Widening the Gender Lens on Trade: An exploration of the potential for trade to grow the care economy in Indonesia
By: Holly Lard Krueger, Lead Trade and GESI Adviser, Katalis
Globally, there is growing momentum around the potential for care policies to catalyse women’s labour force participation and accelerate economic growth. In Indonesia, the case for public and private sector investment in care policies and care services is being advanced by the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection in partnership with multinational institutions, regional banks and development programs. To contribute to this effort, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Principal Gender and Development Specialist, Keiko Nowacka and Katalis Director Paul Bartlett sat down to discuss the potential of trade to grow the care economy in Indonesia. This blog summarizes the key points that emerged from their animated conversation and is intended for care economy advocates in Indonesia and around the world.
Care is gaining attention as an economic issue
“The issues about care: who’s doing the care, who’s paying for care workers and the conditions for care workers more broadly has really come to the forefront of the [political] agenda.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADBOne of the largest gender gaps in labour force participation is in Asia, despite very dynamic economic growth pre-pandemic. According to Keiko, these numbers cannot be explained by traditional economic theory. Instead, she says that governments, the private sector and civil society need to address the underlying reason why women are not working, namely inadequate care services: a point that women’s organisations have been advocating for a while.
“Care is really an economic issue, that needs to be taken into account.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADBAccessible, affordable and quality care services is the key to unlocking the economic potential of Indonesia and the Asia Pacific region more broadly. According to Keiko, this is one of the reasons that the ADB is working on the care economy. To date, ADB has supported investments in long-term care in Indonesia and going forward, they are increasing their focus on childcare. It is at the heart of ADB’s current Strategy 2030. Similarly, Katalis started working in the care economy because of its potential to contribute to commercial, economic and development outcomes. According to Paul, a prime example of this triple win is the joint venture supported by Katalis, between Australian healthcare group, Aspen Medical International and Indonesian company, PT Jasa Sarana. Together, they plan to build 23 hospitals and 650 clinics in West Java, an investment valued at over a billion US dollars over the next decade. Women are expected to be significant beneficiaries of this investment as employees (70% of the healthcare workforce are women) and as medical care recipients.
“We thought this deal was a great fit for Katalis because it has great economic benefits, but it also has a great development outcome for women in Indonesia.” – Paul Bartlett, Katalis
Care is recognised as an enabler of gender equality, yet its links with macroeconomic policy deserve acknowledgement and more action
Care is inextricably linked with broader macroeconomic issues of economic performance, labour market productivity and trade yet rarely viewed through that lens. Keiko believes that policy dialogue should not be restricted to who uses care services, but also take into consideration who is currently providing these mostly unpaid services: women. Governments that take into real consideration the toll of unpaid care work on economic performance (not to mention other important metrics like social and development outcomes) will start to take care seriously.
“Once we start to have policymakers see care as a sector, we’re going to see a lot more women thriving in the economy.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADBThrough ADB’s entrepreneurship work in Indonesia, Keiko heard many women entrepreneurs repeatedly cite the lack of quality and affordable care services as the main obstacle to growing their businesses.
“Without affordable and quality care services in place, women can’t run their businesses the same way as men. They cannot travel to markets the same way as men [because of unpaid care responsibilities]. These social norms are preventing them from growing their business.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADB
As a project that promotes trade between Indonesia and Australia, Paul has also seen the importance of addressing the obstacles, especially those related to care work, faced by women-led businesses engaged in trade. This perspective is reflected in Katalis current portfolio of business partnerships and its support for care economy awareness raising activities like the “Economics of Care” webinar series which brings together business leaders from childcare, healthcare and aged care sectors in Indonesia and Australia to discuss concrete trade and investment opportunities such as franchise models, curriculum and standards development, furniture, equipment and health and safety supplies, training and capacity building or educational materials and technology.
Building a skilled care work force generates human capital and economic returns
Historically care work has been undercapitalised and undervalued. For trade to contribute to building an inclusive, equitable and sustainable care economy in Indonesia, policies must recognise that quality is as essential as accessibility and affordability, says Keiko. She believes building a skilled care workforce has the potential to be empowering and directly contribute to the formation of future human capital, if done in a way that prioritizes quality.“Since care work is fundamental for our societies and economies to function, we need policies [and public-private sector collaboration] that enable quality care provision.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADBBuilding on this point around quality, Paul drew attention to the potential for trade in labour to be mutually beneficial, when brain circulation is the objective and is embedded into trade policy and practice. According to Paul, the concept of brain circulation is at the heart of Katalis work on skills exchanges with Australia.
“It’s in all our interests, for win wins on both sides. If caregivers were to mobilise across to Australia, we need to think about how to design policies and programs that result in sustainable, mutually beneficial, circular arrangements. I think that point needs to be made very clear.” – Paul Bartlett, Katalis
Accelerating the growth of the care economy requires a multisectoral, multistakeholder approach
The care economy in Indonesia is undoubtedly investable and tradeable. As evidence, Paul shared examples of three other Katalis supported care economy investments: an activity to encourage greater bilateral cooperation in the nursing profession; care related micro-credentials developed by Australian RTOs such as University of New England, Chisholm Institute and TAFE Queensland and offered through Indonesia EdTech platforms including Binus Center and PINTAR; and Simplr Health International, an Australian-backed regenerative healthcare facility in the Sanur Special Economic Zone in Bali.
Yet, both Paul and Keiko agree that, inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth of the care sector in Indonesia requires a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral approach in which all actors within the ecosystem, public sector, the business community, civil society organizations are empowered to play a meaningful role.
“The private sector can’t do this alone, and I’m sure the public sector would say the same thing. We want businesses in Indonesia and Australia to understand the opportunity for trade and investment in each other’s respective economies. This is what we’re trying to do here through this discussion, our webinar series on the care economy and through our collaboration with ADB. It is all to raise awareness that growing the care economy requires a multi-pronged and multi stakeholder approach.” – Paul Bartlett, KatalisA multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral approach is particularly important when considering that care work is often provided by and for some of the most vulnerable people in a community. The prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment needs to be built into any kind of investment in the care economy, says Keiko.
“When we build care infrastructure, whether that’s for children, or for the elderly, or for persons with disabilities, the quality of that care must be at the centre of our thinking because these are often the most vulnerable people in our communities.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADB
Trade and investment in the care economy can be mutually reinforcing when policies are intentional and holistic
The idea of applying a care lens to trade is far from common practice in Indonesia or elsewhere in the world. In fact, it was only in 2017, that the World Trade Organization endorsed the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment and began encouraging the application of a gender lens to trade. In this context, Keiko thinks it is valid for governments and development partners to start engaging on this topic by asking ‘how can applying a care lens complement existing women’s empowerment policies and programming and where are the real entry points.’“I think there’s an opportunity now to reflect on where those care economy opportunities are, and to broaden the discussion to those other stakeholders in other sectors or groups.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADBSince the Government of Indonesia just launched the Care Economy Roadmap 2025-2045 and is now developing the accompanying medium term development plan, Keiko thinks it is the perfect time to open discussions around the role of trade in developing the care economy, especially with trading partners like Australia, which has a world leading early childhood education and childcare sector.
“I think it’s a great time to have this conversation. There is an opportunity for Indonesia to learn from trading and development partners, forge a circular knowledge economy on care.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADBWhen the topic of trade policy for the care economy is approached holistically, Keiko sees numerous entry points. This could be policies that incentivize investing in care businesses directly, as women entrepreneurs are more likely to work in the care sector. Or it could be about implementing policies which ensure quality and affordable care services are available in special economic zones to enable the participation of women-led businesses in these zones. What matters is thinking holistically and being intentional because trade policies can strengthen the care economy and vice versa, says Keiko.
“Trade and investment in the care economy can be mutually reinforcing.” – Keiko Nowacka, ADBThrough Paul’s experience with the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the bilateral trade policy between Indonesia and Australia, he has realised the importance of being intentional in applying a care lens. Reflecting back on the IA-CEPA, he believes that some opportunities to accelerate the development of care services such as aged care and childcare were overlooked, mainly because trade policy negotiators did not know how to look for them.
“Trade and investment agreements are probably under done in terms of how they can help deliver the care and women’s empowerment outcomes that we’re all looking for.” – Paul Bartlett, KatalisWhile it is clear to both Keiko and Paul that trade can be an effective way to grow Indonesia’s care economy, they both acknowledge that the newness of the topic coupled with the inherent complexities of the sector merit more discussion and practical recommendations for ecosystem actors.
“The care economy has been seen from a gender lens and not so much with a trade lens. This conversation today and I think the conversations that are happening in Indonesia, are at the forefront of a lot of the global discussions on care and gender equality.” –Keiko Nowacka, ADBADB and Katalis will co-host a roundtable discussion in November 2024, convening diverse care ecosystem actors, on the potential of trade to accelerate the growth of the care economy and contribute to women’s economic empowerment and macroeconomic performance more broadly.
