By Anthony Barich
OVERWHELMED by the societal requirement to retain the primary carer responsibility despite gaining equality at work, Australian women want more help at home by their spouses and children and some recommend having children earlier, a wide-ranging research paper has found.
Through a focus group, a literature review and a web-based survey with over 950 respondents investigating the conflict between women’s work and life goals and solutions for achieving a better work life balance, independent think tank Women’s Forum Australia found that mothers of children under 15 provide around two and a half hours a day extra work compared to fathers, worth over $13,000 per annum if valued at $15 an hour.
The major casualty of this work life imbalance is women’s self-care, exercise and leisure, the research revealed – although this increases health risks.
This was highlighted by the fact that over half of the survey respondents were willing to pay on average $40 a week to eradicate its negative impacts, and the quality of life impact of work life stress was rated “a little worse than having diabetes”.
Based on the survey, all women want is help from their spouses and children, WFA chief operating officer Misty de Vries told The Record the day after the 160-page research paper, Reality Check: Work Life Balance was launched at the Perth Art Gallery on 20 May.
The research paper was the result of 18 months’ research of individuals, including men, aged 18-70.
The research showed that up to 47 per cent had curtailed family desires due to other commitments, 16 per cent delay having children and 18 per cent do not have children despite the desire to do so, sometimes as a consequence of not having time for relationships.
Consequently, if this “overarching issue” of work life imbalance is not addressed in society, then Australia’s fertility rate – while having risen over the last two years thanks to the baby bonus introduced by former Coalition Treasurer Peter Costello – will not be enough to sustain the replacement rate and subsequently the economy.
Over 60 per cent feel society demands too much of parents, 52 per cent that extra-curricular activities demand too much and 38 per cent that schools demand too much.
The solutions it proposed included paid parental leave (PPL) and expanding Family Tax Benefit Part B into a comprehensive measure that splits a couple’s family income equally across both adults for tax purposes so there is less marginal disincentive if one partner works few or no hours for pay.
It also proposed access to carer leave and collocated care centres, since women also represent 71 per cent of Australia’s primary carers of the disabled and frail aged.
The paper also proposed widespread education programmes focusing on boys and men, as recommended by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, to “help break down gendered stereotypes of men as ‘breadwinners’ and women as less socially valued carers and unpaid domestic workers.
It also recommended better access to pregnancy and peri-natal support services and retention of the Baby Bonus and Family Tax Benefit Part A, “in recognition of the value and cost of parenting”.