Data, Regulations, and Implementation of Paternity Leave

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of female workers in Indonesia in 2023 reached 54.41 million, an increase of 1.6 million compared to the previous year. This increase reflects the significant contribution of women in the labor sector and the increasing importance of women's roles in driving national economic growth. As part of the development assets, female workers have the same rights to obtain fair and progressive legal protection. In this context, fulfilling the rights of working women, especially those related to the balance between domestic and professional roles, is an important issue that needs to be addressed through an adaptive legal approach. One of them is by adjusting the provisions for male workers' leave who have become husbands (paternity leave), so that the responsibility of childcare is not solely borne by the mother. This change needs to be considered given the spirit of progressive law that places substantive justice and social welfare as the main goals and supports efforts to empower women and protect the rights of mothers and children comprehensively.

Women's empowerment, especially for working mothers, is an important part of sustainable development and the protection of human rights. In the context of employment, the right to maternity leave for mothers is sufficiently accommodated in various laws and regulations. However, attention to the role of fathers in the birth and postpartum process is still minimal. Referring to the provisions of Article 93 paragraph (2) letter c of Law Number 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower (Manpower Law) it is stated that:

“… employers are obliged to pay wages if: the worker/laborer does not come to work because the worker/laborer is married, marries off, circumcises, baptizes his child, wife gives birth or has a miscarriage, husband or wife or child or son-in-law or parents or parents-in-law or family members in the same house die”

Furthermore, in Article 93 paragraph (4) letter e of the Manpower Law it is also stated that:

“Wages paid to workers/laborers who do not come to work as referred to in paragraph (2) letter c are as follows: …
e. wife gives birth or has a miscarriage, paid for 2 (two) days;”

Based on the two articles above, it can be concluded that husband's leave (paternity leave) is a right given to male workers when their wives give birth. Male workers have the right not to come to work in such conditions and during this leave period the employer is still obliged to pay full wages for two days. However, this duration is considered inadequate in the context of real support for the welfare of mothers and children and in the context of women's empowerment in the workplace.