Indonesian women earn 42% less than their male counterparts: study

The discrimination Indonesian women face in the workplace is even greater than we previously imagined.

The results of a study done by researchers at Monash Business School in Melbourne found that Indonesian women get paid far less than their male coworkers, even when factoring in differences in education levels.

 “We found that, on average, Indonesian women earn 42 percent less than their male counterparts,” Dr Contreras Suarez, one of the researchers on the study, told Phys.org.

Despite huge changes in the Indonesian economy over the last 25 years, including a substantial shift away from agriculture, the research shows that there has been almost no change in Indonesia’s female labour force participation (LFP) over that same period of time, with the rate of female LFP stagnating at 51% (which includes data both the formal and informal economic sectors).

“31 percent of this difference [in earnings] can be explained by different characteristics between women and men, such as career interruptions, level of education, and industry of employment. The remaining unexplained gap, can be taken to reflect some degree of discrimination,” Suarez said.

The research also shows that Indonesian government policies to improve gender equality, such as minimum wage laws, have had little success in narrowing the gap.

What do you think are the causes behind this huge wage gap, and what do you think the government can do to combat it? For more info on the Monash Business School study, you can read Phy.org‘s interview with the researchers.