Gender inequality still exists in Indonesia, and that's a fact. Data from the International Labor Organization in 2020, women's income is still around 23 percent below of men. In line with the report from the World Economic Forum in 2021, Indonesia's Gap Inequality Index (GII) is 0.480. It is still far from number 1, which means that gender equality has been achieved.
What about other Southeast Asian countries? Singapore is the highest in the ASEAN region (or ranked 12th in the world) at 0.065. Followed by Malaysia (0.253), Brunei Darussalam (0.255), Vietnam (0.296), Thailand (0.359), Philippines (0.430), Laos (0.459) and Myanmar (0.478). In other words, Indonesia is ranked 9th out of 10 countries. Obviously this is not something to be celebrated.
Then why did this happen? The gender activist, Sugiarti, in the webinar "Gender Equality as Part of the Aspirations of Sustainable Development" held in August 2021, called it the impact of the stigma that women are more unproductive that is still deeply rooted in Indonesian society. Women are trapped in the midst of the sexism of work institutions, and a social culture that excludes roles outside of the male gender.
In short, this growing social culture then leads to a patriarchal culture, where the role of women is only to containing and taking care of children. According to Sugiarti, this social culture then enters the world of work. The problem of patriarchy itself has become a problem in developing countries. But if you look at the fact that gender equality in Malaysia is much better than the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, of course, Indonesia's efforts to erode one of these social polemics are far from over.
So what about the healthcare sector? The efforts have been going on for almost two decades. One of them is through the Minister of Health Regulation No. 1199 of 2004. Based on the ninth point of the Minister of Health's Law, the wages of all health workers in Indonesia are not differentiated by gender.
Everyone gets the same salary. Even so, there are still differences that occur on the ground. Whether this is due to the status of the employing institution (either it's private or public) and how each regional regulation said about the nominal monthly wages.
Worries over the distribution of wages have been decreased almost two decades ago. However, there is still a problem remaining, such as realization to make all health facilities to be a safe space for women. Many cases have emerged about how doctors and patients have committed such unpleasant acts towards women health workers. However, this does not mean that men who work as nurses are also completely free from the potential to experience harassment.
When the perpetrator is a patient, the legal process acts fairly quickly. The reporting and prosecution process does not have to wait long. However, the opposite happens if the perpetrator is a colleague, either a fellow health worker or a doctor. According to the statement from Komnas Perempuan (National Commission of Woman) in 2021, efforts to drag the health workers or doctors often fail because there is no firmness from superiors. The general reason? There is a "reputation and honor" of the institution that needs to be guarded. As a result, there is omission, or even the victim is criminalized.
In fact, the Indonesian Code of Medical Ethics (KODEKI) and the Indonesian Nursing Code of Ethics have both affirmed that medical and health workers are obliged to treat their professional colleagues with equal dignity and respect. Luckily, Indonesia has recently passed a new legal instrument, namely the Anti-Sexual Violence Law (UU TPKS).
One way to reduce inequality is to create a work environment without discrimination. Indonesia is still the lowest in ASEAN for gender equality. However, it is possible to build awareness and act with each other's capacities. Once again, good performance in the work environment is not measured by gender at all.
