Economic Pressure, Millions Of Indonesian Children Fatherless

JAKARTA The role of a father in educating children is as important as the role of mothers because both of them have contributions to complement each other in children's development. But unfortunately, in Indonesia a fifth of children grow up in a fatherless condition.

Isufatherless had become a trending on social media. This was triggered by research results that said Indonesia was ranked third as the country with the highest fatherless figure in the world.

Fatherless is a phenomenon of absence from the role of father in parenting, both physically and psychologically. Fatherless cannot be considered a trivial matter.

Fatherless problems are caused by many things, including because fathers have to be far from their children due to job demands so that the role of child care is limited.

In addition, patriarchal culture that is still thick in Indonesia considers that parenting is the responsibility of the mother. The movement of the father to take children on the first day of school is one of the efforts to erode the issue of fatherless in Indonesia.

According to the analysis of the Kompas Daily Data Journalism Team, as many as 15.9 million children in Indonesia have the potential to grow without parental care or fatherless. This figure is equivalent to 20.1 percent of the total 79.4 million children aged less than 18 years.

This finding refers to the processing of Micro data for the National Socio-Economic Survey of the Central Statistics Agency in March 2024.

This analysis is in line with the statement of the Minister of Population and Family Development / Head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency, Wihaji. Quoting UNICEF data, Wihaji said that in 2021 20.9 percent of Indonesian children are less than 20.9 percent.

This means that a fifth of children in Indonesia have lost their father figure which affects the formation of character, endurance, fighting power, and matters relating to leadership.

The issueless that occurs in Indonesia is partly due to economic factors. Although, perhaps, awareness that parenting is the responsibility of parents and not only mothers, it is difficult to deny that the pressure on economic needs often forces parents to work harder to take time.

Back to the data released by Kompas. Of the 15.9 million children who grew up fatherless, 4.4 million of them live in fatherless families.

But surprisingly, the figure is greater, namely 11.5 million children, actually living with a father who has more than 60 hours of working hours per week or more than 12 hours per day. This means that a father spends more time outside the home than meeting children at home. In fact, Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation states that the formal working hours are a maximum of seven hours per day or 40 hours per week.

Dwi Surya, a psychologist in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, emphasized that fathers who work excessively to make their children feel no father's presence.

"Father left at dawn and came home at night so he didn't connect when the child was sleeping at that time," he said.

Based on the results of a qualitative survey of 16 clinical psychologists, divorce is the first cause of a child experiencing theft. Meanwhile, 11 psychologists answered that fathers work outside the city, domestic violence, and there is no closeness between father and son.

Fathers who work outside the city make children lose their father role. This can be seen that there is a strong correlation between the child's data that has the potential to be fatherless and data on fathers living outside the city, represented by the amount of male labor that is not absorbed in the local work market.

As an illustration, data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2024 states that the number of male job seekers in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) is 28,855 people. However, the number of male workers absorbed is 1,208 people. That means, 27,647 male job seekers in NTB are not absorbed in the province. This figure is the third highest in Indonesia after West Java (107,356 male job seekers were not absorbed) and Central Java (57,557 people).

Male workers who do not work in the local labor market can become circular workers, workers outside their homes and return to the area every week or month, as well as Indonesian migrant workers (PMI).

The value of the regression correlation between child data has the potential to be fatherless in 38 provinces with circular worker data and PMI data is also strong, namely 0.96 points and 0.65 points. This means that more and more circular workers and male PMIs contribute to the number of children who do not feel the presence of fathers.

Iindarda S Panggalo, a psychologist in Toraja, South Sulawesi, assessed that the demands for a life that was getting tougher made the father try harder to find a job.

"When there is less job (local), like it or not, my father migrates or looks for work elsewhere. That can cause fatherless," said Iindarda.

Iindarda said fatherless could cause problems with identity, sexual orientation disorders, and difficulty social interaction. However, fathersless can also be a turning point for a person to become a better person than his father's treatment.

"Everything is occupied by the assistance and support of people around," said Iindarda again.

In Indonesia, with patriarchal culture still thick, there are still many assumptions that the father's obligation is considered to be completed when giving money. According to the Minister of Population and Family Development/Head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency, Wihaji, children do not only need economic services.

"Children also need a father figure, leader, a person who has a character who can influence the character of the Builddinganak," said Wihaji.

To overcome the fatherless, Wihaji launched the Indonesian Exemplary Fathers Movement (GATI) on April 21, 2025. He hopes to form a community that is contagious and become a good pilot through this movement.

Yesterday we made a movement for the father to take the child. On the first day of school between father and father, which was then followed by school with father, "Wihaji explained.

That father must work to meet the needs of his family cannot be denied. However, Wihaji also reminded the importance of father's priority towards his family. He emphasized that the most basic institutions are family, then RT, RW, village, district, province, and state conditions. Therefore, family conditions will have a major impact on state conditions.

"The most basic institution is family. I believe whether or not the state depends on whether or not the family is good," said Wihaji.