Paid Maternity Leave - Come on Australia Let's Do It!

Australia is one of only 2 OECD countries that still doesn't have paid parental leave (USA is the other one - surprise surprise!).

Kevin Rudd promised that paid leave would be on the agenda when he won office but has claimed the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has now put this on the backburner - but why? Surely this would help struggling parents just as much as any stimulation package???

This is also the view of Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young (mother of a 2 year old) who argues in this SMH article for Paid Parental Leave to be a definite in this May's Budget.

Let's support the debate to make sure it is!

http://tinyurl.com/cgdn6w

Southern Cross University Supports Working Women

Thank goodness some organisations are still seeing women as a valuable asset.

FIVE universities were dropped from the 2009 employer of choice for women list last week (albeit due to changes over pay gender equity criteria). Southern Cross University (SCU) was named as a new 2009 Employer of Choice for Women yesterday, as a result of ensuring a fair workplace for working women.

The Development Program for Women offered at Southern Cross University includes a mentoring program, as well as a networking forum hosted by the Equity Services and Human Resource Services.

Mentoring and networking forums - just what we've been offering for years. So listen up all you other organisations that don't currently offer this.

That's what we want. That's what we need.

New Years Thoughts on Working Mothers

How do we negotiate the nearly impossible task of nurturing partner, children, career and self in the isolation and lack of community today? The social support we desperately need to ground ourselves for the relentless tasks of motherhood is absent. How can we recreate that?

That was part of our purpose for designing The Corporate Mothers' Forum - so working mums could just talk to each other and download. Becoming a mother is one of the biggest physical and psychological transitions that a woman can go through - along with menarche (the first period) and menopause (the last period).

But of these three female transition stages - childbirth involves a change so dramatic that women often feel their lives are on the line. All vestiges of control must be surrendered and swept aside for total transformation of the woman into the mother. It often astonishes women how vulnerable we can feel after childbirth as our whole endocrine system has been turned upside down. Was this your experience?

To register for more tips, see www.workingmotherssecrets.com

Westpac bails out their ABC Childcare Centres

Congratulations Westpac for walking your talk about supporting working mothers! They have taken over the operation of many of their childcare centres under threat from the recent ABC Learning Centre debacle. So the continued care of their Westpac employees' children has been assured.

Let's hope that happens for many more of the Centres and for the worried parents hoping to find places for their children.

Forcing Mothers to Work?

A new survey reports that two-thirds of mothers are being 'forced' to work to make ends meet.

1000 adults (were they all mothers?) were surveyed for the poll by The Daily Telegraph newspaper and reportedly only 7% of mothers go back to work to maintain their career.

It is also reported that a similar percentage of Mums go back 'because they want a break from the family'.

The rest (ie around 66%) work because of financial reasons. Well isn't this why most men work anyway? And what of the single mother scenario - of course they have to work.

What do you think of this survey?

http://news.smh.com.au/national/many-working-mums-would-rather-be-home-20080826-429g.html

Cost of being a stay-at-home mum: $1 million

Well it seems like we're damned if we do work - or damned more if we don't.

This review of Ann Crittendon's book 'The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued' documents in painstaking and depressing detail all the ways in wihich government policy, the tax code and corporate culture penalise mothers who work and the parents who stay at home.

When women decide to leave the workforce, they not only forfeit their income, but also super savings, pensions and other benefits. The financial tradeoffs she lists are a stunning indictment of a mother's financial vulnerability. An economics writer herself, Crittendon recommends several smart policy changes for government that would reduce the financial penalty of having kids, especially for SAHMs (Stay at Home Mums). But the goverment acting on our behalf may take decades - so here's some practical ways to bolster your financial and emotional security now -

1. Reconsider the prenup ( or if in Australia, consider doing one so that your agreement takes into account the career time given away and lost earnings if you're a SATM)
2. Figure out, if you can personally afford this (including sometimes the hit in self-esteem and sense of identity but the 'cost of work' ie travel, wardrobe, eating out etc can be reduced)
3. Be honest about what you need if you're going to be the SAHM - time at the gym, extra help, etc.
4. Keep planning for your retirement - maybe the working partner invests for the SAHM's future.
5. Don't assume you're leaving the workforce - consider sequencing or home-based work
6. Find out if your company is more family-friendly than you think - ASK for what you need!

Maybe our Corporate Mother's Forum could help you and other Working Mums at your organisation? See http://www.howdoyoudoit.com.au/

Full article at http://tinyurl.com/3dafy9 or buy the book at http://tinyurl.com/3k2dc2

Professional Women Working Part-Time Don't Achieve Balance They Want

A recent report from Beaton Consulting Group has found that professional women do NOT achieve the balance in work/family life they are looking for when they elect to work part-time, as well as taking a financial hit at the same time.

The 2008 Executive Summary to the Report 'Work Life Balance in Australia in the New Millenium: Rhetoric vs Reality' reports the findings of a study of over 11,000 knowledge workers across Australia. Respondents were both male and female, with dependants and without. Childcare and eldercare issues are examined.

Some other interesting findings were:

• 25% respondents worked more than 50 hrs/week + 6 hrs/week unpaid overtime
• 23% think of leaving their current organisation at least once a week or more
• 42% report high levels of work overload
• respondents are 3.6x more likely to prioritise work over family

The report calls for governments to pay attention to the work/life issues to address the falling birth rate and to change the tradition of focus on hours at work as a measure of productivity, contribution, loyalty and engagement.

Organisations are encouraged to increase their

• perceived flexibility
• number of genuinely supportive managers of flexibile work practices
• employees' sense of control over their work situations

and to decrease their employees' workloads. It is proposed that professional women do face a glass ceiling with respect to career opportunities and advanacement. Women with child or eldercare responsibilities, in particular, appear to be disadvantaged.

It's great to see that such a large scale study being undertaken - let's hope governments and organisations take note so that the next generation of working mothers don't have to struggle as much!!

Full report at : http://www.beaton.com.au/pdfs/BC_WorkLifeBal_summary.pdf