Women still struggle to juggle paid work and unpaid care work (2024)

Natalia Kusumaningrum, 43 years old, drove her motorcycle through South Jakarta’s crowded streets. As food delivery worker, she had to make sure she arrived on time at a customer’s apartment complex. It was a hot and humid afternoon, yet she had to bring her two-year child with her as she made her deliveries.

She has no choice. Her husband works as a cook in a restaurant, while her mother takes care of their second child and manages a small shop. For the mother of three, hiring a babysitter or asking help for family members is not an option.

“Yes, I take my child with me. I have been holding him on a motorcycle since he was baby. When he was still breastfeeding, he would cry at the red lights asking for milk,” Natalia told.

She was one of the five women from diverse backgrounds selected to record their domestic and caregiving tasks for seven days. They recorded their care and nurturing work in their household, including taking care of children, elderly parents and other domestic work as part of the ILO-Magdalene’s social experiment on care work.

This also showed the importance of affordable childcare services for the type of part-time food delivery workers likes Natalia or many other women workers who work as self-employed or home-based workers to reduce the women burden and protect the kids from any potential work-related hazards.

Early D. Nuriana, ILO’s Programme Coordinator for Care Economy

The social experiment was conducted as part of the ILO campaign on care work and economy aimed to promote a greater investment in care economy for building a better and more gender equal world of work in Indonesia.

As part-time food delivery worker, she earns less than Rp 500,000 (US$31.25) per month. She cannot put in more hours as she has to look after their youngest child, make sure there is food on the table, clean the house, do laundry and more. Juggling the roles of a mother, housewife and a worker leave her with almost no time think about herself.

“I always wake up feeling extremely exhausted. Sometimes, I just leave the house as a mess because I am so tired,” she said. “But who would believe me if I said I was tired.”

© Magdalene/ILO

Natalia contributed 103.58 hours per week or 414.33 hours per month as a caregiver. That means she would earn Rp 23 million (USD 1,437) a month from her caregiving work, or 46 times her current income from delivering food, if it was a paying job.

Just like all social experiment’s participants, Natalia agrees that caregiving work is important. They also believe that caregiving work is women’s work, not men’s. Women do a better job at nursing others and women are naturally suited to caregiving and care works.

“Once, while nursing my baby. I forgot that I had not eaten,” said Natalia. “I only realized that I was feeling dizzy and shaky when standing up. I did not even have time to eat, let alone comb my hair and reapply lipstick.”

Natalia admitted that although she had asked her husband for help around the house several times, she continued to feel unsupported. “Even if I get help, I don’t expect the results to be 100 percent the same.”

I always wake up feeling extremely exhausted. Sometimes, I just leave the house as a mess because I am so tired. But who would believe me if I said I was tired.

Natalia Kusumaningrum, a food delivery worker

Early D. Nuriana, ILO’s Programme Coordinator for Care Economy, stated that the story of Natalia was the story of most Indonesian women. She cited the ILO survey in 2023 on the public’s perception about care work that 61.6 percent of male respondents have wives or sisters who bear a double burden, while female respondents with a double burden is 79.3 percent. However, most of female respondents (67.3%) also said that they do not feel like they have longer hours to do care work compared to male.

Thus, she emphasized the urgency to acknowledge and recognize care work as productive work. “If we already acknowledge or recognize this, whoever does caregiving work, women or men, needs to be appreciated. Duties related to care work should also be distributed equally, and not solely the responsibility of women,” she said. “This also showed the importance of affordable childcare services for the type of part-time food delivery workers likes Natalia or many other women workers who work as self-employed or home-based workers to reduce the women burden and protect the kids from any potential work-related hazards.”

The acknowledgement, she added, can increase women's work participation, which currently ranges from 54.42 percent to 70 percent in accordance with the 2045 National Long Term Development Plan target.

The story of Natalia is based on the article published by Magdalene, an online magazine that educates, empowers, and pushes for a more equal society through solution-driven journalism, as part of the ILO-Magdalene’s social experiment on care work.