Paid maternity leave: Opting for a future
Valuing
Parenthood: Paid Maternity Leave - Interim Options Paper Launch. Speech
by Pru Goward, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, 18 April 2002.
- Thank you for
being here today in what I trust will be the beginning of an informed
and fair-minded public debate about the need or otherwise for a national
paid maternity leave scheme for Australia.
- But why today?
- Why today, why
not ten years ago, why not wait a bit longer?
- Because we, along
with most of the developed world, stand on the edge of a profound challenge
to the future of human existence- the challenge of who will have our
children.
- Every year, slightly
fewer women of child-bearing age in Australia, as elsewhere, decide
to have children.
- A variety of
economic, biological and social changes have converged to create this
trend.
- Today the majority
of women will have to work part or full time for at least part of their
parenting years.
- Education and
training periods are longer, meaning earning capacity begins later in
life for most.
- The cost of living
is high - housing affordability, Australia-wide, has declined by 29%
with in the space of a generation.
- And women continue
to face workplace disadvantage as a result of their role as the bearers
of children.
- As Sex Discrimination
Commissioner, the workplace discrimination that women face as a result
of their pregnancy or potential pregnancy is my point of entry on this
issue.
- Women receive
less pay, less opportunity, less financial support in the workplace
because they bear children. They still only earn 84 cents in the male
dollar, when comparing average weekly ordinary full time earnings.
-
Adding
casual and part time workers, the majority of whom are women, and the
disparity is even greater.
- What is the consequence
of all of this on family formation?
- Profound. Young
people are understandably reluctant to partner until they are sure of
their economic futures.
- Young women in
particular are increasingly reluctant to forego the investment they
have made by withdrawing from the workforce in order to have children.
- The average age
of mothers of first children is now 29.8 years.
- People wishing
to have children today are forced to 'family cram'.
- The biological
clocks start to tick and there is a scramble for the pram.
- This is assuming
there can be - women who haven't borne a child by the age of 35 are
most unlikely to do so after that age. The ability to conceive and complications
of pregnancy and birth all start to compound as women enter their thirties.
- At the same time
there is still a mortgage to be paid, a cost of living to be met and
a career to be established. Women have to keep working.
- This is a social
paradigm shift that can't be reversed - and the sensible thing is to
work with it, not against it.
- This is where
a national scheme of paid maternity leave comes in.
- In writing this
options paper I have consulted widely with employer groups, employee
groups, unions, Government and academics.
- The message from
most is clear - the time has come to introduce a national scheme of
paid maternity leave in Australia.
- The government
may wish to take lead on this and we would all be delighted if they
advanced this issue.
- Another clear
message from those with whom I have consulted is that any national scheme
of paid maternity leave should not be funded by individual employers.
- Inevitably, whether
we introduce a national scheme of paid maternity leave is not up to
myself or the groups with whom I have consulted, but up to Australia
as a nation.
- In making this
decision there are only two questions we need answer.
- One, what can
a paid maternity leave scheme do for us? And two, to what extent do
existing schemes already cover it?
- A decision is
then simple.
- If we believe
that a national scheme of paid maternity leave can meet worthwhile aims
not currently being met by the existing government benefits on offer
- we introduce paid maternity leave.
- So what are the
possible aims of a national paid maternity leave scheme?
- There are three
I would like to highlight today:
- While the birth
of a child is often a special time for families for women it is also
a time characterised by colic, croup, cracked nipples, six feeds a day
and sheer physical exhaustion. Post natal depression is common, as is
the need for a physical recovery from caesarean section births.
- The 'family cram'
means that dragging yourself out of bed after your head has just hit
the pillow-following feed number five- to go to work is 'that's life'
for many women with newborn babies.
- Paid maternity
leave will allow women the time needed directly after the birth of a
child to recover physically from childbirth and establish a feeding
routine without being forced to return to work due to financial necessity.
- A period of paid
maternity leave can also play a role in addressing Australia's disturbing
tendency to a fertility strike - we are literally becoming a society
without a future generation.
- The current fertility
rate is 1.75. This figure sits well below the replacement rate of 2.1.
Since 1961, when it hit a high of 3.6 children per woman, it has slid
continuously- a decade ago this rate was 1.9.
- While I am not
suggesting that paid maternity leave alone can redress this, a period
of paid maternity leave will definitely respond to some of the financial
concerns discouraging women from having babies at all, or having only
one, or delaying having babies.
- Paid maternity
leave means that following the birth of a child there will not be a
total loss of income by one, or sometimes the only income earner in
a family.
- As 'saving for
a baby' gets added onto the family crammers' list of things to do, the
provision of payment through a paid maternity leave scheme may mean
that families are more able to have children at a time when they want
to, rather than having to delay the decision for money reasons.
- France and Sweden
have been much more ambitious. France has introduced paid maternity
leave as a deliberate attempt to tackle their birth rate drop- France
for example, got down to 1.7 in the year 2000. But they recognised that
substantial periods of paid maternity leave must be offered. In France
it's 16-26 weeks paid maternity leave and in Sweden it is well over
a year - and social insurance pays.
- In most countries
the introduction of paid maternity leave is too recent to test its effect
on fertility rates, however since introducing paid maternity leave for
a third child, the streets of Singapore are said to be full of strollers.
- Arguably a national
scheme of paid maternity leave may also be able to provide benefits
for the labour force and foster Australia's economic growth.
- Every year the
Australian Government invests public funds into education and training
programs. In 2000 women made up 46 per cent of all Australians with
post school qualifications.
- Women are spending
years studying and training to enter the workforce - Women are attending
university, entering TAFE and doing other a variety of other training
courses. They are qualifying as lawyers, accountants, chefs, beauticians
and aroma therapists.
- The majority
of women are having children between the ages 30-34.
- It is when women
have committed at least 10 years to their field, in study and/or experience,
and are often on their way to becoming leaders in their fields, that
they leave the workforce.
- In providing
women with a paid break from the workforce, paid maternity leave offers
women the financial support to have more choice in when they have children,
and as a result, to retain ties with the workforce for many more years.
- This in turn
means that Australia has its most skilled labour force in the increasingly
competitive global market in which it operates.
- These are just
some of the aims that paid maternity leave can meet.
- Are these aims
important? Are they of national significance?
- I think they
are and that anyone would find it hard to disagree.
- For those who
don't agree, this is where the debate begins.
- In deciding what
type of national scheme of paid maternity leave to introduce, it is
first worth looking at whether existing government benefits are meeting
the aims I just outlined.
- The government
provides a range of income support payments to families to assist with
the cost of raising children.
- Last financial
year, the Federal government committed over 10 billion dollars to direct
family assistance, including the maternity allowance, family tax benefits
A and B and a maternity immunisation allowance.
- None of these
existing benefits respond directly to the main aim of a paid maternity
leave scheme - the need to financially support women in employment at
the time of childbirth.
- The Government's
new First Child Tax Rebate, costing half a billion dollars a year, will
also not assist that rising number of women who need to go back to work
in the first year.
- The lack of direct
financial support by the Government for women who are in employment
and have children, suggests suggests to me that the rapidity with which
the generation jam has descended upon us has not been picked up in Canberra.
That is easy to change.
- With 70 per cent
of women in their child bearing years participating in the labour force,
providing financial support to working women having babies is a matter
of national significance.
- We have a choice.
- We either support
women today in their dual role as integral members of the workforce
and as the bearers of children, or we don't - we tell them to go home-
or we support all groups of women, whatever combination of work and
family they choose.
- If we want them
to go home it makes more sense to stop them from being in the workforce
altogether… at least once they are married. We could re-enact the
marriage bar.
- No, marriage
is too late. Let's take women out of university... and school, and then
I suppose, it's hardly possible to justify reading and writing…
- We'll tell young
girls today, there's a nice spot for you in the home.
Barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.
- Or, we support women and men so that they can manage a combination of work and family responsibilities. Paid maternity leave is part of doing that. Just ask the rest of the world.
Next Steps
- I have asked for
submissions by 12 July 2002, which is in 12 weeks time. This is a reasonably
generous amount of time in order to allow people time to discuss the
issues, develop their positions and prepare submissions.
- These submissions
will form the basis of the final paper. As such it is important that
we receive submissions from as wide a range of stakeholders as possible
to ensure that all views are represented. I hope that all of you in
this room will be making submissions, and that you will encourage your
colleagues and members to do likewise.
- I will also be
continuing with my direct consultations. I intend to travel to each
capital city in order to speak to individuals and organisations representing
employers, employees, women and the community. I also hope to continue
the very constructive dialogue that I have been having with a range
of Commonwealth government departments.
- The final paper will be released later this year, which will include recommendations to Government. The quality and content of the final paper will be very much dependent on the feedback and input I receive in response to this Interim paper.
Last updated 18 April 2002
