Government-funded maternity leave

SMH: Lisa Pryor
26 July 2008

... Women have every right to be as organised and demanding as other lobby groups - such as farmers, private schools, the fossil fuels industry - which have no qualms about whingeing and asking for stuff from governments.

...Women need to get organised and support the road map that Elizabeth Broderick put forward this week, which includes increasing the number of women in leadership positions, calling for a national, government-funded, paid maternity leave scheme, driving down sexual harassment, and reducing the gender gap in retirement savings.

A proposal for a government-funded maternity leave scheme has already been supported by Heather Ridout, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, and Sharan Burrow, president of the ACTU - which may just go to show why it is so important to have women in leadership positions.

There are plenty of practical things that can be done to support this proposal. Like writing to your local member of parliament in support of such a program, or making a submission to the Productivity Commission's inquiry into paid parental leave, now or once the draft report is released in September.

We also need to do something about the issue of women and super, because few of us will get to spent our days walking barefoot along the beach towards distant headlands, if you look at how little we will have to live on.

"Half of all women aged 45 to 59 have less than $8000 in retirement savings and the average superannuation payout for women is a third of the payout for men," Broderick said this week.

"Women spend more time in unpaid work, particularly caring for children. They are also more likely to work part-time than men, leaving them with much less retirement savings."

Not only are men earning more, they are getting the lion's share of the tax breaks that come from paying into super. And we are supposed to feel guilty about the government funding us for a measly 14 weeks of paid maternity leave? The time has come to stop feeling guilty and start getting shirty.