Released on Wednesday, the data shows nearly 28 per cent of this group cited a lack of access to early childhood education and care as a barrier to employment, due to spots being booked out or inaccessible to them geographically. And 11.1 per cent said it was too expensive. 

The figures add to the mounting evidence of the “motherhood penalty“, the idea that becoming a mum in Australia comes with a high price for women. Last year, Treasury analysis found that women’s earnings falling by an average of 55 per cent in the first five years of parenthood, while men’s earnings are generally unaffected when they enter parenthood.

The ABS survey asked women with children under 15 what would help them in being able to take on a job. The majority (67.6 per cent) said the strongest incentive is the ability to work part-time hours. Many women also cited the ability to work during school hours and 53 per cent cited the ability to vary start and finish times. 

“These findings tell the story of the juggling act that so many women find themselves trying to balance– one that strikes the right balance between feeling financially stable and pursuing parenthood in a way that works for them,” said Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood.

“Unfortunately, the structure of our society is still set up for an era that no longer exists, when dads worked and mums didn’t.

“In modern Australia it takes two incomes for most families to cover a mortgage or the rent, but it takes affordable early childhood education and outside school hours and care to earn two incomes.” 

Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood

Unlocking $128 billion for the Australian economy

This isn’t just a personal issue either. The systemic barriers holding women back from the workforce are costing the Australian economy $128 billion, according to the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce. The tasforce released a final report at the end of last year, looking at how much money could be gained with women’s full and equal participation in economic activity. 

“Women’s economic inequality is so normalised that people assume it is a result of women’s choices, but Australia has the most highly educated female labour force in the world,” the Chair of the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, Sam Mostyn AO told the National Press Club back in October. 

Considering this high price for the Australian economy, Dent says that “early childhood education and care centres in Australia should be funded by the government as critical infrastructure”. 

“Early childhood education and paid parental leave must be seen as critical infrastructure. You can’t go to work if you don’t have a road to get there. You can’t go to work if you don’t have an affordable and safe place for your kid. These things are synonymous.”

Gender equal parenting

Last month, The Parenthood launched The Dad’s Alliance Action Plan, showing that Australian men also want to see a cultural shift in which childcare and employment policies permit both parents to share the work and care loads. 

To do this, Dent says The Parenthood wants the Government to remove the Activity Test (a highly criticised requirement for parents to access subsidised early childhood education and care), make childcare more affordable for low and middle income families with young children and develop more early learning centres in regional and remote areas. 

“We also want to see an increase to paid parental leave entitlements for both mothers and fathers, so that less parents feel their care and career trajectories are at odds,” says Dent.

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“People would come up touch me,” she told Women’s Agenda. “This was something I had never experienced before. I felt that people did not trust my abilities as much as other staff members because of where I had come from. Someone even asked me if we lived in boxes!”

The young nurse was eager to begin a new life in Australia, settling into a home in South East Queensland and starting a family. She didn’t expect her life to take a turn for the worst after she gave birth to her second child.

Less than a fortnight after the birth, Faulkner, who was just 33, woke one morning with an unusual pain in her chest. 

“I was overcome with this indescribable pain,” she said. “I had a gut feeling that if I did not get help I would die.” 

Faulkner’s husband rushed her to the local hospital, where the doctors prescribed her pain killers. They told her she had nothing to be worried about, but Faulkner had an instinct something was very wrong.

“I lost my mother and father at a young age so I couldn’t stop thinking about how my kids would have to grow up without a mother if they were wrong,” she said. 

Faulkner consulted another doctor for a second opinion, though she had to wait a few days before she saw them. When she finally saw the second doctor, she was told she was having a heart attack.

“They were amazed I was still alive with the amount of damage to my heart,” Faulkner said. 

Faulkner had to hire carers to pay her visits at home — a service she said she felt “an incredible amount of shame” from.

“Probably because these care workers were used to servicing the elderly or visibly ill,” she said. “I knew from then on that I wanted to make a difference in this space.”

When Faulkner recovered, she began searching for jobs in the caring services. But she was turned down by prospective companies, over and over.

“No one would give me the time of day because of my ongoing health complications,” she said. “I couldn’t lift anything heavy and my doctor said if I wanted to work I essentially needed to live next door to the hospital.” 

Like many entrepreneurs, Faulkner decided to carve her own path. It would be another eight months before she got her first client. Since then, Home Care Nurses Australia (HCNA) has become one of the leading providers of care services in South East Queensland, and now has operations in ACT, SA, Victoria and WA.

Offering a wide range of services, HCRA provide respite care, managed live in care, companionship and specialisation care and special needs house-work, including errands support and managing diets. Faulkner was keen to create a person-centred service-based company that didn’t limit the kind of ‘typical’ client one thinks of when “home care” services is mentioned.

A vast category of people can seek help from their services, including physically compromised people, housebound people, terminally, chronically or acutely ill, family caregivers and accident victims. 

“I believe in making a difference in people’s lives and I’m trying to change something that doesn’t seem to be the norm,” Faulkner said. 

“I want to be a good role model for my kids and show them that no matter what, if you believe in yourself and are determined, you can really make your ambitions come true. It really is about believing in yourself no matter what.”

Faulkner also acknowledges her biggest champion too —  her husband, whose support is “everything” to her.

“We are a team,” she said. “I remember my first ever client was a long distance away and I couldn’t drive that far at that point. My husband called in sick, took the kids and drove me there and waited six hours for me to be finished. That was where I got my start in the industry.” 

On the eve of this year’s International Women’s Day, Faulkner is toasting to women all around the world.

“Women are shapeshifters,” she said. “I want to be a role model for young girls, especially young girls of colour to prove to them that they can do anything. I do this to represent them and empower them to believe in their dreams too.” 

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“Chauffeur mums” are a well-known Australian phenomenon. A lack of convenient transport options coupled with gendered roles has made many suburban women (and their children) car-dependent, whether they like it or not. And, more often than not, the demands of household chores and child rearing fall more heavily on women.

The car is the default option because public transport services are a poor fit for the complex travel patterns of working mothers. Schools and childcare are often not conveniently located close to either home or the workplace. Managing drop-offs in peak hour while trying to get to work on time can be a nightmare.

Lower workforce participation and higher rates of part-time and casual work among women are also sometimes due simply to the fact that women can’t get to work quickly and efficiently.

So many of the issues women face are a result of urban planning that hasn’t properly considered their needs. As one planner explained to researchers:

“The way that we learn and do planning in Australia is a derived Victorian model. The reasons why development is regulated and the way that planning is regulated and the language we use is hugely around those very white male concepts.”

These gendered impacts need to be placed at the heart of all stages of urban planning, an approach known as gender mainstreaming. Until this happens, our cities won’t be woman-friendly.

A blind spot in the quest for gender equality

The federal government’s recent Women’s Budget Statement recognises that “gender inequality is holding Australia back”. It commits the government to “advancing gender equality as a national priority and closing the gender gaps in our community”.

The government promises significant investments to support structural changes in favour of women. Key topics include women’s economic equality, safety, health and wellbeing. Better financial access – to housing, child care, health care and so on – is a recurring theme of the statement.

This is all highly desirable. What the federal budget fails to explicitly recognise is that poor urban planning causes, or makes worse, so many of the difficulties facing Australian women.

How is urban planning to blame?

The budget statement highlights, for example, the housing affordability crisis and a lack of shelters for homeless, battered women. But these issues are also part and parcel of urban planning.

Physical access to work is mentioned in relation to disability, but it affects able-bodied women as well. Part of the problem lies with the layout of our cities and the design of our public transport systems.

Inflexible trunk lines link suburbs to central business districts and run on rigid schedules. They do not cater well for trips that are not a simple commute, but which instead might involve various destinations across the suburbs.

On-demand services, such as those provided by ride-hailing companies, may better suit many women. So may micromobility services, such as bike-sharing, provided that dedicated, safe infrastructure is in place. Yet, unlike conventional public transport, those services are not subsidised in Australia.

Gendered practices add to car dependence

Women generally drive less than men. But mothers who choose to shun cars can be stigmatised as immature or irresponsible. One study of car-free lifestyles notes:

“Here, parents are expected to ensure that their children have access to a range of after-school activities, even where these are located quite far apart. The onus is on the parents to drive their children any distance lest they miss out on opportunities for enrichment.”

These gendered practices are costly – and environmentally unfriendly – but the way we plan our cities forces women to adopt them.

The budget report contains a section on “climate change and gender” but does not elaborate on how the two may be related.

Another issue is physical access to childcare. The budget talks about “cheaper childcare”, which is obviously crucial. But where it’s located matters too.

If kindergartens are not integrated with people’s workplaces or placed near people’s homes, the extra travel to get to them lengthens and complicates women’s work days. A helpful intervention would be to require all large employers to provide childcare on site.

Finally, the budget statement treats gender-based violence as something that only occurs behind closed doors. But women lack safety in many public spaces too, even on public transport, leading to inequitable use.

According to an OECD report, only 61% of Australian women feel safe when walking alone at night in their suburb, compared to 77% of men. As a professional planner observed:

“I don’t think men realise that women travel through the city differently. […] I had the experience of walking along the bike path the other evening and a jogger came up behind me, and instinctively I thought, ‘Is this OK? Is it a safe situation?’ But men don’t have those moments, even if they’re fleeting moments. I understand that statistically young men are much more likely to be victims of violent street crime than women. But women are more fearful, and that perception changes behaviour.”

Put gender at the heart of planning

In future, the women’s budget might benefit from being structured around the concept of gender mainstreaming. In urban planning, it means gender issues are considered in all stages and aspects of the process: research, advocacy, dialogue, legislation, resourcing, implementation and evaluation.

In Australia, city planning rarely applies comprehensive gender mainstreaming techniques. Yet a number of generic toolkits and guidelines are available.

The United Kingdom’s Royal Town Planning Institute produced one of the first of these resources in 2003. This year, the global consultancy Arup, together with the United Nations Development Programme and the University of Liverpool, released a gender mainstreaming guide, which contains a wealth of best practice examples from around the world.

In addition, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the United Nations all have released gender mainstreaming toolkits and guides for various urban planning subfields, such as transport or international development.

It is time for Australia to follow suit, based on the premise that women-friendly cities work better for all. But a note of caution: generic gender-mainstreaming solutions will need to be tailored to work in the Australian context. Cookie-cutter policies and targets are not the way to go.

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New research from The University of Melbourne published in The Lancet Public Health shows that the negative impacts of lockdown were more pronounced for women in couples with children under the age of 15, as well as women who lived in flats or apartments in Melbourne.

Co-author Professor Mark Wooden said the study shows that COVID-19 lockdowns exacerbated existing inequalities in how household and caring duties are distributed in households.

As we’ve noted many times on Women’s Agenda, women and mothers have been much more likely to shoulder unpaid domestic responsibilities and caring duties during the pandemic.

“If lockdowns and other polices intended to restrict population movement are to remain part of the policy toolkit for responding to pandemics, more attention needs to be given to providing support to alleviate the potential negative side-effects, including for example, focusing on equitably delivering childcare services and schooling,” Professor Wooden said.

“Further research is also needed into the potential modifying role that environmental factors, such as housing and access to outdoor space, might have on the psychological effects of lockdowns.”

The study analysed 151, 583 observations from 20,839 Australians from 2011 to 2020, with data taken from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey.

Notably, the study shows that lockdowns in 2020 were associated with a greater mental health impact on women than men. The gendered effect was most pronounced for those in early to mid-adulthood between the ages of 20 and 54, those in couples with dependent children, those living in metropolitan Melbourne, and those who live in smaller spaces like apartments.

“The average treatment effect for these females was of a magnitude that would be considered clinically relevant and equivalent to that of major life events such as being laid off from work,” the study states.

Interestingly, no negative effect of lockdown was found for single mothers, and there was no evidence that the lockdown effect was different for men in couples, with or without dependent children.

“While this study doesn’t speak to the prolonged effects of lockdowns, nor what the impact would be in the absence of lockdowns in relation to greater illness and death cause by COVID-19, it does provide evidence of mental health effects that should be accounted for when evaluating the merits and costs of the Australian COVID-19 policy approach,” Professor Wooden said.

“It’s also important to note that although our findings are very specific to the Australian context, these policy responses (stay-at-home orders, school and business closures, cancellation of public events and restrictions on movement) and their mental health effects might be widespread around the world.”

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Is opening at 70% really realistic?

The scientific answer to this question is a resounding maybe. The report shows a range of different outcomes which differ considerably based on some key assumptions. The spread of infection may be managed with rates of 70% vaccination if our public health workforce is able to maintain optimal functionality in terms of testing and contact tracing. This seems unlikely in states with high case numbers, like NSW and Victoria. If the public health response is only partially effective then medium level restrictions may be required.

Unsurprisingly, the modelling shows that it is safer to open up at 80% vaccination. Although unfortunately, even at these higher vaccination rates we need to prepare ourselves for ongoing low-level restrictions like face masks and capacity limits. The importance of this has been highlighted by the current spread of infections in the highly vaccinated populations of Israel and Singapore.

What does this mean for Australian women?

There is one thing the Australian modelling shows consistently. The easing of restrictions and resulting spread of infection will not affect everyone equally, which is not good news for women. Young children will have the highest case numbers as they aren’t yet eligible for vaccination, whilst people aged over 60 years will suffer the most severe disease and highest number of deaths.

This is likely to disproportionately affect women who are most often primary carers as well those most likely to provide care to older relatives. Women, who have already born the brunt of the pandemic workload, will once again be unfairly impacted. Whilst to date children have shown low rates of severe disease due to COVID-19, increases in childhood infections will result in sick days from school and childcare which will place an increased workload on women.

Women are already struggling in the pandemic, reporting higher levels of both anxiety and depression than men. There are a number of factors driving these unmanageable levels of stress and burnout. Whilst everyone experienced an increase in unpaid work resulting from ongoing lockdowns, this increase was more substantial for women who are performing on average 56% of the extra work. This translates in to approximately an extra hour of work each day on top of existing workloads for women compared to men.

Financial stress is also likely a contributing factor, with 8% per cent of Australian women losing their jobs during lockdowns compared to 4% of men and women less likely to receive government support. Within this population, some are disadvantaged even further with single parents, of which 80% are women, particularly at risk. Single mothers have been significantly more likely to leave the workforce with participation rates dropping by 10% during the initial lockdowns and rates of unemployment remaining low even after lockdowns were lifted. Adding additional barriers for women during the re-opening of Australia will further disadvantage those already struggling with the unmanageability of pandemic life.

Is vaccinating young children the answer?

For the moment, vaccinating the youngest in our population is not a possible solution. There are sound reasons for the vaccine rollout to be delayed in children. Safety data for this group is currently lacking. Whilst both Moderna and Pfizer are running trials in this age group, more study participants and data are required to ensure that the vaccines don’t cause significant adverse events in this population.

Who else will be most affected?

Women will not be the only group within Australia unfairly impacted as we attempt to return to ‘normal’ life. Those who are not vaccinated will be more severely affected and the vaccine rollout has not been equitable to date. For example, some Australian data has shown lower rates of vaccination in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are more likely to suffer severe disease due to underlying conditions. Whilst vaccination data for other vulnerable populations, including those with a disability and prisoners, who are also more likely to have underlying conditions putting them at risk, is not routinely reported.  

Pushing through plans to ease restrictions is understandable, given the far reaching economic and mental health impacts of ongoing lockdowns. But it is important for our policy makers to remember that any plans to open up need to consider the disproportionate impact this will likely have on women and other vulnerable populations.

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Wilson said fans had a right to be upset with the two players for missing their team’s round 13 clash with Adelaide in Cairns. The players had made the decision to head home ahead of the game; Membrey’s wife was due to give birth and Ross’ wife was at home with newborn twins.

Speaking on Footy Classified on Wednesday night, Wilson said she would not back away from her comments and believed St Kilda fans had a right to be upset. In her view, Ross and Membrey’s choices had seemed irresponsible. She made the point that it wasn’t just her making this argument, she had been hearing it from people at St Kilda and in wider circles, who were also unhappy with the players’ decisions.

“I’m not backing away from it when I saw I think a lot of people were having the conversation anyway, clearly it reached my ears last week when I brought it up. I knew St Kilda people were unhappy,” she said on Wednesday.

“I had an opinion that St Kilda fans had a right to be disappointed. I’m standing by that opinion. I think the pile on has been pretty shocking to be honest. Some of it’s been personal.”

It must be acknowledged that while Wilson chose to voice these concerns in the media, her attitude towards the responsibilities of fatherhood is an attitude that many Australians hold. As she said, it was also a view she’d heard others express privately.

We live in a country where a pervasive stigma around fathers who leave the workforce to care for their young children exists, and ideas around the ‘correct’ way to be a father are entrenched in traditional expectations. In the sporting world – where men are often paid high salaries to play professionally in their chosen field – these gendered expectations are real.

We also live within social structures in Australia that actively prevent men from taking time away from their work when they have a baby, and where it is more conducive for mothers, in many cases, to take on those responsibilities.  

In Australia, our government’s paid parental leave scheme entrenches gender stereotypes by adhering to ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ caregiver labels. It provides up to 18 weeks at the national minimum wage to ‘primary’ carers, who much more often than not, are women. Men are not incentivised to stay home with their new baby, and as a result, in most circumstances, they don’t.

This system establishes a pattern that so many families continue for years and years. An expensive childcare system that disincentivises women from working full-time also contributes to the expectations we hold about fatherhood.

Responding to the media whirlwind, Seb Ross released a statement on Wednesday, explaining his decision to head home to his wife and children, knowing all the while there was a risk he’d miss the game.

“Although I was torn between my club obligations and my family obligations, it was a risk I was willing to take,” Ross said. “I knew I needed to be at home to help my wife Marnie with our five-week-old twin boys Vinny and Henley and daughter Charlotte.”

“This was never to be about me not honouring my commitment to the St Kilda Football Club — the club that I’m committed to and am proud to represent. This was simply me supporting what I cherish most, my family.”

In that statement, Ross speaks very eloquently about the constant push and pull between being a professional athlete and a young father. He says he knew there was a chance he’d miss the game, but when it came down to it, it was his family that needed to come first. His sentiments speak to the dilemma of so many fathers in Australia, who want to give more to their family, but are often prevented, and actively discouraged, from doing so.

Every year, 1 in 7 women in Australia who give birth experience a period of postnatal depression. It’s an enormous period of adjustment when parents need to come to terms with all the changes having a new baby brings. Normalising men’s choices when they prioritise their role as a father, especially given the structural barriers that stand in their way, is crucial to shifting the status quo.

Speaking on Footy Classified, Wilson offered sympathy for mothers of young children. As the only mother on the panel, she said she knew how tough that early period of parenthood is, and she wasn’t trying to take away from that.

Being supportive of new mothers is something most Australians would acknowledge is important. But having social structures that offer men the opportunity to be present fathers, who take on caring responsibilities, is just as essential. And it would go a long way to progressing gender equity in this country.

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These women are wives, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, employees, and business owners and they continue to represent a significant majority of elder care that communities all over the world rely on.  

According to research, not only do women continue to keep stepping into traditional roles of elder care based on a value system that is inherit from within themselves and deeply ingrained as societal and family norms, but there may also be a bigger problem looming.

Research shows that while the plight of women seeking equal opportunities may be moving in a slightly more positive direction regarding childcare benefits and employee assistance schemes, in contrast there is an obvious lack of attention on the elder care impact.  Particularly regarding employee benefit schemes and gender equality targets in the workplace.  

Often these women have reached an age, when they are in a more senior and pivotal role, or they have already sacrificed many of their younger years in the work force due to childcare needs.  Similarly, many women find themselves in an unplanned elder care situation.

Unlike caring for children who typically grow older and more independent as time goes on, women on the other side of the elder care spectrum can find themselves in an unpredictable web of uncertainty for their foreseeable and longer-term futures.

According to Professor Anne Bardoel from Swinburne University interviewed last year for this article, her research shows that many women are already turning down roles and not stepping forward for promotions due to the demands of elder care.

This is a problem that is increasing in severity for more women than ever before.

Could this mean that we are hurtling towards one of the biggest barriers in the battle for gender equality society has ever seen.  If you throw in age discrimination on the more mature worker, who is also more likely to be female, a later entrance to the workforce due to prior childcare demands, she may also not be financially as secure as her male counter parts, then the negative domino trajectory seems alarmingly obvious.

Despite the press and attention of the past few years on institutional aged care, according to the ABS most elderly people do not live-in residential care. Also, most older Australians do not receive government assisted home care packages which as we know are in somewhat short supply. 

Even if they did qualify for the benefit and knew how to go about getting one, the findings of the most recent Aged Care Commission report is set to reveal that the Home Care sector will be in need of almost as big an over haul as residential aged care services.

According to the Medical Journal of Australia,  Australia has one of the highest proportions of  elderly (people aged over 65)  living in residential care , yet this figure still only equates to around 6%.  While many older adults in Australia still live independently in their own homes or with assistance from within their own families, it is also important to note those sad cases who fall through the cracks and have neither family or formal care they know how to or are willing to access.

According to international data by the World Journal of Psychiatry, nearly 70% to 80% of the impaired elderly are cared for at home by their family members. There are varying estimates across different countries, but what is consistent is that female caregivers, who are wives, adult daughters and working in important roles that contribute to the framework of our societies are overwhelmingly the first on call carers and end up in a role that can last for years.  Many of these women find themselves in poor health themselves.  

The question is, are these women, their equal rights, and the importance of the role they are providing falling under the radar?   

Within a parallel timeframe, as the Royal Commission into Aged Care is released, we know that results will reveal a deeply flawed aged care system that will require monumental changes that may take years to implement.  In the meantime, what does that mean for women who are carers and the future of our rapidly ageing population. 

Carers Australia is a peak body that represents all carers Australia wide and they have actively lobbied government as part of their involvement into aged care  commission to call on better respite and flexibility for informal carers.  A great step forward but there is more to be done.

With less people choosing residential care, thanks to Covid and the horror stories on inadequate care coming out of the Royal Commission, there can be little doubt that we are on a collision course with dire predictions for both our elderly care recipients who are relying on overwhelmed family members at high risk of burn out and carer fatigue.  

If we also consider the fight for gender equity and equal rights for women, the time to proactively engage in solutions is more important than ever before.

As mentioned in an article by HRM, Jill Adams reinforces the importance of seeking professional advocacy support and advice, when the time arises and ideally before it gets worse. 

Services like the one Jill and her family received from the New Way to Stay  team can make an incredible difference with improving choice, clarity and control as an elder care crisis occurs.  Services offered like this one to employees, while sadly rare in the Australian workplace, are without doubt an effective way to support impacted employees and provide a gateway for better ageing and stronger workplace gender equity.

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Sarah and her husband, B, both work big jobs. She is full-time in digital strategy and change for a major Australian retailer, while he is in tech sales. When COVID hit and offices shut down, they agreed they would share the spare-room-turned-home office and take turns watching children. One month in, Sarah was full time at the dining room table juggling home schooling three children and her demanding role. Her husband retreated upstairs saying his work was offering no concessions for parents, and he needed to get back to work.

“The thing is, I know if I asked to have some time in the loft office he’d give it to me, but why is the assumption that it’s his and I have to ask for it? We’re both working full time!”

Kate works in institutional banking and her husband is in professional services. They have two small children who interrupt Kate multiple times a day but see their father’s closed office door as an instruction not to enter.

Mandy started a new full-time role at the start of 2020 and says she’s lucky to have held onto that role throughout the pandemic, but says, “I have my ‘office’ in my bedroom. I have no space to myself alone. My husband has his office to escape to, but I’ve struggled with not having my own dedicated space.”

It’s a story we’ve heard over and over. Now Women’s Agenda is supporting research into the impacts of COVID on working women and we’d love for you to have your say.

Women on the brink of burnout

Working mothers across Australia were already overwhelmed. We know men take more leisure time than women, and women do the bulk of domestic and caring labour. Now COVID has increased that domestic load as more people are at home more of the time. That means more cooking, cleaning, tidying and managing the needs of multiple people – and the work isn’t being shared by men.

Mandy’s experience is that the increased domestic load is falling on her, and when there is a clash the assumption is that her husband’s work takes precedence.

“I work full-time outside the home normally so things like laundry and shopping were things I would do on weekends or ask my husband to do. Being home meant I found myself doing more during the day. My husband did not take on more! I would have liked my husband to be more present and available while I had to work. Often, we were both in meetings at the same time and his work took priority. I think it’s really hard to be ‘equal’ even in this era and so often, male attitudes place their work ahead of their wives, maliciously or not. We’ve talked too about the division of labour and I explained the idea of ‘mental load’ so he is more aware of the balance now. I think it took lockdown to put a lot of these sorts of issues under the microscope.”

Kate has found the increase in pressure hard to handle. She keeps putting one foot in front of the other, but it’s not been easy.

“Every now and then I just feel completely overwhelmed, and then I feel frustrated with myself for feeling overwhelmed. If you’re trying to fit in exercise, work, kids… you have to be very strong to look after yourself in all that.

70% of men who work full time have a stay-at-home partner and only 30% have wives work. But 70% of women who full time have partners who also work full time. All these guys I work with have their full time stay at home wife. People were more understanding [during COVID] but the pressures were the same. Work was relentless.”

“Absolutely the load increased. We got rid of the cleaner, there are more people in the house all the time, they’re eating more, there’s more shopping to do, there’s a bigger mess. I remember getting angry at a ScoMo quote in The Australian calling out the heroes who have been impacted by COVID. He said something like, ‘people who’s been impacted – the nurses, the doctors and the women at home who are working’ – not the men who are working at home.”

We spoke to Isiah McKimmie, a Gottman-trained couples therapist, and asked what themes she’s seeing in the couples she works with.

“COVID has put a lot of extra pressure on people and relationships all around. Often, it’s meaning women are trying to juggle more balls at once. It’s a common scenario that women are still doing the bulk of things around the house and carrying most of the mental load. Things that were bubbling away under the surface have really been brought to a head with the extra pressure. No one is getting adequate time and space for themselves.”

There is no work-life separation anymore

The conversation used to focus on work-life balance. Technology made it possible for us to work at home – remember when it was exciting to check your work email all the time on your new blackberry? – and that has amplified with so many people working from home. There’s no clear boundary between work and home anymore – your home may well be your office now. We are seeing an increase in flexibility, but that has brought some new challenges with it.

Mandy has had the same experience as Kate, finding it difficult to share parenting with her partner.

“It’s been a challenge trying to balance home and work life with no separation between the two. It’s been hard explaining to my son that I’m home but not available.”

“It has obviously become more flexible than it was pre-COVID, when working from home could only happen for 1-2 days a week, for standard and fixed hours, with manager approval. Now hours can vary depending on need – so I varied my hours to 7:30-3:30pm. It took a pandemic for management to realize that home life impacts work life!”

It’s definitely positive that more offices are allowing flexibility, and the pandemic showed that large workforces can quickly shift to remote working – and that we don’t need to be in the office to work productively. But we’re also seeing an increase in workload for lots of people that ends up negating the flexibility.

Kate shares,

“I work four days, but I haven’t had a Friday off since February. I took a 20% paycut to have that flexibility, and now I’m hearing about these men picking their children up from school and I feel a bit bitter. We’re talking about these guys having all this time with their family – which is amazing – but all the females doing that are getting paid less for it.”

Sarah’s experience has been similar. She’s been granted more flexibility, but it’s resulted in longer hours overall.

“I’m being given that time during the day as I need it to homeschool and look after children, but I’m online until 10 or 11 o’clock at night most days. The volume of work has increased as people were let go but the team is expected to do more. I’m exhausted.”

Many people want a workplaces to reassessment how they operate as they start bringing people back in. Companies need to understand what workers actually need in terms of flexibility and ensure all genders are treated fairly. The days of women being paid part time and working full time are numbered.

It’s not all bad

With all the challenges it brought, COVID has created a reassessment of what’s important, and have been enjoying some of the space that was created by cancelled after-school activities, less socialising and fewer options for weekend activities.

Isiah shares that many of the couples she works with are reconsidering where they want to put their time and energy.

“Families were so busy and that’s really slowed down. It has meant couples are getting more time together. I’m seeing some partners turn to each other a bit more to help ease the increased stress and that has brought them closer.”

Mandy agreed with Isiah, saying that as things return to normal,

“I will try not to over-commit to plans – having to slow down showed me that sometimes it’s actually better to make no plans and see no people, rather than feeling as if we’re on a treadmill all the time. I plan to work 3 days remotely and 2 in the office going forward. I am more productive and able to focus a bit more on self-care and exercise without a commute.”

Whilst Sarah has been working long hours, she’s enjoying the quiet weekends and hope work will readjust in time.

“I’m loving keeping things close to home, and not spending all my ‘down time’ racing between activities. I chronically overcommit and we all get exhausted. I’m going to try to keep more space for the family, less after school activities, and actually schedule in time where the kids are bored and we’re at home doing nothing.”

Kate wants to see flexibility become more available for everyone, and for pay decreases that women took be readdressed.

“I hope people will end up working two or three days a fortnight at home which is a good thing for families and ultimately a good thing for women. But let’s be clear about what we’re doing. If you’ve been taking your kids to rugby training and didn’t used to do that, then maybe the women who were taking that flexibility should get paid the same.”

Have your say

If you want to have your say about your experiences during COVID and what you want to see in the future, complete this ten minute survey. Five lucky participants will receive a $250 voucher for their time.

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“Revolutions that last don’t happen from the top down. They happen from the bottom up.”

Have you seen that fab video that went viral in April, of an English family singing their very own lockdown version of Les Misérables’ One Day More? It’s funny and poignant (plus packed full of far too much talent for one family), and it firmly planted the Les Mis soundtrack into my brain throughout #iso.

No matter what side of the musical theatre fence you fall on, one thing’s for certain – Les Mis and their rumblings of a revolution are starting to feel a little … How should I put this? Relevant? Familiar? All round motivating?

Because over the past few months, many of us have been wondering what this global pandemic would mean for us all – long term. What changes it could enable and what we could gain from these months of disarray. And you know what? From my perspective, it’s become pretty clear. Lockdown has been so much more than a few months of flexibility. It’s shaken the ground below our feet, to make way for a revolution. A working parents’ revolution…do you hear the people sing?

The old way wasn’t working

For far too long, it’s been an uphill battle for working parents (predominantly mothers). Research – too much of it to be honest – shows that the old way wasn’t working. That parents and carers were discriminated against and penalised in the workforce and weren’t empowered to balance their careers and care. That businesses lost top performers to caring responsibilities. That women – 95% of primary carers – and part timers (just 6% of managers in Australia work part time), continued to be under-represented in leadership roles, and live with a gender pay gap of 14%.

And don’t even get me started on childcare…But now that I’ve gone there – how is it that a nation like Australia is still so stuck in the dark ages when it comes to mainstreaming affordable early learning? In the past 10 years Australian parents have spent up to 25% of their income on childcare. Government failings to provide an affordable early learning system remains the single biggest barrier to female participation….

And that’s just the impact on those of us with relative privilege.

In a webinar this week I was asked by a manager how best to accommodate the flexible work arrangements of a single mother. According to Australian Council of Social Services, more than one-third of single mothers – 37% – live below the poverty line. My response was to drop the pity, and prioritise dignity, and that means doing whatever is in your power to keep that mother employed and engaged in meaningful work

There’s no going back

There’s no doubt that his pandemic has enforced underlying gender norms – norms that see women shouldering the majority of care responsibilities (76.2% of unpaid care hours, to be specific). Newgate Research’s national poll revealed that women have carried a ‘triple load’ throughout the pandemic, which includes paid work, care work, and the mental labour of worrying (that sounds familiar … ), plus, they’ve had the kicker of looking after educational responsibilities for their kids, which in turn can limit work opportunities.

But in these grey skies, we’ve also seen some glimmers of sunshine.

COVID-19 – for all its many faults, has shaken things up for working parents.

Many single parents too have benefited from the new coronavirus payment to the tune of $550 per-fortnight in addition to the usual JobSeeker benefit.

And of course the ultimate game changer has been that childcare (whilst not a perfect model) has been FREE!!!

And from a workplace perspective, we now know that it’s possible – completely, utterly possible – for mandated flexibility to be implemented and enabled a greater involvement of men in care and domestic work – involvement that could have important impacts on gender equality.

Now that things are starting to return to ‘normal’, employers are calling for teams to inch back to the office and the government is alluding to rolling back childcare and coronavirus payments, our gender equality progress faces a massive risk of slipping backward.

So how do we snap forward to create ongoing flexible work practices that not only contribute to a more equitable sharing of care and domestic work, but also support women’s increased labour force participation?

Flex Forever? Proceed with caution

Many workplaces seem to be rightly focused on flexibility moving forward. But we say proceed with caution where flexibility does not level the playing field.

As workplaces survey staff about flexible working preferences and travel/commute logistics, we’re simultaneously hearing that those who are ‘ready to return to work immediately’ are, for the most part, male executives and supervisors, and younger people with no caring responsibilities.

Policy-making post COVID-19 cannot be to the detriment of gender equality. In fact, given the impact of this pandemic on gender inequality, they should be exactly the opposite. Workplaces need to avoid normalising women (and some men) as an invisible class of workers if they elect to take up more flexibility, particularly while ‘care-free’ managers (still disproportionately men) return to the office to get noticed and to advance their careers. Doing so would be disastrous – for women, men and workplaces.

If workplaces fail to reimagine the way they return to work, and fail to view the opportunity with a gendered lens, we – as a society – will have lost the lesson. To make flex stick, we need to rise up and demand better! Flex must be about levelling the playing field and new policies must enshrine gender equality and anti-discrimination principles.

“If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.” 

Melinda Gates

This is our moment to LIFT

Of course – it’s not just up to our managers and leaders to drive change. It’s everyone’s responsibility and we need to take matters into our own hands (it is a revolution, after all!). This is the time to seek out and nurture relationships with sponsors. It’s the time to know – and own – our ambition. To have a professional vision that is clear and propels us forward. To know organisational policies so that we can take control of our careers and our futures. In short? It’s time to own our agency and be empowered.

We have enough research about how bad the world is for women, or carers! Instead, demand to be served with what works. Which is exactly what we at Grace Papers focus on – evidence based social change strategies that actually work. So that each and every one of us understand our agency, our relative privilege, and how we can use both to move towards a world in which women and men are equally responsible for the most important decisions in our world.

We don’t just owe it to ourselves, or even to our children. We owe it to every woman who has no voice at the table, and to those responsible for starting the many phases of this movement towards equality.

Now is our time to stand on the shoulders of the great many giants who have paved the way before us. Feminists – women and men – who demanded the right to vote for women, to no fault divorce, enshrined rights to request flexible work, sex discrimination protections, equal pay and more recently childcare and paid parental leave.

More recently, and driven by employee activism, we’ve heralded generational change to outdated attitudes which have seen corporate leaders increasingly involved in human rights advocacy for social policy. Would we have been able to celebrate same sex marriage without CEO activism?

As Gloria Steinem so rightly says, ‘the future depends entirely on what each of us does every day.’ Her views are backed up by social change theory that says the most effective way to drive social change is to empower those with most to gain. Which means that each one of us (working parents) has a role to play in snapping forward out of this pandemic, into a world that better reflects the needs of those with care responsibilities, of modern families and for that matter modern business.

Want to help drive the change and address flex stigma once and for all?

1. Know your rights & how to use them responsibly and effectively.
2. Get clarity as to what you need, what you want, and your value.
3. Understand your agency and be prepared to advocate for it.
4. Speak up and be prepared to ask the difficult questions of your leaders, to be and see the change you wish to see in this world.
5. Remind yourself that this isn’t just a responsibility to yourself – its our collective responsibility to advocate alongside those without access to the same power, privilege and influence, including the next generation of future leaders. 

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The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been so profound, particularly for women, that it threatens to upend the progress on gender equality in recent years. During the lockdown, women were doing more of the unpaid labour – care and housework. They were also more exposed to the risks of coronavirus either as essential workers or working in industries, such as retail, hospitality and accommodation services, that were forced to close.

There is evidence also of significant impacts on men’s labour force participation. In some cases men’s job losses early in the pandemic have not been recovered.

The impacts of COVID-19 on women and men extend beyond work and home to education, particularly tertiary education enrolments.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest data, 112,000 fewer students were enrolled in tertiary education in May 2020 – at the height of the first wave – compared to a year earlier. This is the largest drop in enrolments in over 15 years.

Like other aspects of COVID-19, the impact was gendered with a far greater decline among women. There were 86,000 fewer women enrolled to study in May 2020 than in May 2019, compared with just over 21,000 fewer men.

Big fall was for women over 25

What do these data tell us about COVID-19, education, work and potentially the future?

These data tell us COVID-19 has not only severely disrupted the lives of women in the workplace and the home, but also in education.

The biggest decline in tertiary enrolments was among women over the age of 25: 60,000 fewer women over 25 were enrolled in university in May 2020 than in 2019.

This steep decline in enrolments is particularly surprising given Australia’s success in educating women and potentially puts the nation’s reputation at risk. Australia is ranked equal first in the world in terms of educational attainment for women, according the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Index. The country has been atop the list for well over a decade.

Juggling caring roles with study

These data remind us caring responsibilities not only affect careers or work-life balance, but also education. The sharp decline in female enrolments over the age of 25 suggests it was likely because of caring responsibilities.

Many of these women with caring responsibilities, for either young children or older family members, were likely forced to make a choice between caring and studying. And for those combining work and study on top of family commitments, many elected not to continue studying.

For many mature-aged students (those over 21), undertaking study is challenge, especially for those combining study with work and/or care. Previous research has shown a number of gendered expectations are put upon mature-aged students and their time.

For many of these mature-age women who are combining work and study, they increasingly do it flexibly or online and schedule it around other commitments. Others give up their leisure time for learning.

COVID-19 made that near-impossible. The loss of both family and formal childcare increased the burden of unpaid work for women at home. It was extended far into the workday and into the evenings where mature-aged women might ordinarily find time to study.

Enrolments rose for men over 25

The data also highlight the gendered complexities of COVID-19 on education. Women’s enrolments were disproportionately affected, whereas the data showed significant increases in men over the age of 25 enrolling in university in May 2020 compared with 2019. Male enrolments in this age group increased by about 26,000.

This increase suggests men were either “forced” into tertiary education because of a lack of opportunities, or it was a deliberate strategy on their part to upskill so they could be more competitive for jobs once the economy recovers. In this way, older age groups of men have shown themselves to be similar to young people who tend to go into education during times of recession. This is perhaps in contrast to previous recessionary periods where the participation rate of older men declined considerably.

All of this has implications for the future, particularly for women. These data are worrisome because, even though the returns from education for women are poor, many women obtain a number of qualifications just to get on an even keel with men in the labour market.

These latest trends might make it harder for women in the long run. However, it is worth noting these data capture enrolments at a point in time – during the first wave of the pandemic. Things might have changed significantly since then.

Brendan Churchill, Research Fellow in Sociology, University of Melbourne

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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There are about 100,000 predictable deaths in Australia each year, and most commonly it is a daughter or a wife that steps into the role of primary caregiver. It’s arguably one of the most demanding roles anyone will step into… it’s also one of the least supported.

In early 2009 my husband, Mauro and I welcomed our third child. That same year he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer disease.

He died just 15 months later aged only 40.

Given how close the two events were, it was impossible not to compare the support and communication we received, and the preparations we were then able to make. Unfortunately, the experiences were very different.

The journey of bringing our children into the world was one of joy and community. Conversations flowed between Mauro and I, friends and family – even business associates. When I was heavily pregnant with our first child, I remember being in a business meeting and having a colleague offer her birth story.

This culture of open communication and experience-sharing helped Mauro and I paint a picture of birth. Having the right information, both emotional and clinical, allowed us to plan and prepare for that experience, supported by friends, family, midwives and our medical team.

All three of our children were delivered via water birth, which we understood would come with some risks. Mauro and I had many questions as we weighed these possibilities. Our medical team was patient and offered clear advice on our options.

Importantly, these conversations were equally addressed to my husband and me – even though I was the person carrying the child. All of this helped Mauro and I decide on a birth plan we believed was best for our family.

It takes a village to raise a child. The same is true when caring for someone to their death. While both experiences are universal, the systems and cultures of support are very different between these two life stages.

Parents-to-be are part of a system that anticipates your needs and passes you to the right stage at the right time. While not perfect, in pregnancy there is a clear practice of consultation and clinical support; it’s a process designed to educate you as you move through it.

As daunting as it may be, you build an understanding of where you’re at and what’s ahead. This allows you to have necessary discussions and make the right plans.

I don’t think I could say there was any planning or preparation in the 15 months between Mauro’s diagnosis and death. Instead, I felt as though we were being bounced around the system. There was a tumultuous series of guarded and often siloed conversations with different specialists, and very few of these conversations included me, though I was his wife and primary caregiver. I had to force myself into the process.

Without knowledge, there is no way to prepare.

While I understand there are many more variables on the road through cancer than the one through birth, why can’t there be an experience designed around preparation and support similar to the one Mauro and I experienced during my pregnancies?

I remember us together in a birthing class, being told very explicitly what would happen to my body during labour. There were confronting moments, joyous ones – even awkward ones, but we moved through each with love and grace knowing that we were being educated, supported and prepared for the hours that lay ahead of us.

Weeks before his death I was handed yet another prescription by an oncologist. At this stage, Mauro was in a wheelchair, on oxygen and slipping in and out of awareness. I held that script in my hands, utterly confused, and finally found the power to speak up, “I need someone to be honest with me.”

The specialist struggled to make eye contact, then mumbled, “8 weeks.” And that was it.

Up until that point, I had no awareness that Mauro might soon die. Right until the end the focus was on the next treatment – on recovery, or at least stabilising his condition.

In retrospect, what we needed was clear, but kind, acknowledgement that my husband was now in the last stage of life – that he was sick enough that he might soon die. End of life is a life stage that is as crucial as the beginning of life, and it requires the same recognition, communication, planning and support.

As hard as it would’ve been to hear, an early understanding of what could lay ahead for us would have given us the room to process and prepare. Just as we had discussed goals and risks with the birth of each of our children, we should have had similar discussions about Mauro’s illness.

If we had, maybe the end would have looked closer to what he’d hoped for: at home, with his family and close friends, surrounded by love and care. Not enduring multiple surgeries right up until his death.

Imagine if we gathered around caregivers the same way we did new parents – from every corner of the community.

That’s the mission I carried away from my experience caring for Mauro and it has led me to my role as CEO of The Violet Initiative. Violet is a social change organisation helping more Australians die well. We support caregivers, clinicians, aged care workers and organisations that intersect with this life stage, like banks and insurers; with the goal of better preparing people to make critical end-of-life decisions. We hope that one day soon, the last stage of life will be formally recognised and that the emotional needs of those in this life stage are prioritised as much as their clinical ones.

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In the survey, conducted by the Australian Academy of Science’s Early and Mid-Career Researcher (EMCR) Forum, researchers from across the country reported increased anxiety due to the uncertainty about their employment situation and the need to manage competing priorities while working remotely.

Female early and middle career researchers with caring responsibilities are among the most severely impacted by the pandemic, with 90 per cent of women reporting they had experienced disruptions to their work due to COVID-19.

Balancing competing priorities, the absence of undisturbed work time, home schooling responsibilities, potential health impacts from working extended hours to “catch up” and increased anxiety about older dependents, were all factors that impacted the women researchers surveyed.

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“Working from home with two young children, while being responsible for their education, has been very challenging. It has hugely affected my productivity and sometimes my mental health,” one survey respondent said.

As the university sector continues to be deeply affected by the pandemic, thousands of research jobs are at risk. Early and middle career researchers on contracts reported that the continued uncertainty regarding their current employment has led to increased anxiety and mental health strain.

There is also increasing uncertainty and a lack of clarity around future employment prospects for researchers. It’s a big concern for those employed on a part-time or casual basis, whose jobs are most at risk.

Twenty five per cent of female early and middle career researchers surveyed were employed part-time or on a casual basis compared to 6 per cent of men.

“[There is] ongoing uncertainty around future career prospects … Many organisations have reduced hiring and I am concerned that the job market will be even more competitive and more difficult once restrictions ease,” one survey respondent said.

There are also many challenges around the logistics of conducting research, with restricted lab and field access making data collection harder or impossible. This disruption has the potential to lessen future grant opportunities that many researchers rely on.

According to the survey, researchers reported increased stress from losing team members and having no ability to hire new staff due to budget cuts. Also, the lack of access to research participants for non-COVID related medical studies is an issue.

Survey respondents reported research activities being replaced with more teaching and administrative tasks.

The EMCR Forum is calling for employers, goverments and funding bodies to take urgent action to support the researchers who will become Australia’s future STEM leaders.

Among the recommendations made to government by the EMCR Forum is extending JobKeeper to the university sector and other STEM employers currently ineligible.

More than half of all surveyed researchers are funded by external funding bodies, so it has also been recommended that guidelines be established for assessors of research funding applications, so the impact of COVID-19 can be properly considered.

“The COVID-19 pandemic will have significant and long-lasting effects on early- and mid-career researchers now, and into the future,” said Associate Professor Vanessa Wong, Co-Deputy Chair of the EMCR Forum.

“Without rapid and continued support by government, employers and funding bodies, there will be mass exodus from STEM sectors leading to a substantial brain drain and lost future capacity and capability to provide solutions to future challenges, such as the next pandemic.”

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