# 1. Introduction

_“The population of Indonesia has reached around 260 million people, half of which are female. There is tremendous potential from their economic participation, in addition to their strategic role within the family,”_ Sri Mulyani Indrawati (Minister of Finance, Indonesia) and Retno Marsudi (Minister of External Affairs, Indonesia). November 7, 2017.<sup>1</sup> Indonesia is home to 260 million people<sup>2</sup> spread over thousands of islands and has made considerable progress toward gender equality over the past decade, with improved rates of literacy, school enrollment and employment, and policies enacted to pave the way for a more **gender-equitable society.**<sup>3</sup> In the 1970s, the GPI (Gender Parity Index) for school enrollment rates for children 7-12 years old was 0.89, signaling a significant disparity in favor of males.<sup>4</sup> The gap was even wider in older children, with the GPI for school enrollment rates of 13-15 year-olds and 16-18 year-olds at 0.78 and 0.55, respectively, showing a strong female disadvantage. However, by 2019, progress toward gender parity in education participation had been achieved at the national level, with a GPI of 1.00 for school enrollment rates of 7- 12-year-olds. The ratios for 13-15-year-olds and 16-18-year-olds have now shifted to a slight female advantage, with a GPI of 1.02 and 1.03, respectively. Policies and national targets have helped to achieve greater gender equity in education, including Presidential Decree No. 9/2000 on Gender Mainstreaming in the National Development Planning and Programming; the strategic plans of MoEC (Ministry of Education and Culture) and MoRA (Ministry of Religious Affairs), the two main ministries in the education sector, and RPJMN (Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah Nasional/National Medium Term Development Plan).

Despite the massive expansion of school enrollment, Indonesia still faces challenges in its human capital development. The World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI) utilizes health and education indicators to measure the amount of human capital a child born today can expect to attain by the age of 18, ranking Indonesia 87 of 157 countries with a 2018 score of 0.53. This means that a child born in Indonesia today will be 53 percent as productive when she grows up as she could be if she enjoyed complete education and full health. While Indonesia’s overall score is higher than the average of lower-middle-income countries (0.48), its score still falls behind the global and East Asia Pacific (EAP) averages, at 0.57 and 0.61, respectively.<sup>5</sup> Across the five indicators that comprise the 2018 HCI, scores for girls are higher than for boys, with girls achieving an HCI of 0.55 compared with 0.52 for boys. With regard to education, girls’ learning-adjusted years of school is 8.1 compared with 7.8 for boys, demonstrating a pervasive female advantage when it comes to education in Indonesia; expected years of school and harmonized test scores are also higher for girls.<sup>6</sup>

> 1 Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Marsudi, R. (2017). Girls’ education and the future of a nation. World Bank: 3 November 2017. <u>http://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/girls-education-and-future-nation?CID=EDU_TT_Education_EN_EXT</u>

> 2 World Bank (2018). Population, total: <u>https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL</u>

> 3 The 1945 Constitution of Indonesia; Education Law No. 20/2003; Presidential Decree No. 9/2000 on Gender Mainstreaming in the National Development Planning and Programming; National Education System Law No. 20/2000; Ministry of Home Affairs Regulation No. 15/2008; Ministry of Education Regulation No. 84/2008; National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 20102014; MoEC and MoRA Medium-Term Education Strategic Development Plan,  2010-2014; MoEC National Gender Mainstreaming Working Group (Pokja Gender PUG).

> 4 GPI is a ratio of female to male values of a given indicator.

> 5 <u>https://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/hci/HCI_2pager_IDN.pdf</u>

> 6 - World Bank (2018). Human Capital Project: <u>http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/human capital</u>

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