Syndicate content Subscribe to the RSS feed
Home › WORK/LIFE BALANCE
 › 
Maternity leave

Paid maternity leave from a small business owner's point of view

Fri, 03/10/2008 - 15:02 — Richard Knuppe

Richard KnuppeThere has to be an element of "user pays", otherwise, the system will be ripe for abuse.

I'm not a massive believer in mandatory paid maternity leave. And I definitely think it should be restricted. The suggestion of 12 months is too long.

I don't believe in handouts generally. In the case of maternity leave, I disagree with the attitude that just because you want to have a baby that you should expect the government to support you. 

Something I find really immoral is when women choose a new employer based on the fact that they know after a certain period of time they will become eligible for paid maternity leave. Not disclosing your intentions when you plan to need leave after 6months is wrong.

And I'm highly sceptical of paid paternity leave. Men can't breastfeed. I'm sure there are some Dads who use it properly to look after the baby when the Mum returns to work early - but I find it hard to believe they are in the majority.  I think most blokes who take it up will be just having a holiday.

Granted, I'm an old school kind of guy, and I know a lot of these ideas I'm expressing are out of fashion; but before you jump up and down thinking I'm a sexist old fogy, let me finish.

Finding time for kids

Fri, 11/07/2008 - 13:17 — Jenny Macklin

Jenny MacklinKeeping children's interests at the heart of family policy debates

If we want to give children the best possible start in life we know the early months and years are absolutely vital for social, cognitive and physical development. It's about what's in the best interests of children.

Women who continue to work after having a baby mostly do so because they need the income. We need to give new mothers some breathing space to bond with their baby, to give them a nurturing environment, to establish breast-feeding if they can and to learn how to care for their babies. All so that little babies will get a better start to life.

That's not to say that full-time mums don't need support too. They do. And this Government is committed to supporting all mothers, whether they are in a paid job or at home. We value the hard work of all mothers regardless of whether they are in paid work. That's why we provide support through a range of measures including the Baby Bonus, Family Tax Benefits A and B, the Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Rebate.

What about Dad?

Douglascomms's picture
Tue, 26/02/2008 - 13:10 — Douglascomms

Paid maternity leave misses the point! 

Paid maternity leave is an important question but we're still missing the point when it comes to raising kids in this country.

It takes TWO parents, extended family and a safe welcoming community to raise kids, not one woman with superhuman strength, a scandalous earning capacity and a 38 hour day.

By focusing on women and maternity leave not only do you alienate all the Dads out there, but you also place too much emphasis on the role of the mother, again raising expectations beyond what's actually possible.

What we need to look at, and look at realistically is paid parental leave, and providing Dads, as well as Mums, with more support in carrying out the most important job they'll ever take on.

To be honest I'm surprised anyone actually shoulders the risk of becoming a Dad in Australia today.

Paid maternity leave is not a capricious feminist whim

tamaraplakalo's picture
Mon, 21/01/2008 - 08:25 — tamaraplakalo

 

A sociology lecturer once gave me a valuable piece of advice: “If you want a government to act on an issue, make sure you tell them how much it is going to cost them if they don’t.” Understanding that this suggestion was probably truer today than at any other time in history, I recently set out to find some information on the cost of not providing paid maternity leave to the working women of Australia. Surprisingly – or not, I have found no information of the kind.

It has to be interesting that one of the most contentious social policy issues in contemporary Australia has been fought on economic grounds only when justifying the absence of a unified, committed, national policy on paid maternity leave.

Australia's not so secret shame

Mon, 18/08/2008 - 09:54 — Anne Summers

Anne SummersSexual assaults remain disturbingly prevalent, seem to be increasing and the rates of successful prosecution for these offences is declining.

Sexual harassment in the work place is a challenge to which we all must rise if women at going to gain access to any kind of economic equality with men. However, the last decade has seen our basic rights to a safe workplace free from harassment seriously challenged politically, legally and culturally. And as a result the incidence of abuse has skyrocketed.

We know that women still endure constant sexual harassment at work and elsewhere. The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission reported in 2001/02 that there had been a 700 per cent increase in complaints about sexual harassment over the previous ten years.

Sexual assaults remain disturbingly prevalent, seem to be increasing and the rates of successful prosecution for these offences is declining. The same is true of domestic violence, a difficult area in which to obtain precise statistics, but we do know that services such as women's refuges that cater to victims report they have never been busier.

We know women are still fired for being pregnant and they continue to be sacked while on maternity leave. This is a blatant breach of both state and federal anti-discrimination laws yet employers calculate that the risk of being prosecuted is so small that they do it anyway.

Inputs required from Mums

Fri, 30/05/2008 - 16:17 — bheeshmachand

Valuable inputs required for paper on Parenthood, Pregnancy, Birth and Post Birth

123next ›last »