Launch of the ILO Report on Care at Work:

Greater investment in care services could create more than 10 million jobs in Indonesia

The ILO launches its new report on care at work, highlighting the benefits of investing in care services and policies to alleviate poverty, encourage gender equality and support care for children and the elderly in Indonesia.

News | Jakarta, Indonesia | 29 November 2022
Women workers have the right for maternity protection.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (ILO News) - To demonstrate the importance of care services and policies for a more gender equal world of work, the ILO launched its new report titled “Care at Work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work” in Indonesia on 25 November. The report highlights the crucial of balancing a job with care that is essential for societies and economies to thrive and of narrowing significant gaps in care services and policies to alleviate poverty, encourage gender equality and support care for children and the elderly.

35 millions of women workers should leave the workforce due to care and domestic responsibilities. Social norms and culture still solely place care and domestic responsibility on women."

Dinar T. Jogaswita, Director of Work Relation and Wages of the Ministry of Manpower
Dinar T. Jogaswita, Director of Work Relation and Wages of the Ministry of Manpower, welcomed the launch of this new report as a momentum to support Indonesia in eliminating layered obstacles for the participation of women at the world of work. “35 millions of women workers should leave the workforce due to care and domestic responsibilities. Social norms and culture still solely place care and domestic responsibility on women,” she said.

Meanwhile, Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia, emphasized the development of care policies to provide a greater employment opportunity for women. “A greater investment in care could generate almost 300 million jobs globally. Thus, we need to strengthen the social dialogue and consultation process in the country to develop a better system and mechanism in this important agenda,” she said in her welcoming remarks before 100 participants attending the launch online and offline.

Presented by Laura Addati, Maternity Protection and Work Family Specialist of the ILO’s Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) in Geneva, the report reveals that paid care work is an important source of employment, especially for women. In addition, the care workforce represents more than 8 per cent of total employment of 12 million workers.

A greater investment in care could generate almost 300 million jobs globally. Thus, we need to strengthen the social dialogue and consultation process in the country to develop a better system and mechanism in this important agenda."

Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia
The report also highlights the influence of social norms on gender division of unpaid care work. It demonstrates that 79 per cent of Indonesian correspondents agree that “men now have a greater responsibility for the home and childcare than ever before”. Yet, 76 percent also agree that “the role of women in society is to be good mothers and wives.”

“As a result, 40 per cent of Indonesian women leave the workforce because of marriage and childcare and move to unpaid care workers,” said Laura in her presentation.

In addition, the report emphasizes the importance of care policies to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work. These policies include maternity protection, paid leave for fathers, early childhood care and education services as well as long-term care services.



The ILO Convention No. 183 on Maternity Protection mandates 14 weeks minimum maternity leave on at least two-thirds of previous earnings, funded by social insurance or public funds. The report reveals that Indonesia has applied 13 weeks of maternity leave with cash benefits equivalent to 100 percent of previous earnings financed by the employer. Meanwhile in terms of a two-day paternity leave financed by the employer in Indonesia, there is still a gender parental gap of 12.6 weeks.

The ILO estimates that investing in universal childcare and long-term care services could generate 10.4 million jobs by 2035. The investment in a universal and comprehensive care policy package could improve women’s employment rate from 49 per cent in 2019 to 56.8 per cent by 2035 and gender gap in monthly wages from 20.6 per cent in 2019 to 10 per cent by 2035."

Since both maternity and paternity leaves are financed by the employers, the report indicates that self-employed workers, adoptive parents or same-sex parents are not yet entitled to benefit from these services.

However, in terms of the childcare service, the report finds that the broad gaps in the provision of childcare service—only 1 in 10 potential parents have access to free or affordable childcare services and only 21 countries out of 178 grant universal childcare service in their laws for children aged 0-2 years old. In addition, wages provided for teachers in childcare service are lowered compared to the teachers of pre-primary school. In Indonesia, the recent data from the Association of Indonesia’s Pre-School Teachers (HIMPAUDI) reveals that the average wage of pre-school teachers is below Rp 250,000 per month.

The report concludes with the investment benefits in transformative care policy packages in Indonesia. The ILO estimates that investing in universal childcare and long-term care services could generate 10.4 million jobs by 2035. The investment in a universal and comprehensive care policy package could improve women’s employment rate from 49 per cent in 2019 to 56.8 per cent by 2035 and gender gap in monthly wages from 20.6 per cent in 2019 to 10 per cent by 2035.

The interactive discussion regarding the key findings of the ILO Report on Care at Work.
Responding to the key findings of, from the perspective of workers, Elly Silaban, President of the Confederation of All Trade Union (KSBSI), emphasized the important role of trade unions in socializing issues related to care at work, gender equality and job generation. She also highlighted the importance of care workers association to be part of the union movement.

We need to think about the informal economy and workers. How can they benefit from the services and who is going to bear the costs? The government should start investing in developing needed mechanism and strategy that I learn from the ILO presentation would be able to generate millions of jobs."

Myra Hanartani, Head of Regulation and Institution of the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo)
From the perspective of the employers, Myra Hanartani, Head of Regulation and Institution of the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo), reminded that the finance burdens of care services should not only be borne by the employers.

“We need to think about the informal economy and workers. How can they benefit from the services and who is going to bear the costs? The government should start investing in developing needed mechanism and strategy that I learn from the ILO presentation would be able to generate millions of jobs,” she stated.

In terms of extending the coverage of social protection, Retna Pratiwi, Director of Social Security of the Ministry of Manpower, explained that the government is now still in process of examining the 2024 Social Security Roadmap and relevant research to mainstream and incorporate care at work services to the national security system.

Tiasri Wulandari, Commissioner of the National Commission for Eradication of Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), emphasized the importance of the sensitization of these issues to the new generation of workforce. “This is a big problem that should be socialized widely. There are still gaps in terms of coverage to the informal economy, the inclusion in social protection system and the implementation of the existing laws. No one should be left behind and we need to have dialogues on roles that should be played by relevant stakeholders,” she stated.