Education Research Gender, Education and Development - A Partially Annotated and Selective Bibliography

Indonesia
Malaysia

Indonesia

ODEY-GARDINER, May ling and SUPRAPTO, Riga Adiwoso (1996), Indonesia, in:

MAK, Grace C.L. (ed), Women, Education and Development in Asia: Cross-
National Perspectives, Garland Publishing, New York and London, 95-118.

Indonesia is, in demographic terms, one of the largest countries in the world.
Geographically it is incredibly fragmented, comprising over 1000 islands and at least
300 distinct ethnic groups. Gender is another aspect of disparity, females not having the
same access as men to education, employment and social standing.

This chapter first provides a sustained gender-based analysis of Indonesian education.
Quantitative and qualitative data are provided with the problems laying clearly in the
area of the latter. Not surprisingly, dislocated communications and the insularity of
many of the smaller national components lead to deepened disparities. Such contexts
tend to overcome a long standing policy of equal access to education, traditional roles
for the majority of females result in interrupted attendance and lower attainments than
their male counterparts

In general however, recent improvements in educational participation and qualifications
have led to credentials outstripping employment opportunities in the modem sector. So
unemployment of the educated tends to be more prevalent in urban than in rural areas
and affects both sexes A tendency to remain even longer in education prolongs the
problem. As female superiority of attainment runs right through to the highest levels,
the benefits of higher education for women are higher than for men. In Indonesia there
is little cultural constraint against women working outside of the household, However,
financial rewards for comparable occupations are not equal, and favour males.

Positive development trends in education and the economy have led to the phenomenon
of 'open unemployment', and more among women than men. It is possible, though, that
the currently booming economic growth of the country may provide sufficient private
sector jobs to satisfy the highly educated of both sexes. It is clear that strong policies of
human resource development across the whole population of Indonesia, but especially
in the major cities, is one of the pillars of economic growth in Indonesia. This has relied
on liberal general education supporting diverse skills but it is thought that future growth
needs to be reflected more to science and technology. This could disadvantage females
depending on whether or not traditional choices prevail as between subjects to be

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