Publication

The Gender Observatory: COVID-19 and the Crisis (4th Edition/Sep 2020)

The month of September marked six months since COVID-19 was first detected in Indonesia. Globally cases have continued to rise but so too has hope as vaccine development shows promising progress in Indonesia and abroad.

This edition of the Gender Observatory takes a deep dive look at how the pandemic is exacerbating workplace inequality and suggests ways that lessons learned during COVID-19 can inform workplace reform to improve equality and outcomes.

In this issue, the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Economic Development (Prospera) examines glass ceilings and women’s representation in the Indonesian civil service. Prospera reasons that ensuring the public sector is representative of the population it serves would accelerate an inclusive and equitable COVID-19 response.

Investing in Women and the International Labour Organization (ILO) then argue the business case for workplace gender equality in Indonesia. They show how COVID-19 has highlighted the need to promote flexible work arrangements and adapt technology to improve work-life balance while improving performance.

Continuing the focus on women in business, Kopernik demonstrates how the simple intervention of adding online sales has the potential to help small women-led businesses to boost profits and improve livelihoods.

The SMERU Research Institute then brings the focus back to public health by showing how local government innovations have been key to maintaining maternal and child health (MCH) services during the pandemic.