Policy Brief Source : http://playstationcanterbury.com/
Translating the provision of child care research evidence to inform policy and practice
Child Care Policy To Increase the Welfare of Indonesian Working Family Anindita Dyah Sekarpuri, MSR
Executive Summary Indonesian working parents are faced with many challenges and condition that non-working or even retired parents may not need to face.
These working parents
need to juggle with their workload for their jobs and a household at the same time. One of the challenges of being a working parent is that parents are expected to be a nurturer and a provider. The provision of childcare for Indonesian women employees especially for government employee has become an interesting issue to study and there was not much research on this particular issue that has been carried out in Indonesia. As the attention to this poverty alleviation issue has grown, the Indonesian governance develop social assistance program, which also gives more attention to reduce corruption level and increasing the job performance of government employees. Until now, childcare or any other form of family support in work place is not one part from Indonesia’s social assistance agenda to increase the welfare and ensure the participation of working women in labour force as a good and capable government employee.
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Therefore, this policy brief aims to discuss and analyses the theories, presenting postulation and finding from the previous studies and relate it either directly or indirectly with the issue of the impact of providing child care in Indonesia as a part of social assistance to increase the job performances of Indonesian government employees. As
Why is this issue important? Provision of child care for government employees as a part of social assistance is a crucial issue to discuss. The approaches on this issue could be examined from several factors, not only in terms of type of child care but also from the influence of traditional culture, religiousness and education levels on the employees, especially for women, regarding the family-work formation. All of these factors also affect their job performances. Working mother cannot concentrate at work when they have no choice of child care. In this situation, until now Indonesia does not have a certain policy that regulating this provision of child care as a compulsory in each working place in Indonesia, especially in government offices. Part of the employer’s responsibility and responsiveness to their employees, as proposed by Frone (1996), employers should address social problems through a specialized, technical, intellectualized and systematic ways. These ways are not just from top to bottom, but more important to accommodate employees’ aspiration and hope (a bottom-up approach). Moreover, provision of child care as one of the Indonesian children’s right to have a proper nurturer from their parents, as mentioned by the Indonesian Ministry of Empowering Women and Child Protection (2009,p.66); so by mainstreaming this right can ensure a qualified early childhood education. However, in these Indonesian children rights concepts are not mentioning how to apply and also to ensure the provision of early childhood education and care for children, especially for those whose parents are working. A further weakness in this concept is there is no real action or plan that can be practically applied in Indonesian condition nowadays.
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What does the research tell us? Mc Donald (2010) proposes that in Indonesia “provision of early childhood education and care enables mothers of young children to maintain their attachment to labor force”. It means that the contribution from productive age women can make a better life for her family economic level, furthermore it will increase national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as mentioned by Thirlwall (2006, p. 226) and also leading to reduce Total Fertility Rate (TFR) because these working women tend to have more time outside their home to do some productive activities rather and increase their bargaining position in their household decision making as Parawansa argues in Kathryn (2004,p.74).
These productive working mothers who need to breastfeed
their infants are supported by the current policy in Indonesia with the regulation number 13 year 2003 article 83 about the right to give an exclusive breast milk during working time and the obligatory to provide a breast milk corner place ( pojok ASI). This policy should be continued to develop as a provision of child care policy because who will take care of these infants when they need to be caring during working time. Though there is challenge in defining child care that is really suitable for Indonesian government employees need, in this study the definition by Johansen et.al (1996) is used in day care which is providing “educational or developmental attributes of care” and also “extrinsic characteristics of care” so it can give a holistic education for children when their parents are working. Johansen prefer to use this type of child care because he based it on the research that day cares are more preferable than family day care or home care. This definition should considered the cultural situation in Indonesia, as Utomo (2010) stated that even though the support from the extended family is preferably available when women should work, the job benefit to support their performances in working place should be provided and supported by the government.
Further study of the child care effect on
organizational culture in workplace by Calabro et.al (2000) for 240 respondents in
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United States report that there is a need to pay attention for the child care worker as it will affect the quality of the child care. Family support policy has been assessed in different ways by various researchers, one interesting finding by Brandon and Temple ( 2006) for 1,546 workplaces that had job benefit program (child care facility and family leave policy) reiterate that family support policy has connectedness with absenteeism, retention and productivity of workers. It can lower the absenteeism rate, retain employees and job performances can be increased too. This positive result can make a good benefit for both-sides, employer and employee. Based on previous study by Frye and Breaugh (2004) that by providing a family friendly environment in the work place can reduce the family-work conflict, as a result employees’ job performances can increase too.
Furthermore, from the theories that have been discussed above,
showed that job performance is correlated with the provision of family support in work place. It is also one of the factors that affect the productivity of working women. With these conditions, we can conclude that the employer’s decision on the family support policy (in term of providing child care) is also a determinant factor in gaining a good and supportive working condition.The role of employer in providing child care services to community especially for those women who work in their company has extended to regulation maker and has become strategic actor in society. Furthermore, Ampofo (2001) stated that “while the discourse on gender relations often starts by addressing issues of patriarchy and gender roles, it generally ignores explanations on how gender is constructed”. So that it is important to understand about how “cultural constructions of gender are associated with the socialization of young people”, which has implications for a variety of issues related to their future. This can also be related with the influences of the traditional culture on the constructions of gender's view on young people which would also affect their perception in the future in terms of equality of decision making process between men and women. Nevertheless, this gender construction in working place need to be improved otherwise there are no solution for working women’s problem in raising children.
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Child Care for Government Employees: Evidence from Survey The evidence from the Child Care Assessment that were held from December 2012 to March 2013 using mix methods surveys (questionannaires, in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions-FGD) in the Indonesian National Family Planning and Population Board showed that almost 90 percent of married respondents had stated that they need the establishment of child care on the work place . Among them, only 5 percent of the respondents said that this child care on the work place is not their choice for raising a child while they are working. The main reason is they still rely on their parents/family to take care of their children. Interestingly, almost all FGD respondents agreed that they hardly can count on the housemaid to take care of their children because there were issues of turn over and low-quality housemaid can have a long affect on their children. Furthermore, respondents were more likely to judge their perceived knowledge of child care on the work place to have been higher, the higher their education and the better job status/level. Those with tertiary education were twice as likely to have agreement on the child care on the work place compared to those with a lower school degree. All respondents were asked whether their preferences to have the kind of child care services that suits to their hopes. Overall 88 percent of the respondents stated that they want to have a trustable place to take care of their children, preferably with doctor, nurses and skilled-baby sitter. Moreover, they want a reliable child care that they can afford to pay the cost. The survey results show that among top level employees stated the majority choosing for the child care services options was for parenting (35 percent) and the result for the middle-low level was higher in the same options (42 percent) . This result shows that the demand for the government employees nowadays concerns more about the quality of the child care place.
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Figure 1. Percentage of respondents who agreed of child care on the work place policy by job level at the time
Source : own calculated from the Child Care Assesment Survey, 2013 (N=113)
What are the implications of the research? In further analysis of the survey above, we compared the results from the 2013 Child Care Assessment survey with the 2010 Greater Jakarta Transition to Adulthood Survey. All these surveys show similar results regarding the need of establisment of child care for the working family, especially for women. The establishment of child care is a very crucial thing especially for working women who has a double burden to raise children and to do work, whether at home or at the office. Friedan et.al (1994) mentioned that the decision to go to work for working parents seems to be more difficult for women to leave their children when they have to go to the office. The community structure made the expectation for women is higher
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than men; they have to be a good mother for their children while on the other hand they have responsibilities in their work. Indonesia must be carefully apply type of family support policy as it can reduce the fertility rate and increase human capital, as it proposed by Utomo (2010).Mc Donald (2001) criticize the application of work-family policies in Australia and on his point of view, by providing a large transfer payment from Australian government to drop out working women are wrong targeted and it means that there are some improvement need to be done in the future as it compares by France, Norwegian and other western countries.
Considerations for policy and programs Child care programs need to be consistently aligned and consider the links between employee’s need and employer’s hope, and the importance of the early childhood education Child care need to be proactively assessed comprehensively from the lowest level of government employees to the top level; this assessment of provision child care is crucial to provide a good and reliable child care in work place All aspects in government that related with this child care issue should be versed in the importance of provision of child care to increase job performances of the Indonesian government employees Gender equity is also an important issue that must be understood not only in studying the equal participation of men and women in the work place, but also in examining the policy that already apply in the workplace
Short Term Recommendations It is recommended to give an advocacy and socialization on provision of child care trough advertisement on the television and through short message text /other mobile applications information using mobile phones and internet. Indonesia has responded quite well to the urgent need for support for working women especially for government employee. The increased funding on national budgetary of government employees’ remuneration program will help offset the 7|Page
negative effects of overtime work load and can be provided by reducing child care costs for government employee, make for more timely delivery and, potentially, offer new facilities of transportation to accommodate parents to bring their children with them in an in site work place child care. These are very positive changes.
Long Term Recommendations The current policy does not promote an explicit progressive policy on provision of child care. This needs to be revised quickly through additions and amendments to all working areas. Provide the information and education of the gender equity in child care and the regulation (law) to support its application in workplace. The government through the Ministry of Empowering Women and Child Protection gives the employers training and module (booklet) so that they understand the importance of provision of child care to increase their employees’ job performances from information and education about the gender equity in child care. Moreover, it must be continued to give an advocacy about the new law/regulation. Make early childcare education as one of a sector priority in Indonesian Aid – It is impossible to attend to the child care crisis without focusing specifically on the of women who cannot participate in the working force because they do not have child care option Contribute to a supportive and non-threatening work place for parents and children– these rules must allow governments to support sustainable working condition for working parents A comprehensive cooperation between three government institutions; The Employment State Board, the Ministry of Women's empowerment and child protection, and the Indonesian National Planning Board for the policy, advocacy and education on equality in child care support system for the working family.
References Brandon,P.D.,Temple,J.B.. (2006). Family Provisions at the Workplace and Their Relationship to Absenteeism, Retention, And Productivity of Workers: Timely Evidence 8|Page
from Prior Data. Australian Journal of Social Issues.,Vol. 42. No. 4 (Summer 2007). PP. 447-460. Calabro,K.S.Bright,K. Frank L.Mackey. Thomas;et.al. (2000). Child Care Work : Organizational Culture and Health and Safety.AAOHN Journal, Vol. 48. No. 10 (October 2000). PP. 480-486. De Vaus, D.A. (2002), Survey in Social Research (fifth edition), Allen &Unwin, New South Wales. Frye,N.K.Breaugh,J.A. (2004). Family Friendly Policies, Supervisor Support, Work-Family Conflict, Family-Work Conflict, and Satisfaction : A Test of Conceptual Model. Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 19.No. 2 (Winter 2004). PP. 197-220.Retrieved 21stAugust 2011; Source URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25092896. Indonesian Ministry of Empowering Women and Child Protection. (2009). “KonsepdanPengertian PUHA PengarusutamaanHakAnak”, Jakarta. Retrieved on 20thAugust 2011;Source URL: (http://www.scribd.com/doc/45904258/Konsep-PUHA); Indonesian State Employment Agency. (2010). “Distribusi PNS Berdasarkan Kelompok Jenis Jabatan dan Jenis Kelamin”, Jakarta. Retrieved on 16th March 2011; Source URL: (http://bkn.go.id/in/component/content/article/69-statistik/1305-distribusipns-berdasarkan-kelompok-jenis-jabatan-dan-jenis-kelamin); Johansen, Anne S. et al. (1996). “The Importance of Child Care Characteristics to Choice of Care”.Journal of Mariage and Family.Vol. 58. No 3 (Aug. 1996),pp.759-772; Kossek, Ellen Ernst. Nichol, Victor. (1992). “The Effects of On Site Child Care on Employee Attitudes and Performance”. Personnel Psychology; Autumn 1992; Vol. 45 No. 3 (Proquest Central). MacKinnon, Carol E. King, Donna. (1988). Day Care: A Review of Literature, Implications for Policy, and Critique of Resources. Family Relations, Vol. 37. No. 2 (April 1988). PP. 229-236. McDonald, P. (2000), “Gender Equity in Theories of Fertility Transition”, Population and Development Review - Vol. 26, No. 3, Published by: Population Council. Retrieved 2nd August 2011; Source URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/172314 . McDonald, P. (2001), “Work Family Policies are the Right Approach to the Prevention of very Low Fertility”, People and Place - Vol. 9, No. 3, p. 17-28. Mc Donald, P. (2010), “The 2010 Greater Jakarta Transition to Adulthood Study Policy Brief No.3. Early Childhood Education and Care for Disadvantaged Families”.Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute The Australian National University, Australia. Neuman. W. L., (2006), “Social Research Methods; Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches” (sixth edition), Pearson education, Boston.
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Novaro. 2011. “DaftarGaji PNS 2011”. Jakarta. Retrieved on 24th May 2011; Source URL: http://mesinpercetakan.com/kenaikan-gaji-pns-2011/ Meliany. 2009, “Daftar Daycare”, Jakarta.Retrieved on 16th March 2011; Source URL: (http://19515d20.linkbucks.com/ ); Office of Educational and Cultural Research and Development, Centre for Informatics (1998). “EFA 2000 Data Assessment: Early Childhood Care Development (ECCD) and Primary School (PS) Core Indicators based on Urban/Rural and Public/private 1990 to 2000, Indonesia. Indonesia. Robinson, K. Sharon,B. (2002) “Women in Indonesia : Gender, Equity and Development”. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. Sciortino, R. (1998), “The challenge of addressing gender in reproductive health programmes; example from Indonesia”, Reproductive health matter - Vol.6, No.11. Source URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3775520, retrieved 02 August, 2011. Thirlwall,A.P. 2006. “Growth & Development: with Special Reference to Developing Economies”.Palgrave Macmillan, New York; UNICEF (2007).Someone that Matters.The Quality of Care in Childcare Institutions in Indonesia.Jakarta: DEPSOS RI-UNICEF Utomo And Mc Donald, P. (2010). “Gender and Reproductive Health Study Policy Brief No.1”.Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute The Australian National University, Australia. Utomo, I. Mc Donald, P. Reimondos,A. Utomo. Hull; et.al (2010). “Employement and Economic Condition of Young Mothers in Greater Jakarta”.Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute The Australian National University, Australia.
Acknowledgement This policy brief is made possible by funding from the Indonesian National Family Planning and Population Board (BKKBN) as part of Master of Social Research study at Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, the Australian National University (ADSRI‐ANU). For further questions and enqueries please contact :
[email protected], Center of Population Research and Development, BKKBN Phone : (+62) 21 8009029
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