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.

The post Caring responsibilities are largest barrier to employment for majority of women, new ABS data finds appeared first on Women's Agenda.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)’s 12-month inquiry made eight recommendations from its 31 findings listed in the report.

The report from the inquiry revealed how market forces are failing to meet the needs of Australian families in accessing care, as well as how disadvantaged groups are disproportionately unable to afford and access childcare services.

The inquiry involved detailed analysis of cost and pricing data in relation to childcare services in Australia. Leaders of the inquiry also engaged with childcare providers, educators, parents and guardians for feedback on the current systems in place.

The ACCC’s Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said while the Cheaper Child Care reforms from July 2023 reduced out-of-pocket expenses for all types of care, the government must steer clear from a “one size fits all” policy approach.

“When applied across the childcare sector, this current approach will continue to leave some households without adequate, affordable, and accessible childcare options,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We’ve recommended the Government consider a mix of different regulatory measures to improve outcomes for households in diverse circumstances and locations across the country, particularly for lower income families, households living in remote locations, children with disability or complex needs and culturally and linguistically diverse families.

“Childcare is an essential service for Australian families. It enables parents and guardians to work, train or study and offers inclusive and safe early learning opportunities for young children.”

Who gets to access care?

The ACCC’s report found certain groups in Australia are able to afford and access childcare easier, while others miss out on the essential service.

Major cities and more advantaged areas in the country have a greater ability and willingness to pay for childcare services, resulting in increased profit margins for childcare providers.

There are labour shortages affecting the entire care sector across the country, but having a greater impact on regional and remote areas, First Nations communities and children with disability, complex needs or experiencing disadvantage.

The ACCC recommended the government consider providing funds or grants to childcare providers in these areas to assist families who are in need of care services but cannot afford it or access it.

During the inquiry, the ACCC conducted roundtable discussions with First Nations community members. They noted the complex administrative processes involved in accessing the Child Care Subsidy offered by the government discourages First Nations households from applying, especially because of the trauma many First Nations people have from navigating previous government systems.

“Feedback from First Nations people and our market analysis about how childcare markets are working for these communities are examples of why a single policy approach will not address the needs of all children and communities,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

Decline in services

In the last five years, the number of family day care and in-home services has declined significantly across the country. Since 2018, there were 116 closures of family day care services, while 19 in home care services closed.

Cass-Gottlieb from the ACCC said these closures disproportionately affect minority groups in Australia, including culturally and linguistically diverse households, low income households, families in remote areas and caregivers that work non-standard hours.

“Family day care is an important alternative childcare choice for many families as it may offer more flexible hours of care, adjustable session lengths or better cater to cultural and linguistic needs,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

‘A truly universal’ system

Georgie Dent, the CEO of the not-for-profit advocacy organisation The Parenthood, said she welcomes the findings of the ACCC’s inquiry, but notes there is still work to be done.

“The ACCC’s findings affirm that early childhood education and care is a cornerstone of our society, impacting the development and education of children, as well as the lives and working patterns of parents and families, and the economy,” Dent said.

“The report confirms, however, that there are huge disparities around the country in terms of accessibility and affordability of early childhood education and care.

“Unfortunately the ACCC’s findings make clear that it is children from lower socio-economic households, as well as First Nations children, and children living in remote areas, that miss out the most.”

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The ACCC’s report is the ninth in two years that has recommended the government to abolish the Activity Test, a test that allows households access to the Child Care Subsidy based on the amount of work or “activity” is done.

Dent from The Parenthood said the Activity Test “failed to incentivise parents to work as it was designed” and instead disadvantaged children who need care the most.

“Australian children and families deserve a truly universal early childhood education and care system that is high quality, accessible, affordable, inclusive regardless of postcode, income or socioeconomic status,” Dent said.

“The time for action is now.”

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Childcare costs are particularly concerning for those already struggling with the nation’s cost-of-living crisis. Poll results show only three in 10 parents who use centre-based early learning say the costs are easily manageable. 

Conducted for The Parenthood by Essential Research, this data has been provided to both the Productivity Commission and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as part of their national review of the early childhood education sector. 

The vast majority of parents (85 per cent) believe that the cost of living means families don’t have a choice except to have both parents work– a conundrum with such high childcare costs. And the number rises to 90 per cent for those who report feeling financial pressure. 

Six in 10 parents say that themselves or their partner would work different hours if childcare wasn’t so expensive. 

Parenthood interim CEO Jessica Rudd has called the situation a “crisis of choice for parents”. 

“This poll shows that families need two incomes to make ends meet, but often one parent can’t go back to work unless childcare is accessible and affordable,” said Rudd

“Australian working families are treading water. Household budgets are under financial stress, from soaring housing costs to rising utilities bills and grocery prices.”

“This research tells us that both parents want and need to work, so we must start viewing early childhood education and care not as a nice-to-have, but as an essential service.”

The percentage of parents accessing centre-based care also varies greatly depending on the place of residence. Parents in Queensland, Western Australia and those living in provincial or rural areas are less likely to use centre-based daycare than those in outer and inner metro areas. 

Parental age is also a factor as those who are older tend to be in the later stages of their career, earning more money. Parents aged 40+ are more likely than those aged 18-29 to have their child in centre-based care. 

“The increase to the Child Care Subsidy implemented mid-year has helped ease some of the financial burden, but as the recent ACCC report found, in the absence of holistic system reform and proper educator workforce measures, fees will keep rising,” said Rudd. 

“This catch-22 for families is crippling the economy. Australia needs a universal, affordable, quality ECEC system to help address living costs.”

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Parents at Work CEO Emma Walsh told the inquiry that paid parental leave should be increased to 26 weeks in the next year (rather than by 2026 as slated by the government), and pushed for a pathway to extend it to 52 weeks by 2030, with up to 12 weeks designated to each parent.

Walsh noted the government’s Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022 is a step in the right direction but should go further to become world-leading.

“OECD research has shown Australia’s paid parental leave measures trail behind comparable nations,” Walsh said. “The Bill is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough if Australia is going to meet its gender equality targets and shift the gendered norms that see women expected to take on the lion’s share of caring duties in the workplace and at home.”

Walsh also called for access to paid parental leave to be accessible during the first 5 years of a child’s life, to enable parents greater flexibility around when they take the leave.

CEO of The Parenthood Georgie Dent also fronted the inquiry, speaking about the need to introduce a six-week “use it or lose it” provision for fathers in the government’s proposed 26-week scheme. Dent also pushed for an increase of paid leave of up to 52 weeks shared equally between parents, consideration of a replacement wage rather than minimum wage, and for superannuation to be paid on parental leave.

“Australian parents receive far less paid parental leave than parents around the world and it costs children, families, our society and the economy,” she said. “Australia cannot become the best place in the world to be a parent and raise a child if we don’t seriously lift ambition on the national paid parental leave system.”

Dent also noted that a generous government paid parental leave scheme is essential in order to ensure all parents in Australia have equitable access to support after having children.

“It’s not about the individual workplace or how much money you make, it’s the fact that you’ve given birth and brought a little person into the world and you are now going to be responsible for nurturing and caring and raising that little person,” she said. “That’s the reason we need paid parental leave at all – because we need parents to be able to take on that task without the additional pressure and stress of not having any level of financial support during that period. “

“There’s no doubt that a lot of the really positive progress that’s happened in the last few years around paid parental leave has been in employers and it has been particularly pronounced around employers encouraging men to take extended leave as the norm. 

“While that is fantastic, it does lead to a potential widening of inequity because we know that the larger employers that do have these fantastic policies… tend to be larger companies, tend to be full time employment where you’ve got the benefits of annual leave, sick leave. You’re already in a much more advantaged, secure position.”

The government’s current position on paid parental leave is to increase the entitlement by 2 weeks per year, until it reaches a full 26 weeks from July 2026. The government will also overhaul the income test, allowing households with incomes up to $350,000 access to the government-funded scheme.

The post Advocates push for greater ambition of parental leave at Senate inquiry appeared first on Women's Agenda.

It’s hard not to consider how different your family’s economic situation could be with such opportunities — particularly (in my case) in the lead-up to having each of my three children and preparing to take 18 weeks at the minimum wage. I recall feeling grateful at the time, that I’d just managed to scrap on in, following the introduction of such leave during the Gillard Government in 2011. Later, I recall grappling with how to not officially work while taking such leave — despite being one of the numerous new mothers running their own business that can’t really continue with “no work”, and being unable to afford a full replacement.

In Sweden, single parents receive 480 days of paid parental leave on bringing a new child into their lives, while two-parent families receive 240 days each, with part (but importantly, not all) of the remaining leave able to be transferred between the two parents. Fathers now take 30 per cent of all parental leave in Sweden.

Over in Norway, which became the first country in the world to specifically reserve paid parental leave for new fathers, new parents can access 49 weeks at 100 per cent of their pay, with 15 weeks reserved for dads on a use it or lose it basis.  

Australia is a long way from such world-class paid parental leave, with the 18 weeks at minimum wage offered to new mothers, and the two weeks offered for “Dad and Partner Pay” (which many new fathers simply don’t bother taking), despite some minor tweaks around the edges over the past few years.

But that could be set to change.

From the ACTU calling for paid parental leave to be increased to 52 weeks by the year 2030, to pressure from the Independents and the Greens, we haven’t heard this much about significant paid parental leave reform since former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was pushing to offer six month’s of leave at full pay to an annual salary of $150,000.

And even Abott has has stepped back into the conversation today, declaring that he “was right on paid parental leave” in comments shared with The Australian Financial Review. At the time, then PM Kevin Rudd declared: “$75,000 for millionaires to have a baby. How is that fair Tony?”

There have been no significant reform promises made by the Albanese Government, but the push is strong – and coming from numerous places.

It’s going to be difficult for this new Labor Government to ignore the calls.

From the ACTU, the push has come from outlining figures showing Australia could generate an additional $111 billion a year by addressing the gender pay gap and women’s workforce participation. They highlighted paid parental leave as a key way to get there, pushing for an increase to 52 weeks by 2030, and more immediately bumping to 26 weeks.

From advocacy groups like The Parenthood, it’s the push to make Australia “the best place in the world to be a parent” by legislating for 12 months of paid parental leave that is equally shared – at an investment of $7.6 billion that could be far outweighed by the additional GDP that could result from higher female participation.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Independent MPs including Zali Steggall and Zoe Daniel announced they will push the Albanese Government to expand the current 18-week leave scheme to 26 weeks, with Steggall to introduce a motion in the House of Representatives.

In the Senate, the Greens have introduced their own bill to reform the system – pushing for six weeks of leave to be reserved for each parent and an additional 14 weeks leave to be used by the family however they want (amounting to 26 weeks in total), paid at a replacement wage, and capped at $100,000 a year. Senator Larissa Waters described the reform as a “no-brainer that benefits everyone – parents, children and the economy”, and said it will provide more incentives and support for families to share the care. The Greens want to scrap the controversial  Stage 3 tax cuts to pay for it.

We haven’t heard this much talk about paid parental leave in years. Not since Tony Abbott shared strong ambitions for reform — although his plans were fundamentally flawed in that they did not address the essential requirement to incentivize more shared care. The Abbott-led conversation also had unfortunate consequences that may have overall damaged further debate on the issue.

Is Australia finally set to quit tinkering around the edges and introduce real paid parental leave reform? We’re inching closer –- and what is being proposed could put us much closer to world leaders, and ultimately close the massive gap Australia boasts between women’s economic attainment (we are number one amount OECD nations) and women’s workforce participation.

The post We’re inching closer to world-class paid parental leave appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Coincidence? I think not.

The women of Iceland were inspired by women in the US, who five years earlier invited women to strike on the 50^th anniversary of women’s enfranchisement. Their slogan: “don’t iron while the strike is hot”.

Downing tools is a wonderfully inventive — and effective — way to make a point.

So, as we mark the 50^th anniversary of the first women’s strikes, may I suggest the parents of Australia, indeed parents around the world, take a page out of these women’s book and organise a “Parent’s Strike”.

Conditions are ripe for more direct action, and, collectively, parents could have quite an impact. Consider this: adults in families with dependent children are roughly 1/5 of the working age population in Australia. Put crudely, that’s too many people for either employers who are hiring or politicians seeking re-election to ignore.

Even before the pandemic, parents were buckling under the strain of the so-called “juggle”. In 2019, the social enterprise Parents at Work released its National Working Families Report, which indicated that 2/3 of working parents were struggling to care for their physical and mental health due to work and caring. One in four were thinking about quitting or “actively intending to leave” their job.

Add to this the perfect storm for parents that was 2020. It’s no secret that parents, especially mothers, have been hit hard by the pandemic.

The combination of additional parental responsibilities with school and childcare closures, combined with the added pressure of trying to keep a job in the midst of extremely challenging circumstances, has pushed many parents to the brink. Experts have warned of a shadow pandemic of “parental burnout”.

The pandemic has laid bare the precarious foundations upon which too many families, particularly working mothers’, have built their lives. And it has highlighted the need for public policies and workplace practices that support families.

The national lobbying network The Parenthood made precisely that point last week at the launch of a new report, Making Australia the Best Place in the World to Be a Parent. The report, according to Georgie Dent, the Executive Director, is aimed at ensuring Australia has “the conditions that allow parents and children in Australia to thrive, rather than simply survive”.

So why a strike, you ask? Aren’t we having this debate? Isn’t change on the horizon?

Because I don’t think the current government is listening.

I started to think along these lines when I heard Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speak at the The National Press Club last year, where he, essentially, encouraged women to have “one for country” in order to help right Australia’s struggling pandemic economy.

Frydenberg demonstrated a woeful ignorance of, as I wrote at the time, “where babies really come from”. Australia’s birth rate is falling and there’s a pretty good reason for that. You have to build a strong, caring economy that works for women  —  who, you know tend to give birth to the babies —  if you want to inspire that kind of confidence.

But the potential militant parent in me really got fired up last Thursday after watching the Treasurer respond to Independent MP Zali Steggall’s query in Question Time about The Parenthood Report. She asked if his Government would commit to funding one year of paid parental leave to be shared between parents. Modelling for The Parenthood suggests that could be worth $4.6 billion in GDP. Sounds pretty good, right?

Apparently not.

What followed was a load of rubbish, in which Frydenberg attempted to gaslight the mothers and parents of Australia with waffle about how the current policy – cue some dazzling, but meaningless, numbers about how much it costs –  was contributing to “record numbers of women in the workforce” and a “record low gender pay gap”.

@zalisteggall face at QT yesterday when @JoshFrydenberg refused to commit to reforming and increasing PPL in Australia — whilst he gaslit Australia’s women and parents with a load of nonsense about how the current scheme was resulting in “record numbers of women in work”. pic.twitter.com/AVroKIYUEO

— Kristine Ziwica (@KZiwica) February 19, 2021

Well, if the Treasurer wants to talk about “women’s workforce participation rates” and the “gender pay gap”, let’s do this. Here’s some important context around those figures. Women in Australia have some of the highest part time work rates in the world, and Australia’s national gender pay gap has hovered between 13.9% and 19% for the past two decades.

What will a “Parent’s Strike” look like. I’m not sure yet. I’m open to ideas. But I’m sure going to have a lot of fun thinking about it. Maybe we can all leave our babies on the Treasurer’s doorstep before heading out to work. I’ve heard he’s great with children.

Kristine Ziwica is a regular contributor. She tweets @KZiwica

The post A Parents Strike? Yes, I quite like the sound of that appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Other nations have achieved a much narrower gap between mothers and fathers when it comes to time spent caring, to parental leave taken, to income earned, to hours worked – and they haven’t done it by eradicating biology. 

They have intentionally pursued evidence-based policies that value caring and create conditions that enable parents – not just mothers – to balance caring responsibilities with paid work. The benefits in child development outcomes, economic growth and gender equality are profound. 

A 2020 UNICEF report analysing child well-being ranked Australia 32nd among OECD and EU countries and found we are “falling short in delivering consistently good health, education and social outcomes for children”. The price Australia pays for not providing the requisite early support to children and families, or late intervention, is estimated at $15 billion annually.

Among OECD nations Australia has one of the least adequate statutory paid parental leave programs. The OECD average is more than 50 weeks of paid leave while Australians receive 18 weeks at the minimum wage. Less than 50% of the largest employers in Australia offer any paid parental leave. Australian men take less than 20 per cent of the paternity leave days of their global peers. 

Paid parental leave is beneficial for children, parents, government, workplaces and the economy. It is also recognised as one of very policy tools available to governments to directly influence behaviour among parents because it impacts the start of a child’s life and sets up a pattern for parental involvement that persists. 

Inadequate paid parental leave explains why after the arrival of a baby, notwithstanding a desire among many new parents to establish equitable caring patterns, Australian men typically work – and earn – more than before. 

They’re not expected or supported to share the care and thus focus on breadwinning. Too many fathers and children miss out on the associated benefits that flow from greater parental engagement.

Conversely, after having a baby women in Australia tend to reduce their work significantly and rarely, if ever, return to working and earning in the way they did before children. Many mothers miss out on achieving financial security as a result of being unable to maintain attachment to the paid workforce. Australia’s curiously low female workforce participation rate reflects this. 

Prohibitively expensive early childhood education and care is another problem. Once new parents have navigated short and inadequate paid parental leave, should both parents wish to return to work, they then face the fourth most expensive out of pocket fees for early childhood education and care in the world. 

At that point they’ll also find themselves at the mercy of a taxation system that means ‘secondary’ earners, in most cases women, face an effective marginal tax rate upwards of 90% when ECEC fees are considered. For a large cohort of women, there is – literally – no financial gain for working beyond three days a week and others pay to work additional days.

Unsurprisingly, lots of women don’t and they sacrifice career progression and financial security as a result. The persistent lack of representation of women in senior leadership roles across the breadth of sectors, industries and workplaces around Australia is an inevitable consequence.    

For parents who remain working, discrimination against them is prolific; one in two Australian women report facing discrimination either during pregnancy, parental leave or their return to work. Workplaces that value and support parenting remain rare.

What Australian mums ‘choose’ when it comes to work must be considered within this context. For some mums and families the idea of both parents working isn’t desirable. But for lots of families mums “choose” to step back because they cannot make working, work. 

Mums in other countries are better able to combine work and care as a result of progressive policies specifically pursued to support them and ensure a more equitable division of paid and unpaid labour.

The combination of short and inadequate parental leave and prohibitively expensive ECEC also means Australian remain firmly wedded to stereotypical gender roles, men as earners women as homemakers, because that’s the arrangement that prevails. 

But that arrangement doesn’t prevail because it’s optimal. It persists because that’s what current policy settings support. Australia’s current policy settings prevent families and children from thriving, they hamper efforts to reduce inequality and act as a handbrake on Australia’s economic growth and future prosperity.  

By the age of 5, 90% of a child’s brain is fully developed so what happens in the early years of a child’s life is richly formative. Children fare best when they are well nourished, responsively cared for with access to learning opportunities from birth onwards, and are  protected from disease, violence and stress.

There are around 2.6 million families with dependent children aged under 15 in Australia. Ultimately parents and carers want to give children the best start in life, but they can’t do that alone. 

Successful early childhood development policies focus on equipping families with the time, resources, knowledge, and skills to provide that nurturing care. Australia is falling short in the support and resources offered to assist families to deliver that care.

New economic modelling commissioned by The Parenthood, being launched in Canberra by Zali Steggall on Monday, demonstrates the considerable financial benefit associated with pursuing a strategic approach to best practice policies that affect the parenting experience. 

The report estimates that the cumulative impact of reforming early childhood education and care (ECEC) and paid parental leave (PPL) to bring Australia into line with comparable nations could increase GDP by 4.1 per cent in 2050 or $166 billion. If Australia could lift female participation to that of males, it would increase GDP by 8.7 per cent or $353 billion by 2050.

Australia could be a country in which all parents have the support, resources and time to give their children the best start in life, including adequate PPL that enables all parents to bond with their child and learn how to care in that critical first year.

Australia could be a country in which all children can access quality ECEC  regardless of where they live or what their parents earn. 

Australia could be a country in which mothers and fathers have access to the support they need to maintain their mental and physical health. 

Australia could be a country in which men and women enjoy equal opportunities to share the care and participate in paid work in a manner that suits their needs.

Australia could be a country that reduces the gender gap in pay, workforce participation and leadership positions.

Australia could be a nation in which workplaces don’t just tolerate caring and carers but actively accommodate them.     

Australia could be a country in which families are more likely to thrive than just survive. And that nation would deliver rich social and economics rewards.

Making Australia the best place in the world to be a parent sets out blueprint for a first-of-its-kind Australian National Parenting Strategy: a coordinated framework of best practice evidence-based policies aimed at enabling parents and children to thrive in the critical early years.

The solutions are straightforward and compelling but to bring that to life we need leaders to recognise the case for change and take action to put parents, families and children first.

In reimagining the policies affecting families, the report’s recommendations value the role and function of parents and recognises how they will shape the next generation. The proposed policy approaches have far-reaching implications for mums, dads, grandparents, carers, employers, early educators and more – with the capacity to positively and profoundly affect child development, decrease inequality and increase productivity and well being in Australia.

It is time to prioritise support for parents and children as a critical investment in Australia’s future.  

If you’re on board, consider signing the petition calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to do better for Australian parents and children.

Georgie Dent is the Executive Director of The Parenthood, an independent, not-for-profit advocacy group that represents 68,000 parents, carers and supporters around Australia.

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“Free childcare has literally helped me put food on the table. I have another child due to start daycare soon and if it goes back to fee structure from before COVID it will cripple us financially.”

“My husband is a firefighter. Going back to paying for childcare makes it impossible for us to balance his shifts and demands without it costing thousands of dollars a fortnight.”

“My out of pocket expense is 3/4 of my salary. When bills come in I often have to work out how I can feed my family or pay the rates. The free daycare has made me cry knowing I can feed my family and pay our bills. My work doesn’t give me the option of part time or flexible work arrangements.”

‘Free childcare has been very, very positive in my household. It has allowed our family to keep my child enrolled where she receives the much needed social interaction and learning environment that I simply can not provide in a home-style setting with limited access to toys and learning resources.’

These are just a small sample of comments parents right across the country left in an online survey of 2,200 families The Parenthood conducted in late May and early June. 

Between April and July this year, for the first time in history, families in Australia had access to fee-free early childhood education and care (ECEC) and the message we received via the survey of parents was clear: the difference it made in households right around the country was profound.  

Even before COVID19 hit, families were struggling with the high cost of ECEC. The sudden and widespread job and income losses as a result of the pandemic stretched many household budgets – and parents – close to breaking point. Three months of fee-relief for ECEC gave them welcome breathing space. 

But the fee-free arrangement was incredibly difficult for many services and placed considerable pressure on family day-care services in particular. This – and especially the personal toll it took on educators and carers – was an issue many of the 2,200 parents raised in our survey voluntarily as being unacceptable – even while acknowledging their own family couldn’t have managed without the fee-free arrangement. 

It is emblematic of the broader problem: the current funding system means too many Australian families struggle to access or afford the quality ECEC their children deserve, while too many early childhood educators aren’t paid the wages they deserve. 

Back in June Dee Behan, a Sydney-based mum of one, co-founder of Frankly Co and member of The Parenthood, got in touch.  

She wanted to do more to make this issue understood and suggested activating a group of women who knew – first hand – just how crippling the return to full fees in the midst of the economic slump triggered by COVID would be. Women like her, with small children, trying to run and salvage businesses they’d poured time, soul, energy and money trying to build. 

“The devastating economic impact caused by COVID-19 has just exacerbated how unaffordable early education and care is, while simultaneously proving how invaluable and essential it is,” she told me at the time.  

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The result was Make It Free, a coalition of predominantly women-led businesses spearheading a call to make early childhood education and care free.

With support from Verve Super, Women’s Agenda, Shebah, Frankly Co, Logie Interiors and Her Lawyer, over 1500 parents and more than 100 businesses and organisations signed on to support the campaign.

Make It Free was borne from the frustration and disbelief a number of female entrepreneurs and leaders experienced about an “inaccessible and unaffordable” system for ECEC that acts as a barrier for them to grow their businesses and earn a living, while also failing to adequately value the work of early educators. 

In Australia around 38% of small businesses are owned by women. ATO figures indicate that 45% of small business owners have a taxable income of under the minimum wage. For those women that means every single dollar counts. And it’s why quality, ECEC being affordable for women in the small business space is critical.

Regrettably, this issue was not addressed in the historic October budget. Families, women and children were largely forgotten in the biggest spending budget in Australia’s history. That cannot happen again. 

Which is where I need your help. Over the next few weeks The Parenthood & Make It Free are co-hosting a conversation on MindHive to directly ask women and families how this issue has or does impact them. Mindhive is a digital platform that’s like a hybrid of Facebook and LinkedIn.  

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We are inviting parents, educators, entrepreneurs and interested citizens to join the discussion. It’s free to create an account and you can either comment anonymously in Incognito mode or use your own name. To start the conversation we are asking three questions:

1. How does the cost of early education and & care impact your decisions about work, your family, and your future? 
2. What did the three month period of free early childhood education & care mean to your household and/or business? 
3. What would your business and/or career look like if you didn’t have to pay for quality early childhood education & care? 

We welcome comments addressing issues of inclusion, equity and diversity that we know often make accessing ECEC even more complicated. For example, families with children with special needs, families living in remote or regional locations, families experiencing domestic and family violence, culturally and linguistically diverse families, shift workers. There are so many factors that can contribute to quality ECEC working for any particular family and we want to hear from as many of you as possible.

The discussion runs til 21st December 2020 and we’re going to let the Federal Government know what you say. Help us make sure the Federal government can’t ignore families in May. Join the discussion here.

The post How would free early childhood education & care impact your family? appeared first on Women's Agenda.

According to an announcement on Wednesday, parents who are not allowed to use childcare services over the next six weeks, during Melbourne’s stage four lockdown, will be provided with an extra 30 days of “allowable absences” that will be counted on top of already existing days.

The federal government has also said the gap fee for parents will be waived during this six week period, although Tehan admitted childcare providers can only be incentivised – not compelled – to do so.

In a statement, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, “parents will not be required to pay a gap fee when their children are not attending and we will continue to pay their subsidies to childcare facilities.”

Tehan said it was in the interests of childcare providers to waive the gap fee for parents so they maintain enrolments and ensure children come back after the lockdown period.

“We cannot by law compel services to waive the gap fee but what we are doing is everything we can to encourage services to waive the gap fee when parents are compelled to be at home,” Tehan said.

“And I would say to parents, please keep your children enrolled; it won’t cost you anything to do so and it means when we come out of this pandemic those positions will be there for you at your childcare centre.”

From this Thursday, childcare services in Melbourne will be available only to vulnerable children and children of “permitted” workers, who need to obtain and fill in a form declaring there is no available adult in their household who can care for the children.

Early Childhood Australia (ECA) issued a statement noting concerns about the packages lack of certainty for families.

‘It would make much more sense for the Federal Government to fully subsidise early childhood services across Victoria for the next 6 weeks. This would allow families to focus on the best interests of their children, and it would enable educators and teachers to continue supporting families through this challenging time,’ said ECA CEO Samantha Page.

‘During the first wave of the pandemic, we saw some exemplary practice in which educators maintained contact with children who were being kept at home. That needs to be our main focus now in Melbourne and Mitchell shire.

Page also expressed concern for early childhood educators.

‘The employment guarantee the Minister referred to is simply a headcount clause in a funding contract that discourages providers from laying off educators and teachers. It does not guarantee any minimum wage be paid to those educators and teachers. A minimum income payment should be added to the employment guarantee.’

Parent’s advocacy group The Parenthood says the “rescue” package provided by the federal government is inadequate and has not given Victorian parents clarity nor secured income for early childhood educators.

“Because it’s up to the discretion of individual providers to determine whether they will waive the gap fee there is still considerable confusion,” Georgie Dent, executive director of The Parenthood said (Georgie is also contributing editor on Women’s Agenda).

“Asking parents to remain liable for a service they cannot use for six weeks, at a time of unprecedented job and income losses is unreasonable.”

“Federal Minister for Education Dan Tehan said this package incentivises providers to waive the gap fee and to keep their staff employed but without enrolment numbers being guaranteed this will be compromised.”

Melbourne parents which children in ECEC will have an extra month of allowable absences (on top of the existing days) which will come at no cost…if providers waive the gap fee. @DanTehanWannon says services are being incentivised – but not compelled – to waive. #auspol

— Georgie Dent (@georgiedent) August 5, 2020

The federal government will also provide a ‘top up’ payment for eligible services that receive low CCS payments. And the transition payment will be raised from 25 per cent to 30 per cent as a base.

Georgie says it is paramount that the federal government puts early childhood educators back on Jobkeeper to provide certainty to the sector.

“Putting early educators back on JobKeeper and reintroducing the emergency relief payment for services would have delivered the certainty and clarity families and educators desperately need.

“This is the second time in three months that the early childhood education system has fallen over, despite it being an essential service for both children and parents.

“We need Minister Tehan to deliver proper reform and funding to support the best possible early childhood education system,” she said.

The post Advocates call out ‘lack of certainty’ for parents & educators as Govt outlines new childcare measures for Victoria appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Worried parents are now calling on the federal government to halt its plans to ‘snap back’ to the old childcare system in June, saying it would “pull the rug” out from underneath already struggling families.

Leading parents advocacy organisation The Parenthood is launching a campaign this week calling on the government to urgently fix the early childhood education sector. Protecting centres on the brink of collapse, ensuring children can access the education and care they need, and helping families adjust to a new normal, should be priorities.

Women’s Agenda contributing editor and Board Director of The Parenthood Georgie Dent says hundreds of thousands of parents are “deeply worried.”

“More than 600,000 Australians lost work last month alone, and now hundreds of thousands of those are deeply worried about reports the government is planning to “snap back” to a childcare arrangement that was already deeply flawed,” Dent said.

“To simply “snap back” to the old system is pulling the rug out from under families, just as they’re starting to get going again. It will be disastrous.”

Dent says “snapping back” to the old system will compromise the sector’s ability to survive and is not sustainable in the long run for centres or parents.

According to The Parenthood, a great step the government could make now is to increase the payments to centres from 50 per cent of pre-COVID19 revenue to 75 per cent.

“We can’t hope to get the economy going again when parents are faced with the choice of being able to work to get food on the table, or being able to put their kids into early childhood education and care,” Dent said.

When the childcare reforms were announced six weeks ago, Morrison said: “This virus is going to take enough from Australians without putting Australian parents in that position of having to choose between the economic wellbeing of their family or the care and support and education of their children.”

But the rumours of the government ‘snapping back’ to the old system will leave parents having to make exactly that choice, Dent says.

“We have a chance, in the next few weeks, to make the system strong enough that it can support all of us – we should act on it urgently and strive for something better.”

The post Parents urge the government not to pull the rug out on free childcare early appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Everyone needs a girl gang. In real life, I’m lucky to be surrounded by a group of courageous, intelligent, funny women who can deliver the right dose of honesty, feistiness and care.

But I also have dream girl gangs. You know, the women you most admire who would give you the advice and solutions you need to take over the world. Women like Michelle Obama… Ok, at the moment, I could just stop at Michelle Obama – with her in your corner would you need anyone else in your life?

But in all seriousness, I love it when a great group of women succeed – and are celebrated – together.

Which is why I was so excited when the Daily Life’s 2016 Women of the Year finalist list appeared on my news feed last night. As I began to scroll I was thrilled to see so many champion women: the fierce, intelligent and witty Anne Aly; the kind-hearted and honest Noni Hazlehurst and the laugh-until you cry writer Constance Hall.

I will never forget watching Linda Burney address a small dinner crowd of mostly young Indigenous kids when I was just 19. The way she spoke to those young men and women about staying true to their values and the need to keep pushing on despite the setbacks before them gave me goose bumps.

There’s no doubt that the ten women featured are truly remarkable. But as I scrolled to the end of the list, I couldn’t help but feel let down. I felt, once again, that women like me hadn’t made the cut, and when I say women like me, I mean women with disabilities.

Now let me be clear – my disappointment isn’t directed at Daily Life or the ten women who made the shortlist. My disappointment lies in the fact that this list, for the most part, accurately showcases the women whom we have paid attention to in 2016. The list says something about who we celebrate and value – and who we don’t. Which is why the lack of representation of women with disabilities is so jarring.

There can only be two reasons for the lack of representation of women with disabilities. Firstly, that there are no women with disabilities who are achieving at a high enough level to be worthy of a top ten spot. Let me call crap on that argument; to begin with, 2016 was a Paralympic year, so even if we were only to look at athletes, there was a smorgasbord of choices.

Did you know Paralympic sailor Liesl Tech won a gold medal in sailing for Australia in Rio, following her gold medal win for the same event in London? Oh, and London followed five previous Paralympics (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008) where Liesl competed in an entirely different sport – Wheelchair Basketball, winning three medals for Australia. On top of all that, in 2010, she co-founded Sports Matters, a charity that promotes sport for people with disabilities in developing countries. Plus, anyone who has met Liesl knows she’s the life of any party with her infectious laugh and positive attitude.

So the problem isn’t that these women don’t exist – the problem is, you don’t know about them. To be frank – I don’t even know about that many of them – and I’m disabled. If you take out athletes and the Paralympics, I could count the number of disabled women achieving high-profile success in their chosen field on one hand. How can that be? How can I be so ignorant?

I think it comes down to the fact we don’t talk about them, we don’t see them, so we don’t know about them. I don’t know about you, but I feel like when it comes to disability awareness and a platform for our stories (again, particularly for women), we are going backwards.

Some of that (but clearly not all) is connected to the death of Stella Young. A high-profile writer with disabilities who had an uncanny ability to say exactly what I was thinking or how I was feeling – but in a way that made everyone laugh. Her humour made the uncomfortable issues she was raising relatable and easy to digest for disabled and non-disabled alike. She started conversations that broke down barriers. But how did we even get to the stage where we were largely relying on one (remarkable) woman to advocate and shine a light on our issues in the media?

And if there are others, why don’t I know about them? We’ve lost our platform and I for one want it back. So how do we build a louder – more diverse – collective voice that cannot be ignored? There are probably many great ideas out there. We just need to share them and back each other up. Promote each other and not wait for others to notice us. We need our own girl gang.

The post ‘What a list of women we celebrate says to women like me’ appeared first on Women's Agenda.