The road to gender equality in the labour market seems to have shown progress in Indonesia. The progress is shown, though not solely, in the increasing of women’s participation rate in the labour market from 54% in 2020 (WEF, 2020) to 55.9% in 2021 (WEF,2021), even in the middle of Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, according to World Economic Forum (2021), there still exists participation gap in the labour market between men and women in Indonesia by 28.1% and even income and wage gap by 69.71% and 51.7%, respectively. In addition to that, Indonesia’s economic participation and opportunity subindex score in 2021 is still at 0,647, with 1 showing parity, and ranked at 101 out of 156 countries. So, why does the gender gap actually matter? 

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Graph 1. Economic Participation and Opportunity Score in Indonesia, 2021 
Source: World Economic Forum 2021 

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International Labour Organization (2018) stated that having assured that women have the freedom to work is an important part in ensuring good human welfare for women. Moreover, in economic perspectives, smaller labour force participation gender gaps will contribute to boosting global GDP. Therefore, striving for women’s economic empowerment, specifically in Indonesia, must always continue. The big question is, what could be the cause in these gender gaps? One factor that might affects it is the dilemma between career family that is commonly found in working mothers, or the dual role of working mothers. 

According to Wentling (2003), family obligation is considered one of the constraints that hindered mothers’ career development. Furthermore, Beck (1985) also stated that the responsibility of mothers for childcare and other housework has significant implications for occupational differences between men and women. These statements strengthen the fact that gender gaps existing most likely are caused by the dual role of working mothers. Before discussing further, one thing that must be highlighted is the fact that not all women want to have a career, not few chose to prioritize family without doubts. Hence, setting a limit of what will be discussed in this article, the focus is on those having the dilemma.

 
First of all, why do women face this dilemma more often than men in general? Kahneman (2003) stated in his behavioural economics framework that labelling can either allow or limit options for both men and women. Though, when it comes to career discussion, women tend to be more often compared between their success in motherhood and career achievement. Johnston and Swanson (2006) found the significant impact of “good mother” and “bad mother” labelling towards women’s decision in career. Good mother is stated as “the one who is always there” whereas bad mother reflects “the one who isn’t”. Moreover, ILO (2018) also stated that women’s career preference is influenced by pressure to fulfil traditional gender roles. These few of many examples in women labelling contributes significantly to defining the so-called appropriate social roles ideals for women which affect their career decision. The difference between men and women in this specific case is that men face different stigmatisation in career development, hence causing the dilemma to be mainly faced by women. 

When working mothers are faced with the dilemma, factors regarding the trade-off between the two choices affect their decision. Poduval and Poduval (2009) mentioned that the benefit of working mother includes financial independence, sense of women empowerment, and additional income that improves family’s living standard. On the other hand, Betrand in Kuziemko et al. (2018), state that the cost of mothers in employment include cost of day-care services, emotional cost, such as guilt, of being separated from child, and less break from balancing both work life and household activities. As parental role is not easily subtitled, some studies also mentioned the effect of working mother on child development. However, this analysis cannot be generalized as there are differences in the situation faced by the working mother herself and her family. Therefore, trade-off analysis differs depending on each individual. 

In conclusion, gender gap existing, especially in terms of economic participation, is a problem that many strive to overcome. The factors affecting it differs, but one most common is the dual role of working mothers. Dilemma between career and family is more commonly found in women due to stigmatisation and labelling faced mainly by women. Facing the dilemma, women make choices regarding work-life balances by analysing the trade-off from each option. In the end, this article discusses the issue in general and it will definitely differ according to personal situation faced by each working woman and her family. Nevertheless, acknowledging the dual role problem by taking into account and taking actions in minimizing barriers regarding work-life balance faced by working is crucial in reducing gender economic participation gap in Indonesia. 

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References 
Becker, Gary S. (1985). Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of labour. Journal of Labour Economics, 3, S33–S58. doi:10.1086/298075. 
International Labour Organization. (2018). The gender gap in employment: What’s holding women back? Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/infostories/en-GB/Stories/Employment/barriers-women#intro. 
Johnston, Dierdre J. & Swanson, Debra H. (2006). Constructing the “Good Mother”: The experience of mothering ideologies by work status. Sex Roles, 54, 509–519. doi: 10.1007/s11199–006–9021–3
Kahneman, Daniel. (2003). A perspective on judgement and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58(9), 697–720.
Kuziemko, I., Pan, J., Shen, J., & Washington, E. (2018). The Mommy Effect: Do Women Anticipate the Employment Effects of Motherhood? National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 24740. doi:10.3386/w24740
Poduval, Jayita & Poduval, Murali. (2009), Working Mothers: How Much Working, How Much Mothers, and Where Is the Womanhood? Some Issues in Women’s Studies, and Other Essays (A.R. Singh and S.A. Singh eds.), MSM, 63–79.
Wentling, Rose Mary. (2003). The career development and aspirations of women in middle management — revisited. Women in Management Review, 18(6). 311–324
World Economic Forum. (2020). Global Gender Gap Report 2020. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/reports/gender-gap-2020-report-100-years-pay-equality. 
-----. (2021). Global Gender Gap Report 2021. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2021.