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Women's participation in the workforce

More than just lip-service

Anne SummersIt is great to see women's employment issues and problems - such as lack of equal pay, lack of child care, lack of paid maternity leave - finally being acknowledged and put back onto the political agenda.

While in my last blog I suggested the government has done well in promoting women to senior roles in cabinet, it is important that it does not commit the mistake of typecasting women as mothers, thus alienating those who have yet to have kids, or whose kids have already grown. 

I was disappointed that the Rudd government decided not to reverse the previous government's downgrading of the women's policy advice function from the Prime Minister's department to the welfare area.

As you will recall, the Howard government not only downgraded the Office of the status of Women but also changed its name - to the Office for Women. We lost our power - and our status. 

The Rudd government has given us back the status, at least in the title Tanya Plibersek enjoys as Minister for the Status of Women - but not the power. There is now an Office of Work and Family in the Prime Minister's department, but not an Office of Women. I am not being semantic here. As I will point out in a moment, not all women are in the workforce and not all women are in what is generally understood to be a family - and many don't want to be. An office of women covers all situations. An office of work and family is already premised on a certain set of choices.

Equally problematic is the removal of EOWA from the Employment portfolio to the department of Family and Community Services. This is no doubt so that it can be attached to the Office of Women and Tanya can administer it. Nevertheless, removing equality of employment functions from the Employment Department is a significant change in policy. As is the fact that none of women's policy is now represented in Cabinet. One to watch.

At the same time, I do welcome childcare being removed from the welfare area to Julia Gillard's powerful education and employment portfolio where, finally, the policy looks like it might receive the serious treatment it has long been denied.

I hope that the government will restore the previous practice of monitoring and reporting on trends in employment, income and so on. We suffered greatly under the Howard government, but it was difficult to document the details because all the monitoring mechanisms were silenced or shut down.

Making flexibility mainstream

Elizabeth BroderickWork place flexibility is about looking for different models of success, rather than creating roles only for individuals, apparently with no extraneous caring responsibilities, who can provide a 24/7 commitment to their paid work.

The first challenge we need to tackle in order to create more flexible work practices in Australia is a couple of cliché's which are holding us back.

I realised early on, that if I was to be effective in this role I would need to tackle these clichés, and work proactively to place gender equality firmly back on the national agenda.

The first attitude we need to tackle is the notion that gender equality is somehow a battle of the sexes, an eternal tussel for supremacy rather than an attempt to create a more workable, more productive society for everyone.

The second attitude against which we need to struggle is the notion that flexible work practices are somehow a women's issue, and limit our discussions to maternity leave and looking after small children.

Advance Australia Fair

Anne Summers

Will women be better off under the Rudd government?

Advance Australia Fair! I can't think of a better title for a session exploring issues affecting women in the workplace. 

Because we want a fair deal for women. We have not had that for far too long but we can hope that, with the election of the Rudd government, that is going to change.

In the time available to me today, I want to remind us of what we lost under the Howard government and what we want restored to us under the Rudd/Gillard government.

In November 2003, I published a book called The End of Equality, which documented the reversal of women's rights under the coalition government.  It made three key points:

1) That the Howard government brought an ideological perspective to women and tried to send us back to the 1950s; in particular, it tried to bribe us into having more babies and it used policy to deter mothers from working, unless they were single mothers in which case they were given no choice.

2) The Howard government also downgraded, disempowered or outright abolished key agencies and offices designed to advocate for women's equality and to monitor our progress.  As a result, it sent a strong signal to the community that women's status was no longer of concern. 

Impact of Board Diversity on Productivity and Competitiveness

Ruth MeddIf companies are serious about remaining competitive, they need to start at the board level, explains Ruth Medd.

There are two major arguments for increased diversity and more women on the boards of Australian companies. Firstly the civil society argument that boards, like other institutions, should be reflective of the society in which they operate. And secondly there's the business case.

There is ample evidence that board diversity is good for productivity and competitiveness, and that injecting diversity into boards and senior management improves overall performance.

Take recruitment and retention as a case in point.

One of the greatest challenges for business in Australia today is the attraction and retention of talent in their organisations.  In a tightening labour market, retention of female talent, in particular, is a challenge that business is now more interested in addressing. 

Mentors and role models

Kate RimerFlexibility is not just a women's issue, but the lack of support and outright antagonism from some senior women does not help the cause for change and continues to be a great disappointment.

In my last two blogs on Open Forum I talked about some of the challenges and support I received as I navigated the straights of a challenging career and motherhood.

In this last piece, I would like to talk briefly about the roles of mentors in managing work/life issues and flexibility, which we will come back to later. I have managed to combine work and family through the support of some key people, especially the mentors I have had along the way.

The week I returned to work after having my first child, I had a visit from Prue, a senior legal counsel in my client group, who took time to connect with me about being a working mum (she also promised to let me know if I came to work with puke on my shoulder). Prue was always talking about her kids and showed me that it was OK to bring "the whole person to work" and seek out support from those who had traveled the path before me.

I also got great advice from my friend Debra, a mother of 3 and senior executive with a major industrial company, told me early on: "It is really hard making it all work. Each of us do it in different ways. You don't have to justify your way to anyone else. But when you work part-time you've got to be organised so you have to have Plan A, B and C to cover all eventualities with the kids".

I see mentors such as these as hugely powerful enablers to successful flexible work. They help provide the emotional resilience. They show how to minimise the road blocks and are the sounding board on the realities of childcare, chicken pox, homework, cakes stalls and vacation care.

Unfortunately, there are also some women; "the queen bees" who still don't get the need to support other women around work/life issues. Flexibility is not just a women's issue, but the lack of support, in fact outright antagonism from some senior women does not help the cause for change and continues to be a great disappointment. Perhaps I am just an old fashioned feminist and expect more.

Flaws with Centrelink and the policies relating to studying single parents

Ramona MacFarlaneThe policies about education and single parents are very limited, they do not support long-term financial independence for individuals, but are focused on short-term solutions that cut back government expenditure.

As a single parent, I understand the pressures facing many women and men as they try and juggle children, child care, study, work and school, not to mention maintaining a home that is a positive and nourishing environment for their children and themselves.

I have just completed a bachelor's degree, which I started when my son was two and a half. I was on a Centrelink parenting payment single and although I did receive minimal extra monetary support from Centrelink, in the form of an education supplement of $62.40 per fortnight, ultimately I did not feel I was supported to attain my degree.

I decided to go to university so I could gain more secure employment and eventually cease needing government support. When I began my degree I decided to do it part time, as that was the best for my son and myself. I did this successfully for three and half years before Centrelink started to harass me.

When my son reached school age I was called into my local Centrelink office to discuss my job searching requirements. At that time I was doing part time study, which consisted of four contact hours and 20 hours of study per week. This level of commitment was about as much as I could manage while still keeping our home in order, doing extra curricular activities for my son like, soccer and gymnastics while finding time to study and finish assignments.

Centrelink informed me that now I had a school aged child I was required to do 16 hours per week of work either paid or volunteer. I was shocked that they were asking me to take on another activity in to what was already a busy life that was difficult to manage. I tried to explain to the customer service officer that my study time added up to 20 hours per week and that my face-to-face time was four hours per week and thus giving me a total of 24 hours per week of activity, but they told me the 20 hours of study didn't count! They only considered the 4 hours of face-to-face time and thus I would be required to get a job or my Centrelink payments would be stopped.