MotherInc Luncheon
Speech delivered by Commissioner Pru Goward, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Sydney: Regent Hotel, 20 November 2001.
- Thank you for
inviting me here today to talk to you.
- Superwomen - unfair
myth? No, it's an absolute reality. Juggling jobs, house work, organising
kids, hobbies and hubbies, is a management team job where Superwoman
does all the jobs. So there's no debate - the answer is yes. But the
kryptonite we fear is our stress. It doesn't diminish our powers, but
it diminishes our spirit, our sense of self. So long as the rights and
choices of women, especially women as mothers, are not recognised, the
Superwoman syndrome and the kryptonite of overload will persist.
- As federal Sex
Discrimination Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission a major part of my role is educating Australians about their
rights and responsibilities under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984
- which really means to educate the community about the need for women
to enjoy equality of opportunity, freedom of choice and freedom from
discrimination.
- One constant
theme is that any departure from this equality of choice demeans not
only women but men and diminishes our whole community.
- There is no doubt
that in many ways, women have made progress towards achieving equality
in the workplace. However, real problems remain to be addressed, with
women earning significantly less than their male colleagues for no reason
other than their sex, with sexual harassment still endemic and with
discrimination on the basis of sex unacceptably common.
- Yet, it is the
integration of women's reproductive role and childcare responsibilities
into their working lives that is increasingly the foundation for a great
deal of the gender discrimination that occurs in Australian society
today.
- Of course, by
reproducing, they are making a clear statement of their difference,
and for many women who had participated in the workforce for years without
suffering from visible discrimination, the discrimination they suffer
as they enter their reproductive lives can come as something of a shock.
Particularly when reproduction is something with such overwhelmingly
and vital benefits for society as a whole- the continuation of the human
race. Motherhood isn't a motherhood statement for nothing.
- As Belinda Probert
has recently noted, while there have been great advances in the way
we as a society conceive women's role in the workforce, there has been
little change in the expectations we have of motherhood. She says:
The moral equation of "goodness" with "self-sacrifice" is one of the conventions of femininity. The ideology or culture of domesticity in this sense is alive and well in popular culture. [1]
- Women's disproportionate
share of family care reduces workforce participation, interrupts progression
and affects training investment by women and employers.
- It is sometimes
argued that women choose lower paid positions for the non-financial
trade-offs such as flexibility to allow for family responsibilities.
And yes, it is true that many women who work part-time while raising
a family are happy working less than full-time. [2]
- However, I do
not accept that women should be penalised because they continue to bear
the greater responsibility for raising a family. And by penalised I
mean spending the rest of their time in the workforce struggling to
catch up, or are unable to take advantage of training or promotional
opportunities because employers don't take their ambitions seriously,
and, finally, never with enough money to make a decent contribution
to superannuation.
- No wonder so
many women are putting off having children - they know they are immediately
relegated to the bottom of the working class if they do, and may never
return.
- Issues of paid
maternity leave, affordable and accessible childcare, access to flexible
work arrangements and part time work and protection from discrimination
faced by many women as a result of their family responsibilities are
high on my agenda. I know also that they are of concern to all of you
who see the advantage in developing work practices that are socially
responsible and that recognise and accommodate the work/life challenges
of all employees, men and women.
- Today I would
like to talk about an issue that has received a lot of press attention
lately and is one that I'm sure would be of interest to most women across
the socio-economic spectrum - paid maternity leave.
- Australia at
present does not have in place legislation that deals with the provision
of universal paid parental or maternity leave at either the national
or State or Territory level.
- The Workplace
Relations Act 1996 provides for 52 weeks unpaid maternity leave
for all workers and this is the extent of federal legislation in terms
of maternity leave.
- Commonwealth
public servants are entitled, after twelve months continuous service,
to twelve weeks maternity leave on full pay. [3]
In some States and Territories a similar entitlement exists for public servants.
- By contrast,
women in the private sector are dependent either upon the policy of
their particular employer or upon provisions made in their industrial
awards or certified agreements.
- In the developed
world, only three countries do not currently implement some form of
paid maternity leave: the USA, New Zealand and Australia.
- Even then, New
Zealand intends to legislate for the introduction of a Paid Parental
Leave Scheme from 1 July 2002.
- Australia's commitment
to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is limited by a reservation, or
exception, that the government has entered concerning paid maternity
leave.
- Data from the
Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey [4]
indicates that 59 per cent of public sector workplaces and 23 per cent
of private sector workplaces offered paid maternity leave as at 1995.
[5]
- One of the first
things I've done in my new job was to embark on an investigation into
the issue of paid maternity leave and the options available for the
implementation of an equitable and workable paid maternity leave scheme
in Australia.
- As part of this
inquiry, I have conducted numerous consultations with peak employer
associations, unions and other interested stakeholders to seek their
views on the issue of paid maternity leave and how this country might
best implement such a scheme.
- At all times
and in every public engagement I have made it clear that large sections
of small business would be extremely vulnerable were there to be employer-funded
maternity leave and in very competitive industries with tight profit
margins, it might also be a problem. Those we have consulted have said
repeatedly that this form of paid maternity leave could lead to employers
not taking on young women- basically anyone between the ages of 18 and
51 who looks like having a baby. The discrimination would be impossible
to police. Sadly, this reservation, or concern, is scarcely ever reported.
- An interim paper
will be released before the end of the year. It will be forwarded to
all participants in the consultations and other interested people and
organisations to gain their feedback and I will also be conducting a
survey, through the membership of the employer and union groups who
took part in the consultations, in order to seek the views of employees
on maternity leave and work and family issues.
- A final report
on my enquiry will be released in June 2002. I am pleased that employer
and union groups and other individuals have been so cooperative in this
process and hope that the release of this report will increase the impetus
for Australia to implement a workable and equitable arrangement for
parents, and that mostly means mothers, with both work and family commitments.
- A broad range
of policy objectives may be advanced in support of paid parental leave.
The interim paper will assess various options for paid leave against
these objectives. The objectives include the following.
- Declining population
growth: Australia's fertility rate is currently about 1.75, down from
a peak of 3.6 in 1961. The replacement fertility rate is around 2.1.
There is a view that the declining birth rate is the result of the financial
and professional/social disadvantage encountered by families and the
paper will need to examine to what extent paid maternity leave may alleviate
the declining birth rate.
- Health and social
welfare: A large number of women are now in the paid workforce during
their pregnancy and many return, at least part time, within twelve months
of the birth of the child. The paper will consider the extent to which
these are a social cost to be borne by the community, a private cost
to be borne by the family and an industrial cost to be borne by the
employer.
- Human resource
management: Employers increasingly play a role in supporting their employees
to accommodate work and family responsibilities. Business case arguments
show paid maternity leave can reduce attrition rates and encourage women
to return to the workforce earlier. Human rights in this case make good
business sense. With increasing numbers of women graduates (50% in many
cases) employers can no longer ignore the requirements of half their
potential recruits and still want to get the best.
- Fairness for all
employees: Estimates suggest about 30% of Australian women receive employer
funded paid maternity leave, predominantly in the public sector and
larger private organisations. Although overall paid maternity leave
provisions in enterprise agreements have improved, there are limited
instances of paid leave entitlements in agreements in industries such
as retail, accommodation, cafes and restaurants where women predominate.
Cost inhibits small and medium business from providing paid parental
leave and this may in the longer term limit their ability to attract
and retain skilled women employees.
- Addressing systemic
discrimination: Women bear children and because of societal expectations
continue to bear the major responsibility for care of children. The
economic impact of parental leave therefore falls disproportionately
on women for family responsibilities that both men and women share.
- What is becoming
clear during the course of this research is that the business case,
the employer of choice case and the equity case are all, for once, working
together. This represents a certain maturity in the Australian labour
market many might not have suspected and must be commended.
- Whilst I think
a transformation in our workplaces, based on the practical realities
of people's lives are being slowly recognised by all stakeholders in
the workplace, there still needs to be more of a focus on broad community
education, constant stimulation of public debate, greater commercial
enlightenment, intervention into the industrial system whenever and
wherever possible and sound management of individual complaints from
which much can be gained including legal precedents which challenge
existing boundaries.
- We need to get
individual employers to recognise and value traditional women's skills,
reward them fairly and encourage them to seek out and to eliminate discriminatory
workplace practices and policies.
- We also need
women both individually and collectively to take action. To undervalue
the work of women is to overvalue the work of men - to value each of
us on our merits shouldn't be beyond the ambitious and competitive employer
that wants the best for the national interest and the nation's workers.
- My work is a
piece of this jigsaw.
- It is true that
paid maternity leave is just one of a suite of measures that we must
provide to ensure that parents are able to manage their work and family
obligations; that women in particular are not disadvantaged by their
greater role in family responsibilities and that men are able to take
their place as equal partners at home as well as work.
- It is only one
measure - there remain other equally important challenges that we will
need to address if work and family balance is to become a social and
affordable reality.
- Legislation and public policy are important in achieving this 'reality', but alone are insufficient. Australian society also has to want families, has to want balance, has to respect the right of women to economic independence and choice, has to treasure and pursue these as important goals. We can talk the talk and write the cheques, but we also have to want this to be the kind of place we live in. If we do not, then legislation and public policy will be ignored and subverted wherever possible. This is our real challenge.
1. Belinda Probert "Grateful Slaves or Self -made Women: A matter of choice or policy" Clare Burton Memorial Lecture 2001, p 10.
2. Wolcott & H Glazer, Work and Family Life: Achieving Integration, AIFS Melbourne, 1995.
3. Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973.
Last updated 1 December 2001
