and a decrease in fertility rates.<sup>10</sup> Previous research in Indonesia has shown that women’s economic participation is hindered by marriage and childcare responsibilities (for example, Cameron et al. 2019, 2023).<sup>11</sup> To the extent that data on Indonesian social norms were available prior to our study, they suggest that norms in relation to women’s work are conservative. For example, Indonesian men have a similar tolerance to women working as Saudi Arabian men and are less tolerant than Indian men.<sup>12</sup> Data on attitudes to women’s work from the World Values Survey 2018 shows that 76% of Indonesian men agree with the statement that men have more right to a job than women, with women being only slightly (2 ppts) less likely to agree with this statement than men.<sup>13</sup> Women and men, even young adults, continue to strongly conform to social norms that emphasize women’s childcare and domestic responsibilities because women are perceived as being better at care-giving (YouGov and Investing in Women, 2020). In a qualitative study of 40 young adults in Greater Jakarta and Surabaya, Setyonaluri et al. (2021) found that such persistent social norms often stem from perceptions of kodrat, or God’s will when defining gender roles. Participants in their study saw women working for pay as positive, but only if it was done to support husbands and women did not ‘neglect’ their responsibilities at home.

As a result of our sample being comprised of respondents in large urban centers who have access to the internet, 81% of the women in our sample worked, significantly above the national participation rate of 53%.<sup>14</sup> However, only 53% of wives of male respondents worked.

Of the female respondents who were working, only 41% worked exclusively outside the home (45% of the wives of male respondents). Of female respondents who worked, 47% were wage workers, with the remainder being self-employed with no employees (37%), self-employed with employees (7%) or casual or family workers (9%). If we define the formal sector to consist of wage workers and self-employed businesses with staff, 54% of working women in our sample are employed in the formal sector. The formal sector is not particularly family friendly with flexible and part-time work rarely being available (Cameron et al., 2023).<sup>15</sup>

> 10Of Indonesian women aged over 25 years in 2018, 31% had completed upper secondary school, compared to only 3.4% in 1980. World Bank Databank. Accessible at https://databank.worldbank.org. The service sector accounted for about 29% of employment in 1991 and 49% in 2019. See https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS?locations=ID&view=chart.

> 11Halim et al. (2023) show that the expansion of public pre-school provision from 2003 has not changed this situation.

> 12A Gallup survey found that 43% of Indonesian men prefer women to not engage in paid work outside the home, the same as Saudi Arabia and more than India (35%), (Gallup and ILO, 2017).

> 13Gender norms are becoming more conservative in Indonesia over time. In the 2006 World Values Survey 65% and 42% of men and women agreed with the above statement respectively.

> 14As reported in the World Bank data bank, see https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS?locations=ID/.

> 15Of the wives of male respondents who worked, 58% were wage workers and 62% were employed in the formal sector. Cameron et al. (2023)) find that women who were employed in the formal sector prior to having their first child were 20 percentage points less likely to be working than other women in the year following the birth.

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