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!
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