Jakarta. The Indonesian government needs to encourage more women to join the workforce to boost the country’s overall productivity, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday (27/02).

Only 48.9 percent of Indonesian women aged between 15 and 64 years old are members of the national workforce, compared to men, who make up 82.7 percent of the labor force, according to data released by the Central Statistics Agency in 2015.

"There is room to boost the proportion of women in the workforce by, for instance, providing affordable childcare and promoting women’s access to finance," Lagarde said at the "High-Level International Conference: New Growth Models in a Changing Global Landscape," which highlighted challenges facing global economic change.

The conference is part of a series of events ahead of the IMF-World Bank meeting, which is set to be held in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Oct. 12-14.

Lagarde said the Indonesian government should immediately increase its female participation in the labor market to close the gender gap in the Southeast Asia’s largest economy, as that can be "an economic game-changer."

Based on Indonesia’s 2045 projection released by the National Development Planning Board in 2016, the government aims to increase women's participation in the labor force to 72 percent. Meanwhile, the total labor participation rate is targeted at 80.3 percent, up from a current 66 percent.

Lagarde underlined the importance of promoting inclusive growth, which in turn can boost the country’s economic growth.

"To be sustainable, new growth models must be more inclusive. Recent IMF research shows that when the benefits of growth are shared more broadly, growth is stronger, more durable and more resilient," Lagarde said.