Parental Leave
Recently, the Rudd government has posed the following parental leave scheme:
- Working mothers will receive the minimum wage ($544 per week) when they take maternity leave.
- ‘Working mothers’ are those who work at least one day a week in ten of the thirteen months before birth.
- There are no provisions for paid paternity leave.
Of course there have been arguments about whether or not stay-at-home mothers should receive equal payments to those mothers who ordinarily work. And sure, why not? When both grounds are taking care of children in the home, they are both undertaking the same activities and working equally as hard. Equal pay for equal work, right?
Problems come in when you consider that as it is parental ‘leave’, and stay-at-home mothers haven’t actually ‘left’ anything, it gets a bit more complicated. Additionally, if the family has always survived on one income anyway, it seems that the payments may not be necessary. Additionally, payments can act as incentives for some to have additional children. And, in the midst of population pressures, it seems silly to financially reward people for adding to them.
This debate is interesting, and I’d like to know what readers think on this subject. Personally, I think that we can’t value the work or sacrifice of one woman over the other, and therefore all family’s should receive this payment. But ultimately, I think the debate distracts us from something bigger. Namely, why is it that paid parental leave is so gendered?
Stay-at-home dads aren’t exactly the norm, but in many situations it would make sense. Yet, I hear stories all the time of the mother of the family having much greater earning capacity than the father. This is definitely true of my family. My mother has a university degree, where my father doesn’t. Yet, my mother was the one who had to leave work to raise children, and my mother worked only part-time through school. And, despite now having a full-time workload equal to my father, my mother is the one who pretty much does all the housework. Is the same true for you?
I think it’s fine that the mother of the family would like to stay home with her children and take a break from work for a while. Biologically, this is necessary, as obviously it’s far from ideal to work in the final months of pregnancy and straight after giving birth. But it seems like the default expectation is that once the mother could go back to work, she still needs to stay at home anyway. The idea that dad could stay at home at this point instead is still an unlikely alternative.
And now, thanks to this new policy, there is even less incentive for men to challenge gender stereotypes and stay at home. While they may still receive the baby bonus, they are not paid an income for the time they spend at home, and therefore women are better off doing so. The government could so easily allow families to elect to have a payment either for the woman missing work, or the man missing work, so why don’t they?
Great article Erin! It’s clear that the Rudd government is just perpetuating gender stereotypes.
An interesting article from the male perspective can be read here: http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/empty-pockets-and-wonky-careers-can-provide-a-richer-life-20100518-vc3c.html
What your mother did is an interesting case-study, but I’m not clear on the correlation you’re trying to make with that and the gendered nature of parental leave.
I have no understanding of your family situation, but from what you’ve written.. or the style in which you wrote it, it seems like your mother, an educated woman, independently made those decisions (to stay at home, to work part-time, to do the housework). I’m missing the link there.
But, I do 100% agree with your position on women being paid maternity with fathers left out of paternity leave equivalent.
I think that the (few?) men that are stay at home dads or single parents have a LOT less support from the general community and institutions than their female counterparts. Of course that is not to say that single and/or stay at home mums have it easy. But, I believe that if there were a change to the financial assistance men have access to, that they are made aware there are other SAHDs and assistance available, the whole idea may not be so inconceivable.
I think you’re right Christina. I respect my mum’s decision and I think it’s lucky for me that she stayed at home, I’m really grateful for it and I hope she enjoyed it too. I do find it interesting though that earning more doesn’t mean the woman will continue working, and I think we should challenge the idea that the mother should unquestionably be the one to stay at home. But, of course, ultimately, if the mother wants to stay at home there’s definitely nothing wrong with that, and it’s great that she can. I suppose the point is that we need to make the choice as open as possible for all the people involved, in policy but also in terms of the assumptions we make of this kind.
The way I understand it, the payment can be transferred to the father if he will be the one staying at home…
The Paid Parental leave (PPL) – is available to father’s who wish to stay at home. Infact, it can be split between the 2 parents, if so required, provided it is a continuous 18 weeks. Contrary to what you have written, I don’t believe the government is perpetuating the stereotype of gender bias when it comes to caring for children, by not providing the incentives.
It has been my experience that the children themselves have a gender bias, but so do the community as a whole, the wost culprits though is the media, by calling the legislation ‘Paid Maternity Leave’ and reporting it is a ‘win for women’.
My husband, (yes I am female AND I took my husbands name), stayed home to look after our child for 2 years. It is 2 years that he took the opportunity to bond with and care for our daughter, whilst I returned to work. Our decision to do this was not purely financial – I do earn more, but because it was something that he really wanted to do.
I was very surprised from the ‘flack’ that I received from family and friends that insinuated that I was not a good mother, and they did not really believe that my husband would want to look after our child full time.
In relation to the housework…… well I was working full time but I still did 70% of it, I was more greatful that I didn’t have to cook or do the washing… he has been back at work for the last 18 months, I still do 70% of the housework, still don’t cook and rarely do the washing, but raising our child, that we both decided we wanted, is a fully shared responsibility.