Does Indonesia’s National Roadmap and Strategy for care workers offer a fast track to decent work or will it lead to a dead end?

When Muhar Yati’s father had a stroke, the responsibility to care for him fell onto her. For several months, Muhar – in her 30s and herself living with a disability – had to provide at-home physical and mental care to help rehabilitate her father, getting only minimal support from the national healthcare system or her family.

It’s a common challenge in Indonesia, where women like Muhar must bear the burden of caring for children, the elderly, the disabled or those in ill-health.

“The mental load of caregiving usually falls on women. Men can support in many ways beyond financial contributions, but they don’t because they are affected by the stigma that caregiving work is done only by women,” says Putri, another Indonesian woman caregiver taking care of a sick child, in an article published by the public health NGO, Noora Health.

In Indonesia, there are an estimated 36 million women working informally to provide care for those in need. And, so far, the state has done little to support them.

“Millions of Indonesian women and girls work in private households [as domestic and at-home care workers], but despite their critical role in the economy, they remain unprotected under Indonesian labour laws,” says Negar Mohtashami Khojasteh, a women’s rights expert for Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In 2004, a landmark law – which would have been the first to extend worker protections into the care economy – was proposed in Indonesia’s parliament. The Domestic Worker Protection Bill (PPRT, or Perlindungan Pekerja Rumah Tangga) would, for the first time, protect domestic workers from economic exploitation, including pervasive verbal work agreements, wages often far below legal minimum and long work hours. It also would provide protection from physical and sexual violence in the world of work, and legally acknowledge domestic work as formal labour at last, with transparent, written work agreements and access to social security, as well as the aforementioned labour protections.

But 21 years later, and the PPRT, which provides protections for part-time and live-in domestic care workers, has, despite repeatedly being designated as a priority legislation, never even been put to vote, suffering years of setbacks and delays. According to advocates, fears about the cost of implementing minimum wages, holding employers accountable, and a lack of electoral urgency are key factors as to why the bill has not yet passed. Some believe that the fact that many Members of Parliament have domestic workers who are likely also working informally is another factor. For domestic workers, it has meant two more decades working in terrible conditions, despite Indonesia’s dramatic economic growth.

“For domestic workers, there has been no change,” says Lita Anggraini, national coordinator for Jala PRT, a domestic workers rights organisation. They continue to work unlimited hours, with no weekly holidays, no breaks, and no social security. Workers advocates describe their conditions as modern slavery

The failure to pass this legislation stands in contrast to growing efforts by the government to expand recognition about the care economy more broadly. According to Tirta Sutejo, director of poverty alleviation and community empowerment at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), development of the care economy is one of the priority agendas in the National Long-Term Development Plan 2025–2045. The goal is to address the structural barriers within the labour ecosystem, particularly those faced by women.

As Indonesia embarks on implementing the roadmap which is designed to protect care workers and better recognise care work, the failure thus far to protect care givers and domestic workers could limit the effectiveness of the entire process.

“In Indonesia, in the past, when we talked about domestic workers, it was not seen as work, but we called them helpers, and their work was regarded as low status,” says Sulistri Afrileston, deputy president in charge of social protection at the All-Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSBSI). “But society and culture are changing, and domestic workers should get decent wages, be covered by social security, have occupational safety and health protection, but most importantly, they should be respected as workers.”

Growing recognition of the care economy

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the vast majority of Indonesian care workers – whether domestic workers tasked with cooking and cleaning or at-home care workers looking after children, the disabled and the elderly – are women. In fact, it is a pattern the repeats itself almost the world over: the responsibility of looking after people and households is underpaid, undervalued and far too often, completely unpaid work, and it is a responsibility that falls disproportionately on the shoulders of women, who in many cases have no access to union support and are often working under unsafe and insecure conditions.

In 2022, following Indonesia’s presidency of the G20, the ILO began a project to address women’s labour rights in Indonesia through the creation of a national roadmap and strategy to allow the government to invest in care economy policies and begin the process towards guaranteeing maternity protection, parental leave, early childhood education and long-term care. In 2024, the roadmap was released, with support from the Indonesian Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection.

“The roadmap is bringing the issue of the economy and productivity together with the issue of gender equality and the care economy framework,” says Early Dewi Nuriana, the ILO’s national project officer for the care economy in Indonesia.

At the moment, Indonesia is still a young country, with an average age of about 30 years. But that is changing. According to the Federation of Blue-Collar Trade Unions (Federasi Serikat Pekerja Kerah Biru), 2.7 percent of Indonesia’s elderly population requires long-term care but lacks access to quality, public, long-term care services In addition, the demand for care and support services for people with disabilities is expected to rise significantly.

Moreover, as more women enter the workforce, demand for childcare will also increase. Smaller families may also not be able to provide at home care for ageing or care-needing family members. The challenge is that there’s little to no infrastructure to build on.

“When we talk about the care economy, the question is who will pay for the services,” says Early. “In Indonesia we have a limited social protection scheme – only national health insurance and limited employment insurance that only covers accident and deaths. Even our pensions are not yet universal, and maternity leave is only available to those who have permanent employment contracts, which is very few.”

A big part of the challenge, says Gita Lingga, senior communication and information management assistant at ILO Indonesia, relates to communications. As part of the project, her team has been running social media and offline campaigns to increase awareness about the burden that women caregivers already face, and the importance of valuing that work.

“Gender equality is not only a social or cultural issue, but it is also an economic issue,” says Gita. “That is our main message to constituents, that supporting care workers can benefit both men and women workers.”

This work also includes educating journalists and community leaders, and finding creative ways to challenge long-standing cultural and social biases, such was engaging with imams at local mosques to discuss the importance of men and women sharing domestic responsibilities with their jama’ah (congregation).

The roadmap is still very much in the planning and piloting phase, in part because a new government was elected in Indonesia in February 2025. But one area that Early and Gita see potential for early progress is around childcare. They have helped to support some pilot initiatives to provide childcare services at some workplaces. One project, launched this year, is focusing on three regions – Indonesia’s largest industrial area, Karawang, and two areas where child care services are lacking, Batang and Probolinggo. Led by the Indonesian Employers’ Association (APINDO), it aims to provide guidance to companies that have high female absenteeism rates, to develop and implement innovative childcare solutions.

For its part, KSBSI has engaged with one palm oil company to provide childcare for its mostly female workforce around a project in the province of West Kalimantan in Borneo, and it is a model that KSBSI hopes to replicate with other companies

ILO Indonesia sees plans for national childcare certification as a key step in professionalising this type of work and ensuring that childcare is also seen as decent work.

“Childcare became the most demanded issue from the government, because of its direct relationship with women’s workforce participation,” says Early. “The next step is to support the government to establish the occupation map on care work, and the national standard for childcare workers.”

Not leaving domestic workers behind

For domestic workers, waiting another 20 years, after already struggling for more than two decades, seems like an unfair burden. Had Indonesia passed the PPRT back in 2004, when it was first proposed, perhaps the country would now be in a better position to deal with its ballooning childcare, eldercare and other care economy challenges.

“There has been no meaningful change in the lives of domestic workers in the past 20 years,” says Lita Anggraini of Jala PRT.

Instead, the inaction has likely led to countless abuses, both in terms of wage theft, but also human rights violations, says HRW’s Khojasteh.

“Many domestic workers [have] experienced horrific psychological, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of their employers,” says Khojasteh. “The Indonesian government should not delay any longer and pass the bill.”

The fear, for Lita and the members of her organisation, is that, despite the growing attention on the care economy and the creation of the new roadmap, as has happened in the past, domestic and at-home care workers will once again be ignored or that a vote on the legislation will be delayed. In fact, JALA PRT and others feel that engagement between government ministries and workers on the care economy roadmap has been lacking.

“There is a conflict of interest among many officials, members of the House of Representatives, and the government, as well as employers,” says Lita. “They do not want any change to the status quo, in which they have enjoyed privileges as employers.”

The only alternative? Continue the struggle, as the only way domestic workers will get rights, JALA PRT believes, is through action.

“We engage in advocacy, lobbying, hearings, campaigns, and social media,” says Lita. For that, she sees expanding awareness as key. “Hopefully, we will receive increased support from the mass media and the public.”