Social Norms and Women’s Economic Participation in Indonesia
By: Diahhadi Setyonaluri. Ph.D. (Researcher LD FEB UI), Gita Nasution. Ph.D. (adjunct researcher LD FEB UI), Febry Sulistya Pambudhi, S.Sos. (Researcher LD FEB UI), Fitri Ayunisa, S.Sos. (Research Assistant), Aninda Kharistiyanti S.Sos. (Research assistant)
DEPOK – (6/9/2021) In May 2021, Investing in Women, in collaboration with Prospera, completed a research with the Demographic Institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LD FEB UI) to study gender social norms and their impact on women’s economic participation in Indonesia, with a particular focus on the impact of COVID-19.
The qualitative research conducted through this study found that gender roles in the household shape women’s and men’s perceptions of their work outside the home, and that gender-based childcare roles are a major factor determining women’s decisions to work and their preferences for work.
Economic pressures, such as those arising from COVID-19, are pushing women and men to negotiate gender roles at home. While this pressure provides an opportunity to negotiate women’s work roles, this still needs to be done in the context of the perception that women are the primary providers of childcare. Therefore, job choice is driven by flexibility.
The study also found that social and gender norms persisted during the pandemic, including regarding the division of gender roles in the household. While men perform supportive domestic roles, their roles are lighter, and more disorganized than women’s. Most of the women remain responsible for the main household work, while the men perform the complementary tasks.
This research provides IW with insight into the opportunities that arise in crises for women to negotiate and capitalize on shifting norms, as well as highlighting the risks of additional stress for women during crises, and for temporary gains.
Highlights
- Men do more of the housework, but women do most of the unpaid care work.
. More than 55% of men aged 18-40 did housework in 2019 and increased to 68% in 2020
. Women continue to bear the burden of unpaid care work, with more than 90% of women aged 18-40 doing housework.
- Social norms at home may develop, but may not change attitudes and behavior towards women’s employment decisions.
. The majority of women who stopped mentioned childbearing and household chores
. Social gender norms persist: women are better caregivers, men are the main breadwinners. This view is shared by the majority of young adults who participated in this study.
- The view of “women as better caregivers” is internalized and childcare remains the main reason for women’s aspirations to work from home. The view of “men as breadwinners” positions men to continue to play a role in supporting women’s domestic roles in the household.
- Male and female millennials refer to their internalized norms at home (mostly inherited from their parents) and at work, as a reference for women’s work decisions rather than structural factors in the workplace. This view is also shaped by religion and the perception that women’s natural place is at home.
- Women’s work outside the home is secondary, and when they do work, the type of work or working conditions must be flexible enough to allow them to perform the primary caregiving role they feel at home.
- Workplace norms revolve around norms at home that idealize women’s caring roles and gender stereotypes.
. Therefore, administrative work is considered more suitable for women while physical & technical work is for men. This biased preference creates an ‘acceptance’ that ideally men have higher salaries than women.
. There is support for women’s leadership in this paradigm; most respondents are positive about women being leaders in the workplace mainly because women seem to care more.
- The choice of work and the way women negotiate it varies as they are also influenced by the socioeconomic conditions of the individual and the family.
. Women negotiate their roles inside and outside the home during the pandemic, depending on their resources.
Source: https://investinginwomen.asia/knowledge/social-norms-womens-economic-participation-indonesia/
(am)