Maternity Protection for Women in the Gig Economy: Challenges and Opportunities for Legal Reform in Indonesia

Abstract

The rise of the gig economy has created new opportunitiesfor women to participate in the labor market, offering a level of flexibility that conventional employment systems cannot always provide. However, this flexibility comes at the cost of the loss of basic social protections, particularly maternity protection. In Indonesia, maternity rights guaranteed under the Labor Law and the Job Creation Law apply only to formal employees with clearly defined employment relationships. Gig workers, classified as independent partners, are excluded from such protections. This situation creates a normative gap between Indonesia’s international commitments under CEDAW and ILO Convention No. 183, and the reality of national law, which remains rooted in an industrial-era paradigm. This study employs a normative juridical method with conceptual, comparative, and reflective-philosophical approaches. The analysis examines employment relationships including fixed-term contracts (PKWT), permanent employment contracts (PKWTT), and freelance arrangements and situates gig workers within Indonesia’s labor law framework, comparing these with practices in other jurisdictions that have ratified relevant international instruments. The findings indicate that the failure of the law to secure maternity rights for gig workers is not merely a regulatory void, but reflects a lag in the national legal paradigm in responding to structural changes in the digital economy. This study proposes a hybrid regulatory model that balances operational flexibility with basic social protection. The state should expand the legal definition of employment to include platform workers and require digital companies to contribute proportionally to social security schemes, including maternity insurance. In doing so, the law can fulfill its essential function: protecting human dignity and promoting social justice amid ongoing economic transformation.