Despite an improvement in female participation in the
public sector, more effort is needed to fully end discrimination against women,
with the Indonesian government leading the way in promoting gender-sensitive
policies, the World Bank says.
In its 2012 World Development
Report on Gender Equality and Development, the bank says that the Southeast
Asia and Pacific region has seen significant economic and social progress,
including in gender equality.
According to the report, the
region has seen around 70 per cent female participation in the labor market. In
Indonesia the figure was 52 per cent in 2010. The percentage of female
participation in education has also increased from the 1 per cent recorded in
1970 to 23 per cent in 2009.
The figures, however, masked a
number of problems.
Indonesian working women, for
instance, have lower salaries compared to their male counterparts because for
every dollar men make, Indonesian women only receive 77 cents, less than the 96
cents received by Thai women.
World Bank estimates found that
between 2006 and 2011, Indonesian working women often had less secure contracts
of employment compared to men. The percentage of women with temporary contracts
in exporting companies was around 25 per cent, compared to 10 per cent for men.
Andrew D. Mason, the World
Bank’s lead economist and coordinator of the gender program for East Asia and
Pacific, said governments should initiate affirmative action for gender
equality.
Mason proposed other practical
solutions.
“Governments need to invest in
good infrastructure, such as clean water and transportation, because in rural
areas, women must spend hours fetching water and traveling to their
workplaces,” he said.
He said that an affordable
national childcare system should also be in place to ensure children received
healthcare and education programmes which could enable mothers to find better
jobs.
“Developed countries have laws
that give parental leave for both fathers and mothers, so they can take turns
in pursuing career and taking care of their children,” Mason said.
Gender-equality programmes
could also take different forms.
He said that governments should
also encourage boys and girls to study non-traditional subjects that fit with
their interests and abilities. For example, he cited, boys could try studying
cooking, while girls should be encouraged to study engineering.
The World Bank report says that
the highest percentage of Indonesian women in tertiary education was in
medicine or health, at around 75 per cent, followed by education at around 60
percent and business or administration, at 55 per cent. The subjects with the
lowest female participation were engineering, at 20 per cent, law at around 35
per cent and agricultural technology at 40 per cent.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker
from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that political
leadership played a crucial role in setting up gender-sensitive policies.
“When local leaders step down
so do their policies. So we need to better handle the situation by establishing
gender-related policies through bylaws or local ordinances,” she said.
She cited Bantul regency as an
administration that managed to record the lowest maternal-mortality rate in the
country, in part thanks to a bylaw which mandated pregnant mothers to have
their health checked regularly by health workers at community health centers.
She also mentioned Sinjai regency in South Sulawesi which applied universal
health care for all residents.
“New administrations can change
these laws but that takes time. Besides, if the bylaws benefit everyone, I’m
sure nobody will want to change them,” she said.
Tifa Asrianti
The Jakarta Post
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