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Foreign capital effects on gender wage differentials in Indonesia

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Gender — from Costs to Benefits

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Abstract

The good news first: The gender wage differential2 in Indonesia declined during the past fifteen years until the Asian financial crisis. Whereas in 1986 women’s monthly wages represented less than 60% of mens’ monthly wages, in 1997 this percentage had risen to more than 70%. The persisting gap has commonly been attributed to the typically longer experience, higher educational attainment and longer hours worked of male workers (Feridhanusetyawan/Aswicahyono 2001, ESCAP 1998, Manning 1998). However, for all levels of educational attainment female earnings remain lower than males. Additionally, the focus on human capital-related causes of gender wage differentials has been criticized for “blaming the victim”: for example, the gap in educational attainment itself being a result of discrimination both inside and outside the labour market (D’Amico 1987).

I am indebted to Joachim von Braun, Maria Floro, Ulrike Grote, Maja Micevska, Stephan Klasen, Wen dy Olsen, and Susanna Wolf for their invaluable critical comments on earlier versions of this paper. All remaining errors are my own responsibility, of course. The empirical research was made possible by a generous research grant from the Robert-Bosch-Foundation.

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  1. Center for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn, Germany

    Karin Astrid Siegmann

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  1. Karin Astrid Siegmann
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Ursula Pasero

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Siegmann, K.A. (2003). Foreign capital effects on gender wage differentials in Indonesia. In: Pasero, U. (eds) Gender — from Costs to Benefits. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80475-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80475-4_9

  • Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-531-14061-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-322-80475-4

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