Algebra : Jurnal Pendidikan Sosial dan Sains
Vol. 6 No. 2 (2026): Algebra : Jurnal Pendidikan Sosial dan Sains

THE GENDER DIGITAL DIVIDE AND WOMEN'S LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION IN INDONESIA: A SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS OF BPS STATISTICS

Muhammad Arif Fadhillah Lubis (Medan State Polytechnic)



Article Info

Publish Date
28 Jun 2026

Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between the gender gap in internet access and the female labor force participation rate (LFPR) across 34 Indonesian provinces. Official secondary data were obtained from the National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas), Statistics Indonesia (BPS), for internet access by gender (2023), and from the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas), BPS, for LFPR by gender (2025). Four newly formed Papuan provinces were excluded because 2023 internet-access data were not yet available for them, leaving 34 provinces as the final analytical unit. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and simple Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression. The results show that the gender internet-access gap is positively and significantly correlated with female LFPR (r = 0.376, p = 0.028) and negatively correlated with the gender LFPR gap (r = -0.349, p = 0.043) - a pattern that runs counter to the common assumption that a wider digital gender gap should be associated with lower female economic participation. The simple regression model explains only 14.1% of the variance in female LFPR across provinces (R2 = 0.141). These findings indicate that the internet-access gap alone cannot serve as a sole proxy for the gender gap in economic participation, and that other structural factors - such as the dominant employment sector, socio-cultural norms, and education levels - are likely to be stronger explanatory variables. This study recommends that women's economic empowerment policy should not focus solely on expanding internet access, but should also account for the sectoral and social context of each region.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

ejournal

Publisher

Subject

Education Environmental Science Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Mathematics Neuroscience Physics Social Sciences Other

Description

Focus and Scope Algebra: Journal of Education, Social and Science focuses on interdisciplinary studies on the integration of education, social science, and science in improving the quality of education. Algebra: Journal of Education, Social and Science has a scope: Education Field Education ...