work

Following to a tripartite social dialogue on care economy held in early March, the ILO conducted a two-day capacity building workshop in Bandung, West Java, from 16-17 March. The workshop was targeted to representatives of relevant ministries, employers’ and workers’ organizations, business associations and relevant organizations related to childcare, disabilities and HIV/AIDS.

Lack of understanding about the care economy in general has caused the continuing drop rate among women at workforce during maternity as family responsibilities and household activities have been considered as women’s main duties."

Early Dewi Nuriana, ILO’s Programme Officer for Care Economy

The main goal of the workshop was to clarify myths and misunderstandings regarding care economy and to further promote the involvement of men in the care work. Early Dewi Nuriana, ILO’s Programme Officer for Care Economy, stated that that there was a need to recognize the important role of the care workers and to break the social norms that still place care responsibilities merely for women.

“Lack of understanding about the care economy in general has caused the continuing drop rate among women at workforce during maternity as family responsibilities and household activities have been considered as women’s main duties,” added Early.

On the first day, the workshop started with providing the participants with better understanding about relevant ILO Conventions related to care economy: ILO Convention No. 183 on Maternity Protection and ILO Convention No. 156 on Workers with Family Responsibilities. These Conventions illustrated the importance of the 5R principles of the care economy—Recognition, Reduction, Redistribution, Representation and Reward—and their relations to issues on care work, care services and care workers.

In addition to the ILO Conventions, the participants also learnt about the opportunities and challenges on male involvement in the gender responsive programmes. Kokok Dirgantoro, CEO of Opal Communications, who have implemented a fully paid 6-month maternity leave and a one-month paternity leave since a decade ago.

On the second day, the participants focused on improving their understanding on decent work for care workers. The ILO’s Programme Officer, Lusiani Julia, explained about the ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work that covers five issues on freedom of association and collective bargaining, elimination of child labour, elimination of forced labour, elimination of discrimination and occupational safety and health.

We will continue to promote and support our partners in care economy so that we could build a more gender equal world of work in Indonesia."

Lusiani Julia, ILO's Programme Officer

This session was followed by the introduction of initiatives on male involvement in the transformative care and the ILO’s Simulator on Investing Care Policies. Nur Hasyim, Founder of Aliansi Laki-Laki Baru, an organization that active involvement of men in promoting gender equality. He discussed about the creation of fairer society that provides a greater opportunity for women to be part of the labour force and to be economically active.

Meanwhile, Laura Addati, Maternity Protection and Work Family Specialist of the ILO’s Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) in Geneva, explained about the simulator that can help calculate the investment requirements, employment benefits and impact on gender equality of different care policies.

The workshop concluded with a reflection and action plan from the participants to promote care economy issues in their respective organizations and networks. “We will continue to promote and support our partners in care economy so that we could build a more gender equal world of work in Indonesia,” concluded Lusiani.

The ILO’s latest report on care work estimates that, globally, investing in universal childcare and long-term care services could generate up to 280 million jobs by 2030 and a further 19 million by 2035, for a total of 299 million jobs.