Govt Assistance, Public Service Out of Reach for Female Breadwinners

Kompas

A woman transport worker carries goods at the Pabean Market, Surabaya, East Java, Thursday (21/4/2016). To help the family economy, the woman works to lift things up to weigh 80 kilograms above her head.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Government assistance programs and public service remain out of reach for female breadwinners from the low-income class who live with their relatives of parents.

Some of these female breadwinners had returned to their parents’ home after their husband left, divorced them or died. Some of these women returned to their parents’ home without their divorce letter or other population document, such as family card or ID card. Their children do not have birth certificates.

“After divorce, most of them returned to their parents’ house or live with other relatives. When the government is [updating its database], they are not recorded as they are deemed as members of other people’s households,” Female Breadwinner Empowerment Program (Pekka) Foundation director Nani Zulminarni said in Jakarta on Monday (3/8/2020).

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Scores of female breadwinners have complained that they are not included in the database of various government assistance programs. This can happen when, for instance, one house has two families, namely the parents’ family (core family) and the family of their divorced daughter.

Netti, 38, of North Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara, lives such a life. After getting a divorce from her husband eight years ago, the women returned to her parents’ home with her child. She did not get any Covid-19 assistance from the government as she did not exist in the government’s database.

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Kompas

Trends in the Number of Households Headed by Women 1985-2017

In Trenggalek, East Java, 30-year-old Lilis cannot process her own family card. She returned to her parents’ house with her child over a year ago after divorcing her husband.

“She moved here from Batam. As she could not show her divorce letter, she could not process her family card. She is confused as to whom to contact,” said Siti Asrofi, the head of a Pekka branch in a village in Trenggalek.

According to Nani, the government should record two families living in Lilis’ parents’ house. However, female breadwinners are often not recorded. This often happens when female breadwinners do not acquire their divorce letter, do not have their own family card or their marriage was unregistered. “They are not included in the government’s database,” Nani said.

They cannot vote in elections.

Consequently, they do not have access to government resources, including social and disaster assistance programs.

For example, an elderly female breadwinner in Madura, East Java, have yet to receive any Covid-19 assistance as she does not have her family card. This is despite her being poor, paralyzed and living alone.

“Another consequence is that they lose their social and political rights. They cannot vote in elections,” Nani explained.

DOKUMENTASI RITA WATI SIRAIT

Rita Wati Sirait (47), women-headed household, in her shop in a fishing village in Tanjungbalai City, North Sumatra, Saturday (8/1/2020). Rita has been struggling alone to support her three children for eight years since her husband died.

Another issue is that different government bodies have different numbers of female breadwinners in their databases. Statistics Indonesia (BPS), for instance, cites that 15.17 percent of households have female breadwinners nationwide. Meanwhile, the Social Welfare Integrated Database said that 19 percent of poor households had female breadwinners.

“Our own estimation is that 24 percent of breadwinners are women. However, the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry cites that 31 percent of direct cash assistance beneficiaries are female breadwinners. It’s even bigger,” Nani said.

Data governance

Gadjah Mada University law school lecturer Sri Wiyanti Eddyono said in Yogyakarta that female breadwinners were often not included in the government’s data collection because data governance was linked to identity politics. For instance, in preparing assistance programs, the government’s survey includes questions, such as whether they are natives or married. People who are not married are often deemed as members of other people’s households.

Sri Wiyanti said that female breadwinners should be recognized as the number of working women continued to increase, both in domestic and public affairs. “We can no longer put men and women in different boxes. The reality is far different these days. So many more women have increased roles in domestic and public affairs,” she said.

Therefore, many have said that articles 31 and 34 of Law No. 1/1974 on marriage must be revised, especially stipulations citing that husbands are breadwinners and wives are homemakers. These articles are deemed irrelevant nowadays