Gender Inequality Improves, But Indonesian Women Still Face Challenges in the Workforce
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) states that Indonesia has seen an improvement in gender inequality on an aggregate level. This is reflected in the Gender Inequality Index (IKG).
According to data from the 2025 Inter-Census Population Survey (SUPAS), Indonesia’s IKG level stands at 0.402, a decrease of 0.019 points compared to 2024.
“Over the past five years, Indonesia’s IKG value has shown a downward trend. This decline indicates an improvement in gender inequality on an aggregate basis,” said BPS Chief Amalia Adhininggar Widysanti during a press conference at the BPS Head Office in Jakarta on Tuesday (5/5/2026).
There are three dimensions compiled by BPS in the IKG: health, with indicators being the proportion of women aged 15 to 49 who give birth outside health facilities and the proportion of women giving birth to their first child under the age of 20. Both health dimension indicators in SUPAS 2025 have improved.
The proportion of women aged 15 to 49 giving birth outside health facilities in 2025 was recorded at 7.7%, a decrease compared to previous years. Additionally, the proportion of women giving birth to their first child under 20 years old also declined to 23.5%.
“The decline in both these indicators certainly reflects improvements in access to maternal health services, increased quality of deliveries by health personnel, and a shift towards more mature pregnancy ages,” explained Amalia.
The second dimension is empowerment, which reflects access to secondary education and representation in legislative institutions.
Indicators in the empowerment dimension have also improved. In the education indicator, the percentage of women aged 25 and above with at least high school education in 2025 reached 38.35%, an increase compared to 2020.
“This increase is recorded as more progressive than that of men, thus narrowing the gender gap in education as well,” clarified Amalia.
However, in the legislative representation indicator, although the percentage of women is 22.28%, it remains below the 30% affirmative target. On the other hand, men dominate with 77.72%. Nevertheless, the gender gap has narrowed since 2020.
Thirdly, the labour market dimension, which describes women’s and men’s participation in economic activities through the labour force participation rate.
According to BPS data, the Labour Force Participation Rate against the Working-Age Population (TPAK) for women shows a consistent upward trend.
In 2025, the women’s TPAK, sourced from the August 2025 National Labour Force Survey (Sakernas), reached 56.63%, increasing more rapidly than men’s TPAK.
However, it must be noted that women’s TPAK still lags far behind men’s at 84.40%. Meanwhile, women are only at 56.63%.
BPS also recorded that the employment-to-population ratio for women in 2025 increased by 1.62 percentage points from 2020 to 95.16%. Women are increasingly active in the economy. The total number of non-labour force individuals decreased by 1.6 percentage points from 2020 to 47.05 million people in 2025.
Furthermore, upon closer examination, the IKG has indeed improved in line with the narrowing of gender inequality. However, disparities in the indicators forming it still occur. Evidently, the IKG improvement is not even, meaning inequality still exists.
“Provinces in eastern Indonesia generally have relatively higher IKG values compared to other regions,” revealed the BPS Chief.
As many as 21 provinces have IKG values above the national average, while 17 provinces are below or equal to the national figure. Looking at annual dynamics, the top three provinces recording improvements in gender inequality are Central Java, North Kalimantan, and Bangka Belitung Islands.
However, some provinces are still experiencing widening gender inequality. The top three provinces with widening inequality are Bengkulu Province, Central Papua, and Papua Mountains.