Australian Federal Parliment - Breastfeeding Friendly?

A MALE MP is trying to make Federal Parliament more "female-friendly" by allowing new mothers to breastfeed infants without being interrupted.

NSW Labor MP Roger Price has told The Daily Telegraph he wanted to change Parliament's standing orders, allowing nursing mothers a proxy vote. This would mean they would not have to interrupt breastfeeding infants when a vote is called in the parliamentary chambers.

"The parliament is still a very male-oriented place to work and doesn't fully address the need of young female MPs. It's about time we changed," Mr Price said. Skier turned politician Kirstie Marshall created a stir in Victorian Parliament four years ago when she breastfed daughter Charlotte in legislative assembly.

Let's hope so - and go Roger! We need more men like this to support working mums!

Time for Yourself - Curly Leg Hairs?

I flew to Brisbane, Queensland this week to facilitate a 'Working Mother's Forum' for a major law firm there. I had a great session with the Mums there - all so relieved to find out that they are not alone in their challenges and so grateful just to meet the other WM's in the firm and get to know who else is a Mum!

We were discussing taking time out for ourselves as Working Mums - and one WM with a small baby said that her husband had been away for 4 weeks overseas. She realised that she hadn't had much time to herself when she noticed her leg hairs were actually so long they were curly 'cos she hadn't had time to shave them!

Love the image!! Thanks Lisa for the laugh.......

Ahoy thar me hearties!

What we Mums do for our kids huh? I remember my Mum (a stay at home Mum with 6 kids) making us fabulous birthday cakes for our birthday parties - which we were allowed to have when we were 7 and 10 years only. All other years we had a family party - which were big enough anyway with 6 brothers and sisters!

So, buoyed on by memories of those wonderful cakes - I decided to attempt a pirate cake for Elliot's 7th Pirate birthday party - and here's the result! Thank you to the Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Party Cookbook - it really wasn't as hard as it looks.....

As they say in the Mastercard ad:

Packet Cake mix and Lollies - $20

Time taken to Assemble -1.5 hours

Look on Elliot's face when it was finished - PRICELESS!!

'Push It'- Paid Maternity Leave for Aussie Gals

Wow- I just love the magazine 'Marie Claire' for all the lobbying they do for women and working mums!

They have announced a new initiative called 'Push It-Paid Maternity Leave' to lobby for 14 weeks paid leave for new Mums in Australia. They held a rally in Sydney last Thursday 14 June attended by 350 women braving the cold and rain that day! Go girls!

Did you know Australia and the US are the only countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-ordination and Development (OECD) that do not have universal paid maternity schemes? - and this is despite the Australian government encouraging us to have more children!

In Canada, a new mum would receive an incredible 50 weeks paid leave - of which 35 could be taken by either herself or her partner. In Italy, she'd receive 47 weeks, in the UK, 39 weeks, while in Germany and Japan, she would be entitled to 14 weeks of fully paid maternity leave. The UK government recently increased its state-funded maternity leave from six to nearly 10 months. In Australia, employers are not obliged to pay anything once a pregnant worker goes on maternity leave. And it is this continued lack of support for new mothers that has sparked protests.

Register your support for this by going to http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/marie-claire/ - and help PUSH IT!

Welcome to Working Mums Survival Guide

Hi! We are Virginia Herlihy and Maree Lipschitz,

Welcome to our Working Mums Survival Guide! We are both working mums with 2 kids each -and corporate facilitators, executive coaches and 'soon to be' e-book authors!

We run forums for mothers working in organisations to help support them to feel confident and satisfied in all areas of their lives. We're passionate about helping working mums thrive and feel good about their choice to have a career -and have a family.

We'll be posting lots of items to help you achieve this - so check here regularly!

Here's to a fabulous, balanced and satisfying life...

Virginia & Maree