The interim paper, Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave set out an extensive range of objectives that paid maternity leave could meet. [242] Many of these objectives were dependent on the structure of the scheme that was implemented.

As part of the consultation process for this paper, HREOC asked the community which objectives they considered were most important in an Australian context, and the extent to which they considered that paid maternity leave could deliver these objectives. This Part of the paper sets out the views presented in consultations and submissions in response to these questions, and states HREOC's conclusions.

HREOC considers that the introduction of a national scheme of paid maternity leave in Australia should be a priority. As set out in Part B, families are coming under increasing time and financial pressure. Now, more than ever before, families and parents need support to combine work and child rearing. A national paid maternity leave scheme is an essential part of such support.

HREOC considers that paid maternity leave is a basic entitlement that women in paid work should be able to access. HREOC is of the view that the principal reasons that paid maternity leave should be a basic entitlement are the significant benefits it has in terms of:

ensuring the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies immediately prior to and following birth;
addressing the workplace disadvantage that women experience as a result of maternity; and
contributing to ensuring that women are able to participate on equal terms with men in all aspects of the community.

These are the reasons that paid maternity leave has been enshrined in international conventions, namely CEDAW and the International Labour Organization's Maternity Protection Convention 2000 (Maternity Protection Convention).

In addition to these primary reasons, there is also a broad range of additional benefits that will flow from the introduction of paid maternity leave. They include:

enhancing the wellbeing of fathers;
assisting families with the costs of children;
assisting women to maintain their labour force attachment;
assisting women to increase their lifetime earnings and retirement incomes;
helping women to be able to better combine work and family;
providing social recognition of the role of motherhood;
valuing children;
assisting to change expectations of work and family responsibilities in workplaces;
assisting employers with staff retention and reducing staff turnover costs;
assisting to maintain a competitive and skilled labour force; and
contributing towards maintaining and improving Australia's fertility rate.

Clearly, paid maternity leave cannot achieve such a range of outcomes on its own. However, these were the issues that the community considered needed to be addressed. Submissions and consultations emphasised that paid maternity leave could make a significant contribution to achieving many of these outcomes. It was considered that, for some objectives, particularly that of promoting the health and wellbeing of mothers and their children, the introduction of a national scheme of paid maternity leave would deliver significant benefits in its own right.

The final Chapter in this Part sets out the range of outstanding issues which the community considered should be addressed in addition to paid maternity leave to help families better combine raising children with paid work

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5. Health and wellbeing of mothers, babies and their families

5.1 Introduction

The health and wellbeing of new mothers and babies is the most fundamental argument for paid maternity leave. While income support measures may be designed to achieve a variety of outcomes, the need to ensure that women can afford to spend the first weeks of a child's life recovering from the birth and nurturing the baby requires a measure designed to provide this. The 14 weeks leave recommended by the International Labour Organization and the 16 weeks leave recommended by the World Health Organization are premised on this argument. [243]

The need to safeguard health squarely supports the provision of paid maternity leave to mothers only, rather than paid parental leave which is available to either parent. However, this Chapter also examines the importance of paid maternity leave to all family members, most particularly infants but also fathers.

This Chapter discusses:

the physical and mental health benefits of a period of paid leave for women;
the benefits, both in terms of health and economics, of breastfeeding for mother and child;
the health and wellbeing effects for infants of paid maternity leave; and
the positive impact a period of paid leave has on family relationships during a period of intense lifestyle change.

Health and wellbeing was an aspect of the paid maternity leave debate that received less discussion in HREOC's interim paper Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave. Consequently, this Chapter not only provides a discussion of issues raised in submissions and consultations, it also canvasses the substantial literature on this topic. During the consultation process, HREOC wrote to academic and medical experts in this field seeking information specifically on the health implications of maternity leave. This Chapter reports on information provided during that correspondence.

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5.2 Health and wellbeing of mothers

5.2.1 Introduction

There are a number of related reasons why women need a specific period out of the workforce free from financial concerns following the birth of a child. Submissions canvassed many of these issues.

Paid maternity leave would provide appropriate support for women and families with new babies. The time before and after childbirth is critical for the physical and psychological wellbeing of the mother and child. Paid maternity leave would help to alleviate extra stresses that would result from the loss of income from the mother stopping work. It would also ensure that mothers had time to recover rather than being forced back into the workforce prematurely. [244]

[Paid maternity leave means that w]omen can take time off without financial worry - ensuring that the first months of a baby's life is stress-free (in the context that the mother has one less thing to worry about) and that women can relax into being a mum rather than worrying how the bills will be paid. [245]

In addition, individual mothers told HREOC about the physical and emotional impact of financial stress following childbirth.

The stress of not knowing how one is going to make ends meet even for a few weeks after birth is horrific and I've lived it twice. To just be able to have those first few weeks paid would at least give us something whilst we bond with our babies. [246]

It was horrible [returning to work with a seven week old baby]. It was something that I knew I had to do so I was aware of it and I just tried my best. I didn't cut hours. I went back to my contracted hours which then was 54 hours per fortnight. I think I should have cut my hours but financially I just wasn't able to because every last dollar of my pay is relied on. [247]

This section outlines some of these issues.

5.2.2 Physical health

It is generally agreed that the physical and emotional demands of childbirth require a period of recovery and adaptation. A number of studies examining the health status of women after childbirth have found that many women experience a range of health problems over a number of months following delivery. These health problems are often simply the common effects of pregnancy, childbirth and lactation, but they indicate, at the very least, a need for rest and recovery. A population based survey of Victorian women conducted in 1993-1994 found that 94 per cent or 1,254 of the 1,336 women surveyed experienced one or more health problem over the first six months following childbirth. The most common health problems experienced over this six month period were tiredness (69 per cent) and backache (43.5 per cent). [248]

This prevalence of health problems in new mothers up to six months post delivery is confirmed by a more recent population based study conducted in the Australian Capital Territory in 1997. [249] Exhaustion or extreme tiredness was experienced by 60 per cent of the 1 193 women who completed the survey eight weeks after delivery. This percentage reduced to 49 per cent of women 24 weeks after delivery. Backache was experienced by 53 per cent of new mothers eight weeks after birth, reducing to 45 per cent of new mothers 24 weeks after birth. [250] The authors contended that while declining in prevalence, these health problems are still common after six months, perhaps reflecting the exigencies of parenting as well as the physical impact of pregnancy and childbirth itself. [251] Other health problems that were showing resolution between eight weeks and 24 weeks after birth included bowel problems, lack of sleep due to the baby crying, hemorrhoids, perineal pain, excessive or prolonged bleeding, urinary incontinence, mastitis, and other urinary problems. Only six per cent of new mothers reported an absence of health problems in the first eight weeks, 17 per cent in the second eight weeks, and 19 per cent between 17 and 24 weeks postpartum. [252]

A US study of 654 women who gave birth between October 1991 and February 1992 found that at seven months post delivery potentially infectious symptoms such as colds and flu were experienced by many: 25 per cent had one symptom; 18 per cent had two symptoms; and 37 per cent of women had three or more symptoms. Non infectious symptoms of ill health, such as stiff joints, neck or back pain were also experienced by many of the women interviewed. [253] Another US study which interviewed 96 women found that 63 per cent had recovered physically, mentally and emotionally six months after childbirth. However, 25 per cent of the women reported that they still had not recovered physically, 12 per cent stated that their mental recovery was incomplete, and 17 per cent considered that their emotional recovery was not yet complete. A further seven per cent of the women reported that they had not fully recovered in any of the three areas. [254]

Many of these health problems on their own would not prevent a woman from returning to work, but most would require a period of adjustment or rest, if not full recovery. Providing a period of paid leave for new mothers:

… means that the financial strain after childbirth does not force women back into the workforce prematurely, a situation which causes unnecessary stress and anxiety for both mother and child. [255]

It is well documented, the effects on the body, despite [childbirth] being 'natural'. [Fourteen weeks] is barely enough to physically recover. It just covers the transition period. You need to keep [new mothers] out of physical labour in order for them to get better. [256]

5.2.3 Physical effects of early return to work

Providing women with an income while they are absent from the workforce due to childbirth would allow many women, who now return to work shortly after delivery because of financial constraints, [257] adequate time to physically recover. Evidence of an early return to work necessitated by economic circumstances was provided by a number of submissions.

With the birth of Ethan this June, I had a caesarean again and it is very different. We live upstairs so physically it's hard. I haven't had time to relax, and take it easy. Coping on your own as a couple with a new baby, getting to know the baby, then the financial pressures, and then going back to work [two weeks after the birth] - it is very hard. I'm tired, irritable. And I can't see my baby! I wanted to bring him in and keep him under my desk! I can't get myself organised and into a routine. [258]

The length of time required for complete maternal recovery varies with the individual woman and her child. However, the traditionally held view of a six week maternal recovery time has been called into question as too short.

The classic postnatal period or puerperium is the first 6 weeks after delivery however it is well known that several body systems notably the urinary tract do not recover their full non pregnant status until 3 months post delivery. This coupled with the need to successfully establish and maintain breast feeding … with all its attendant benefits for neonatal health of the child and quicker restitution of the maternal birth canal and uterine involution (i.e. return to a normal non pregnant size) would advocate at least a 14 week period of postnatal leave prior to the return to the work force. [259]

The findings of a number of studies undertaken in the US support the need for an extended period of postpartum recovery beyond the traditional six weeks. One study concluded that:

… the conventional view of a six week postpartum recovery may not fit all women, particularly employed women who lack the flexibility to adapt their job demands or schedules to accommodate needs for rest and recuperation throughout the postpartum year. [260]

That study also found that the duration of maternity leave, measured as the time off work, has a complex and significant effect on maternal health. The effect of time off work was U-shaped, with initially less time off work associated with better health, [261] but this relationship reversed itself at later stages of the postpartum period, revealing more time off work to be associated with better health outcomes. Generic measures of health were used, these being mental health, vitality and role function. The positive effect of time off work on maternal health was observed to begin at 12 weeks postpartum for vitality (based on an assessment of energy and lack of fatigue), at 15 weeks postpartum for mental health (based on an assessment of depression and anxiety), and at 20 weeks postpartum for role function (based on an assessment of the combined effect of physical and emotional health problems, or fatigue on an individual's daily activities). [262]

5.2.4 Fatigue

Fatigue is a major health concern for many new mothers. This was borne out during the consultations.

You are chronically fatigued after the birth of a child. [263]

Even if you don't breastfeed you are still tired. [264]

The bearing of children is work, hard work, involving loss of sleep, immense fatigue, the necessity to maintain an equilibrium, continue the family support role and cope with whatever occurs. [265]

An Australian study into the functional status of women after childbirth found that fatigue is a common concern during the first six months postpartum. [266] In reviewing the literature, the author states that the percentage of women negatively affected by fatigue varies from 26 per cent to 96 per cent depending on the survey period and the temperament of the baby. [267] Another study found that a lack of physical energy and repeated baby night time wakenings were linked with lower levels of functional status during the first six months after birth. [268] This study and others on functional status after childbirth are discussed below at 5.2.5.

Sleep deprivation is also experienced by the parents of adopted children. Most, if not all, adopted children suffer from sleeping problems, either as a result of the trauma they have suffered in institutions or as a result of the adoption process. Sometimes these problems can be quite severe. Most adopted children suffer from sleeping problems which deprive adoptive parents of normal sleeping patterns, at least for the first few months as the adopted child adapts to his or her new family environment. [269]

5.2.5 Functionality

An Australian study defined functional status after childbirth as the:

… assumption of the desired or required infant care responsibilities, and the resumption of self-care, household, social/community, and occupational activities at the pre-delivery level. [270]

This study surveyed 132 women at six weeks postpartum of whom 66 (50 per cent) were employed outside the home prior to giving birth. Sixty per cent of the 66 women received unpaid maternity leave, 53 per cent of the 66 saw themselves as professional women, and 75 per cent of the 66 intended to return to work. [271]

Significantly, none of the respondents had achieved full functional status by six weeks postpartum. For household activities only 17 per cent (23 of the 132) stated that they had resumed their activities around the home; for social/community activities only eight per cent (10 of the 132) reported that they had fully resumed such activity; and for self care, none of the women had fully resumed the levels of pre-birth activity. For baby care 47 per cent (62 of the 132) had fully engaged in their desired level of baby care and for those mothers who had resumed employment (17 of the 132), only 18 per cent (three of the 17) felt that they were functioning at as high a level as they had prior to having their baby. [272]

5.2.6 Method of birth

In 1999, caesarean sections accounted for 21.9 per cent of all confinements in Australia. [273] Caesarean rates were generally higher as maternal age increased. Women aged less than 20 years had a caesarean rate of 12.3 per cent while mothers aged 40 years and over had a caesarean rate of 37.6 per cent. [274] There is also a higher correlation of caesarean births with private health insurance status. For example, mothers aged 35 to 39 years who had private health insurance status in hospital and who were having their first baby had a caesarean rate of 44.3 per cent compared with 34.0 per cent for those who had public health insurance status. [275] The caesarean rate continues to show an overall upwards trend in recent decades. [276]

The median maternal age in Australia has increased gradually from 27.9 years in 1991 [277] to 30 years in 2001. [278] The combination of delayed pregnancy and increased private health insurance coverage suggests that the upwards trend in the rate of caesarean sections will not abate.

Mothers who deliver their children by caesarean section usually require a longer recovery period than women who give birth naturally. For example, women who have undergone caesarean sections are strongly advised by the medical profession not to drive a vehicle [279] nor lift for six weeks after delivery.

5.2.7 Mental health

Paid maternity leave may assist in addressing some of the risk factors for postnatal depression. [280] Postnatal depression, sometimes expressed as "slow, tired, hopeless behaviour, eyes filled with unshed tears or constant crying, or by intense anxiety and frantic behaviour" [281] is experienced by a significant proportion of new mothers. [282] Depressive symptoms can last for some months after childbirth. [283] Between 40 per cent and 70 per cent of cases of postnatal depression have their onset in the first three months after birth. [284] Concern about the mental health of new mothers was expressed in public consultations and submissions.

Australia is experiencing a mental health crisis, increasing family and marriage breakdowns, and high incidences of postnatal depression. Financial stresses are almost always cited as contributing to, if not causing, these problems. [285]

The effects of maternal depression and poor maternal mental health on children range from a mother's distorted view of her child's health (which may exacerbate pre-existing anxiety and result in increased and unnecessary use of health services) to significant developmental and emotional problems for children. [286]

A recent Australian population based survey shows that, of the 1 336 women surveyed six to seven months after childbirth in 1993-1994, 16.9 per cent were depressed as indicated by scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDN). [287] Depression rates are observed to decline over the first 24 weeks of the child's life. [288]

Paid maternity leave was cited in submissions and public consultations as one means of addressing postnatal depression.

First, [paid maternity leave] may reduce risk of maternal and child morbidity via the reduction of financial stress or hardship. Second, it means that mother's work and family goals are not placed in opposition, reducing her risk for depression. [289]

Of course, paid maternity leave should not be viewed as a panacea for all the mental health issues surrounding motherhood.

Being paid … won't make most women less tired but will go a long way to relieving family financial pressures at a time which is one of the most stressful in a woman's life. [290]

5.2.8 Breastfeeding

The health benefits of breastfeeding for women include a significant reduction in the risk of contracting osteoporosis, breast cancer, cervical cancer and ovarian cancer. [291] Other health benefits of breastfeeding for women include the encouragement of bonding between mother and baby and the reduction in bleeding after giving birth. [292]

Several submissions referred to the need for a period of leave in order to establish a breastfeeding routine.

A period of paid maternity leave allows mothers time to … establish breastfeeding. There is considerable medical evidence to suggest that women benefit from a period of adjustment after the birth of the baby, which does not require them to return immediately to structured paid employment. A well-established breastfeeding routine does take some time to establish in most circumstances, and a daily routine that reduces the contact between mother and baby would make this difficult to establish. [293]

[T]he longer the paid leave, the better chance there is of establishing breastfeeding … Financial pressures and an unsupportive employer can take away a mother's choice to breastfeed. Our experience in counseling mothers through our Breastfeeding Helpline indicates that some mothers either do not initiate breastfeeding or only do so for a matter of weeks if they are returning to the paid workforce in the early months after the birth. [294]

It became very difficult to establish and then to maintain breastfeeding when I had to return to work and in fact, became impossible. This is something I regret deeply but we had no other options. [295]

Establishing a breastfeeding routine requires time and effort on the part of the mother as highlighted in an interview with an individual.

I made the decision when I was pregnant that I wouldn't even try [to breastfeed] … because the time wouldn't have allowed for it. I couldn't have gone to work ten days per fortnight and breastfed. It's not an option. [296]

The health benefits of breastfeeding for infants is discussed below at 5.3.1.

The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for up to six months of an infant's life. [297] Many submissions referred to this recommendation.

The importance of breastfeeding for women's health (as protection against breast cancer) as well as for child health has recently been recognized. It is Federal Government policy to encourage breastfeeding in accordance with World Health Organization standards. Australian public health targets propose that up to 80 per cent of children should be partially breast fed up to six months of age. [298]

Breastfeeding rates have leveled off in Australia over the last decade, [299] and mothers in lower socio-economic groups are significantly less likely to breastfeed beyond the first few weeks of their infants' lives. [300]

Around nine in ten women initiate breastfeeding, but by 12 weeks this has fallen to 60 per cent. By 6 months only approximately four in ten mothers are still breastfeeding. [301]

Australian data show that during 1992-1995, 81.8 per cent of infants were breastfed following discharge from hospital. At 13 weeks of age, 57.1 per cent were exclusively breastfed, and 63 per cent exclusively or partially breastfed. At 25 weeks of age, 18.6 per cent were exclusively breastfed, and 46.2 per cent exclusively or partially breast fed. [302]

A recent study found that less than one in ten infants in the Australian Capital Territory are exclusively breastfed for the recommended six months, even though initiation rates of breastfeeding are high (92 percent). [303] The study concluded that this was due mainly to supplementation or weaning onto formula within the first three months, and the early introduction of solids. Other research suggests that the duration of breastfeeding is dependent upon the duration of maternity leave. [304]

A number of studies have estimated the costs of early weaning from breast milk. The attributable hospitalization costs of early weaning in the Australian Capital Territory are estimated to be around $1-2 million per annum for five childhood illnesses [305] having known associations with early weaning from human milk. [306] The authors emphasised that these costs are minimum estimates of the true cost of early weaning as they exclude numerous other chronic or common illnesses, and out-of-hospital health care costs, such as costs of health care professionals and prescription costs.

Another study estimated the Australian public hospital costs of just three common infant illnesses statistically attributable to formula feeding (assuming a breastfeeding prevalence of 60 per cent at three months postpartum) to be around $18 million. [307] Again, this estimate excludes private financial and economic costs associated with post-hospital consultations with general practitioners and pediatricians, pharmaceutical and nursing costs, household disruption and productivity losses, and long term morbidity costs for the infant. The other costs of infant illness such as days absent from work, days absent from school, or days of reduced activity are also significant. For example, mothers in the US in the paid workforce who formula feed their infants have higher absenteeism than breastfeeding mothers. [308]

Some submissions linked a period of paid maternity leave to the establishment of breastfeeding. For example the Women's Electoral Lobby noted that:

[p]roviding working women with a 14-week period of paid maternity leave is an important form of support for this policy [of supporting six months of breastfeeding]. Women unfairly bear the costs of this public health strategy unless maternity leave is paid and other workplace supports and facilities are supported. [309]

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5.3 Health and wellbeing of babies

5.3.1 Breastfeeding

There is ample evidence of the health benefits of breastfeeding for children. As was asserted in one consultation, "… studies show that babies that are breast fed thrive. They do better." [310]

There is some evidence to suggest that formula fed infants:

are significantly more likely to be hospitalised than breastfed babies;
suffer twice as much illness as breastfed babies even after controlling for socioeconomic status; and
are 12-31 per cent more likely to suffer chronic illness when fed by formula for at least three months. [311]

Breastfeeding for at least four to six months may also reduce both the incidence and severity of some infectious diseases and other ailments. [312]

A major Canadian study has found that:

[i]n addition to the nutritional benefits for the baby, breastfeeding in the critical early period of brain development appears to have a positive, long-term impact on the organization of the brain's neural pathways.

…

The weight of the evidence indicates that breastfeeding provides both optimal nutrition and stimulation for newborn babies and young infants. Human breast milk contains the optimal balance of nutrients needed for brain and body growth. The act of breastfeeding provides frequent opportunities for skin-to-skin touch and smell stimulation. [313]

5.3.2 Bonding

Many submissions referred to the importance of maternal bonding or attachment for the child's emotional development.

This bonding is critical. I'm not saying if you go back [to work] after the child is 4 days old you won't bond, but there are issues about bonding at this age and how the child is in later life. [314]

[L]earning occurs within the context of relationships, emotional and cognitive outcomes are dependent on the attachments formed with the primary caregiver. [315]

Breastfeeding, apart from its nutritional benefits, provides the optimum opportunity for mothers and babies to bond. One submission referred to:

… the absolute primacy of attachment in the early days and weeks, when mimicry, symbiosis, breast-feeding, familiar heart-beat and voice, health and sanity of the mother - all have a vital part to play. [316]

Just as consuming breast milk compared to formula milk has huge advantages to infants and their mothers, the physical intimacy between mother and child during breastfeeding has huge advantages over expressed milk being fed to the infant by another carer. [317]

A period of paid leave provides women with the necessary time to bond effectively with their children.

Parental leave increases the opportunity for ... attachment to occur. Secure attachment is the cornerstone for the development of all future relationships. [318]

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5.4 Emotional wellbeing for the father

Several submissions echoed the comments made at a number of public consultations about the impact of a new baby on a family's financial and emotional resources. In particular, new fathers bear a greater proportion of the financial responsibility for the family, often by working longer hours to compensate for the loss of the woman's income.

In Australia, data on working hours also demonstrates that men are more likely to work particularly long hours when they have babies/young children - one of the reasons being the mother's loss of income. Families on low incomes are more likely to be sensitive to foregone income as a greater proportion of the household's disposable income will be required to meet the costs associated with child birth. Paid maternity leave would reduce the pressure on fathers to work long hours, another valuable social policy outcome. [319]

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), has recently embarked upon a campaign for paid maternity leave, on the basis that their (mostly male) members would not feel the need to work so much overtime whilst their children are small, if their partners were able to take leave from work with pay. This suggests that many of the partners of CFMEU members do take leave when they have a baby, but do not receive any leave payments. Consequently, their male partners must make up as much of their lost income as possible by working overtime, and are not as able to participate in family activities or share any of the child-care work. Paid maternity leave would therefore benefit fathers and families as a whole. [320]

Fathers are missing out because they feel that they have to earn extra money to make up for the mother staying at home. [321]

Working longer hours has a deleterious effect on the father's ability to adapt to fatherhood, to bond with his child, and to provide emotional support and household assistance for his partner at a particularly stressful time for all members of the family.

The farmer may often stay out on the block a lot longer. This means little interaction with his wife and children because he goes before sunrise and doesn't come home until after dark. [322]

Sharing in the care of a newborn provides fathers with confidence in their caring abilities. [323] Often fathers are required to do the bulk of the care of a newborn if there are birth complications.

Gregory whose partner had an emergency caesarean birth explained that having a great deal of early contact with the baby after the birth increased his confidence in caring for the baby and helped in establishing a bond between them. [324]

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5.5 Conclusion

HREOC agrees that:

[m]aternity leave is to provide a measure of employment protection to female employees in employment who become pregnant, to safeguard the health of the mother in the period before and after confinement and to enable the female employee to be absent for child care. [325]

The health and wellbeing of mothers following childbirth is a key reason to introduce a secure paid maternity leave scheme. Women need a period of rest to recover from childbirth before they can resume usual activities. Many women experience health problems as a consequence of childbirth and even where these health problems are mild they still require a period of adjustment. Women who experience multiple health problems or depression may need a more substantial period of time away from work.

Women should not be forced to return to work because of financial reasons before they have this time to recover. The amount of time each woman needs to guarantee recovery from childbirth will depend on the individual. However, experts agree that an absolute minimum would be a period of between 12 to 16 weeks. It goes without saying that the health and wellbeing of the child is likely to be directly affected by that of their mother.

Paid maternity leave would guarantee new mothers a period of recovery without additional financial concerns. In addition, paid maternity leave would guarantee that women who breastfeed have a chance to establish a feeding routine and to bond with their babies at a crucial time for infant development, for the direct benefit of the child.

HREOC considers that paid maternity leave is crucial for the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies, and that it would indirectly benefit fathers by reducing financial stress on families and permitting additional parenting time.

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6. Economic security

6.1 Introduction

The onset of family responsibilities usually marks the beginning of reduced economic security for women since there is a shift either out of work entirely or into part time and casual work. While the family unit has historically masked disadvantage of this kind, the changing nature of families now means that economic disadvantage is borne more directly by individual members. In addition to this, the changing nature of retirement incomes compounds this disadvantage and insecurity for women in the latter years of their lives.

This Chapter explores the nature of economic insecurity and the contribution paid maternity leave could make to fostering women's economic security, both short term and over their lifetimes.

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6.2 Financial support at the time of childbirth

A payment at the time of childbirth would provide women with economic security by ensuring that they have access to an adequate level of income. This is an issue for all women, whether they are in paid work or are caring full time for a child. The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, for example, stated that the primary objective of a paid maternity leave scheme must be "the provision of a payment which is sufficient to ensure that the woman and her family are able to live with dignity during the period before and after the child is born". [326]

The Women's Action Alliance considered that providing families with financial support at the time of the birth of a child was one of the primary objectives of paid maternity leave. It considered that:

[a]n inclusive maternity payment would provide appropriate support for women and families with new babies in terms of timing because when a new child is brought into the family there is increased cost and workforce disruption. [327]

HREOC is strongly of the view that the Government should ensure that all women have adequate financial support at the time of childbirth. Chapter 3 reviews the adequacy of current government payments in relation to this goal.

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6.3 Income replacement

Under current arrangements in Australia, the majority of women must forego income from paid work as a result of giving birth. Over 60 per cent of women in paid work at the time of birth of their child currently do not have access to paid maternity leave [328] and so must lose their income over the period when they leave work to give birth. This is an issue common to all women in employment who have, or are considering having, a child. Foregoing income is a particular issue for women in paid work. While ensuring women who are not in paid work are adequately supported at the time of childbirth is a significant concern, these women are not faced with the same reduction in income as a result of childbirth.

In contrast to the experience of women in paid work, income reduction is not generally a problem experienced by men when they become fathers. While men may choose to take leave at the time of birth of a child, and HREOC supports measures to encourage men's involvement in the family at childbirth, [329] there is not the same physical necessity to be absent from the workforce.

Paid maternity leave has the potential to replace some, if not all, of the income women lose when they leave the workforce on maternity leave. As one woman stated "regardless of how much you are earning there is still financial stress that comes when you lose one salary". [330]

Many submissions recognised the importance of a scheme of paid maternity leave as an income replacement mechanism. [331] Income replacement is different to income support (such as Parenting Payment) and income supplementation (such as the Family Tax Benefits). Paid maternity leave, as an income replacement scheme, would be time limited and linked to workforce participation. The South Australian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity emphasised that:

[i]t is important that women receive financial compensation for leave taken due to childbirth and that they are not disadvantaged financially for taking time off to have children. [332]

Other submissions also reflected this view. The Australian Federation of University Women - Victoria argued that:

[p]aid maternity leave allows a woman to take a period of time to concentrate on the needs of her newborn baby and to recuperate from the birth without financial concern. [333]

The problems caused by loss of income are exacerbated for women on lower incomes as under the current system of employer funded paid maternity leave these women are least likely to have access to paid maternity leave [334] and are also less likely to be able to make use of unpaid parental leave arrangements due to their financial circumstances. Several submissions raised this issue.

[A] national … scheme would be of particular value to women on low incomes. These women, who make up a significant proportion of women workers, currently have less access to paid maternity leave than higher income earners, and without paid leave are more likely to have to return to work earlier than they would otherwise choose to. [335]

[F]or parents, in particular low income parents and the growing number of single parents who have financial commitments, there is often no choice. These parents are unable to capitalise on the opportunity associated with 12 months unpaid maternity leave. [336]

[T]he data, and our own experience, indicates that access to paid maternity leave and other family-friendly policies is skewed towards those who already have higher incomes and greater individual workplace status. A substantial maternity payment would assist in addressing the disadvantage experienced by low income women. [337]

Lower income earners also cited the need for two incomes.

I am 27 years old, just married and paying off a first home. My husband and I would dearly love to have children but at this time in our life we could not afford for me to have any length of time off work, we need to keep up home loan payments and my salary is a large contributor. We figure it might be possible in about five years time. The only thing that worries me about that is that I will be in my mid-thirties by then. [338]

A number of submissions from highly educated women also pointed out their need for government assistance around the birth of their children.

I am a skilled and highly qualified professional permanent resident in Australia, where I have been employed and have paid income tax to the government for the past 8 years … My husband and I are now faced with a dilemma. For the sake of our daughter and ourselves we would like to consider having another child. The financial consequences however, prevent this from being an easy choice. My husband was made redundant from his workplace three months ago. My current income and our achieved financial assets make my husband ineligible for unemployment benefits (besides the fact that he is too proud to actually apply for unemployment benefits). With only my income to support our lifestyle (after our income was halved due to his unemployment), we are not in a position to contemplate a second child, as this would render us without any income for at least a period of 3-6 months. [339]

I am a 29 year old chemical engineer thinking about having a baby in about 12 months time. I would like to take around 4 months off, then go back to work part time, but as my husband is a postgrad student, we will be going from one income to a part time income if we have a child!! 8 or 12 weeks paid maternity leave would make a big difference during those initial months! [340]

Submissions also raised the concern that a short period of paid leave, such as 14 weeks, may be inadequate since most women take a longer period of leave following the birth of a child. For example, Australian Business Industrial reported on a survey of its members that "… the vast majority of women who had taken the leave had taken the majority of their 12 months statutory maximum amount of leave". [341] However, HREOC agrees with the point made in another submission that:

[t]he fact is that ... women take leave and other forms of time out of the paid workforce and any contribution of say 14 weeks payment is only a partial recompense for the costs incurred. [342]

HREOC strongly emphasises that any minimum period of paid leave would not affect the ability of eligible women to take advantage of the full period of currently mandated unpaid leave should they choose, and be in a position, to do so. The provision of a minimum period of paid leave should be interpreted as recognition of the legitimacy of a period of time out of the workforce, and not an exhortation to return before women are prepared to do so. Further, of course, the period of paid leave will assist many parents to manage a longer period of unpaid leave.

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6.4 The costs of children

The Cost of Children report released by AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling in October 2002, found that the total cost in today's dollars of raising two children from birth to age 20 is $448 000, or $322 a week. Parents on average spend around $50 000 on education and childcare. These costs rise if parents choose to send their child to private schools. [343]

A number of submissions and consultations pointed out that part of the economic disadvantage faced by women and their partners in having children relates to the cost of raising them. The costs of having children, in particular the costs incurred around the time of childbirth was raised in a consultation with women's groups and community in Perth.

This child is an absolute pure luxury because we've made major sacrifices to do it and to be here now, sacrificed birthday parties for the children, birthday presents for the children, just everything. The financials I think are the key obstacle. [344]

The National Pay Equity Coalition stated that:

[m]ost families have very limited capacity to meet the additional costs of having children through savings - especially for second and other children. [345]

This cost is higher for parents adopting children. Submissions from adoptive parents pointed out that the system of adoption is largely user-pays, and that adoptive parents face a particular cost burden associated with building a family. [346] One set of adoptive parents wrote that "[m]any adoptive families go into considerable debt to adopt children." [347]

The capacity of paid maternity leave to assist families with the cost of children was challenged in the submission from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which argued that:

[f]inancial commitments to children are clearly decades long and extend in financial and time terms well beyond any options for additional maternal benefits. [348]

There is no doubt that the cost of raising children is more than offset for most parents by the rewards of parenthood. Nevertheless, while financial assistance is currently available to families, HREOC considers paid maternity leave to be a further measure of assistance, especially with costs incurred at the time of the birth, but with the additional feature of making full time parental care possible for a limited period of time.

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6.5 Women's lifetime earnings

In addition to losing short term income, a woman's lifetime earning capacity is severely reduced as a result of leaving the workforce to bear and raise children.

A study undertaken by the Australian National University estimates that women with high levels of education (12 years) forego $239 000 in lifetime earnings from having one child. A woman with average education (10 years) forgoes $201 000 and a women with a low level of education (less than 10 years) foregoes $157 000. [349]

Some submissions argued that in providing direct compensation for a specified period, paid maternity leave goes some way to addressing the lifetime earning inequities women experience as a result of leaving the workforce to bear and raise children. [350]

HREOC acknowledges that paid maternity leave in its own right will have limited impact on the reduced lifetime earnings of women as a result of their ongoing commitment to family responsibilities. [351] However, by assisting women to maintain their labour force attachment and making it easier for women to combine work and family, paid maternity leave will contribute to raising women's earnings across their lifetime. As stated by the National Pay Equity Coalition, "[l]onger duration of employment is associated with better pay, higher level jobs and greater retirement income". [352]

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6.6 Superannuation and retirement incomes for women

Currently Australian women workers have substantially poorer retirement incomes than men. This is in part the result of their more limited time in the workforce, pay inequities and systemic discrimination in access to job opportunities for women, mostly as a result of their child bearing responsibilities. This was raised in a consultation held with union representatives in Perth.

Motherhood impoverishes women but fatherhood doesn't impoverish men … Men do not have to choose. Fatherhood doesn't reflect on their superannuation. [353]

The National Pay Equity Coalition referred to research that estimates:

[m]en's retirement incomes are 50% higher than women on the same income because of women's time out of paid work. A woman on the median income for women who works from the age of twenty to the age of sixty with a five year break in her late twenties would retire on 1.5 times the age pension, while a man working from twenty to sixty would retire on three times the age pension. [354]

Superannuation accumulations are maximised for individuals when they remain in the workforce for long, ongoing periods of time at high wages. This is not the life experience of women, as noted in the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria submission.

Women are disadvantaged in saving for their retirement if they need to give up work to have children. Women are more likely than men to have little or no superannuation, and repeated entry and exits from the workforce for childbirth and childrearing result in lower superannuation contributions as well as the loss of seniority and the recurrent need to establish wages and other entitlements. [355]

The increasing rate of divorce means that women's superannuation savings have and will continue to take on increased significance for women's economic security. [356] As stated in the YWCA of Victoria submission, "… it is not very radical to suggest that young women cannot plan on being financially dependent on another person in their older age". [357]

The problem of low retirement incomes for women is exacerbated by their greater longevity compared with men. This, combined with their tendency to retire early, results in women spending twice as many years in retirement as men. [358] HREOC considers low retirement income to be one of the most pressing aspects of systemic discrimination against women.

The provision of paid maternity leave will not solve this problem. Addressing women's retirement income is a significant issue that will require major government attention and action in coming years. However, paid maternity leave can contribute to improving women's superannuation savings in an indirect manner by assisting women to maintain their labour force attachment and making it easier for women to combine work and family. As stated in the submission by the Women's Economic Policy Analysis Unit:

… policies that support women in paid employment will have a positive effect on superannuation accumulations … paid maternity leave, by definition, will increase income over the lifecycle and superannuation accumulations. [359]

Some submissions suggested that a national scheme of paid maternity leave should include a provision for superannuation payments to continue during the period of paid leave. [360]

The Women's Economic Policy Analysis Unit of Curtin University considered women's retirement incomes in its submission. It referred to a study which modelled the impact of paid maternity leave on women's lifetime earnings and superannuation accumulations. [361] With continued superannuation payments during a period of 12 weeks paid leave in a variety of scenarios, the authors estimated an effect of between one per cent and four per cent on superannuation accumulations at age 60.

The Women's Economic Think Tank [362] and the Women's Electoral Lobby [363] proposed that these superannuation costs should be met by the Government. Others, including the Women's Economic Policy Analysis Unit [364] and one individual [365] suggested that Government meet the cost of the maternity leave payments and that employers provide superannuation payments for this period.

The Work + Family Policy Research Group, University of Sydney submitted that:

[a] key rationale for paid maternity leave is the maintenance and protection of women's lifetime income and superannuation contributions are a significant component of this. We recommend continuation of this contribution throughout maternity leave, but further investigations need to be carried out about the mechanisms for this and the respective obligations of employers, employees and government. [366]

HREOC has not included a compulsory superannuation contribution in its proposed model for paid maternity leave, although it is noted that employers and employees may negotiate such a top up to the government scheme through enterprise bargaining. [367] The Government may wish to further consider the treatment of superannuation in the context of national provision of paid maternity leave.

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6.7 Labour force attachment

There is some debate in Australia about the benefits of women retaining their workforce attachment after establishing their families, although there is little debate about the macro-economic benefits of women returning to the workforce, bringing their skills and experience with them.

Many women in Australia leave the workforce either permanently or for several years following the birth of a child. Others return to work, either full time or part time, in the first year of their child's life. [368] The decisions that women and their families make are affected by a number of factors, including:

personal preferences;
social mores;
financial issues, including family finances and the availability of government assistance that support particular family arrangements; and
structural factors such as levels of discrimination, the availability of childcare and sufficient employment, particularly part time work or suitable hours.

There are advantages to women in maintaining some workforce attachment - a reality recognised by the majority of those women who are in paid work by the time their youngest child reaches school age. Sixty- six per cent of female parents are in the labour force when their youngest child is between 6 -13 years of age. [369] As the Work + Family Policy Research Group of Sydney University noted:

… maintaining women's attachment to the workforce is an important factor in reducing their welfare dependency and the consequential poverty experienced by many Australian children. [370]

The Victorian Government noted that:

[i]t is widely recognised that there are economic benefits from having women return to work following maternity leave and that paid maternity leave may assist in their attachment to the labour force. [371]

There is debate about the degree to which paid maternity leave can promote women's workforce attachment.

There is some evidence that maternity leave paid by an organisation can increase loyalty of the worker to the organisation and dramatically increase return to work rates of women who take maternity leave. [372] Some submissions argued that if the employer provides paid maternity leave, employees are more inclined to return to work for their original employer after the birth of a child. [373] For example, the Australian Nursing Federation noted that:

[i]t is regularly reported by companies that the introduction of paid maternity leave has increased the proportion of women who return to work after maternity leave. [374]

Anecdotal evidence supports the labour force attachment effect of employer funded paid maternity leave as the following case studies indicate.

Westpac Banking Corporation introduced six weeks paid maternity leave in 1995. The proportion of women returning to work from maternity leave increased from 32 per cent in 1995 to 53 per cent in 1997. [375]
AMP reported an increase in retention rates from 52 per cent in 1992 to 90 per cent in 1997, following the introduction of paid parental leave. [376]
Hewlett Packard reported a greater than 90 per cent return rate from paid maternity leave. [377]
SC Johnson recorded 100 per cent return rates since introducing paid maternity leave. [378]

The Australian Industry Group noted that "[f]rom an employer perspective, there is much to gain from encouraging continued workforce participation by mothers". [379]

These workforce attachment effects are likely to be reduced when maternity leave is funded by Government. However, a number of submissions considered that even a government funded model of paid maternity leave is likely to encourage and assist women to maintain their workforce attachment. [380] For example, the Work + Family Policy Research Group stated that:

[p]aid maternity leave would go some way to ensuring women have the option of taking time off work to give birth and recover without necessarily withdrawing from the workforce. [381]

The National Pay Equity Coalition suggested that paid maternity leave:

… provides a bridge to continuing participation in paid work and ongoing economic self-sufficiency rather than requiring an ongoing downgrading of standard of living and/or entering into income support arrangements. [382]

Paid maternity leave is likely to encourage workforce attachment as much by the legitimacy it gives working mothers as by the financial incentive it offers. An individual submittor argued that "[p]aid maternity leave is the first missing link that aids women to continue their careers whilst also choosing to have a family". [383]

Women's Economic Think Tank noted that:

[t]he legitimation of maternity leave by such payments will reinforce the work and parenting connection and thereby it will be more likely that employment connections will be maintained. [384]

A national scheme would help to address the concern expressed by some women that in male dominated workplaces where paid maternity leave is available as the result of enterprise bargaining or award entitlements, female workers are still reluctant to take it for fear of creating workplace resentment.

According to the YWCA of Australia, the payment must be extended to casual, part time and contract workers if it is to enhance the workforce attachment of young women who are disproportionately represented in industries where casual and part time work is highly prevalent. [385]

While the range of factors leading women back into the workforce after childbirth should be recognised, particularly the financial limitations facing many families, women's workforce attachment should not be viewed merely as a constrained decision made by women against their better judgements.

As noted at 18.4.1, the provision of paid maternity leave would not involve any requirement for return to work at the end of the period of paid, or further unpaid, leave. In discussing workforce retention, the consideration is not to impose any obligation or pressure on women and their families to participate in the paid workforce, but to ensure that structural disincentives to work are reduced.

Some submissions, however, fundamentally questioned the desirability of women returning to work with dependent children. The Women's Action Alliance, for example, declared that "[n]o such incentive is required. In fact, probably the last thing we need is further incentives for mothers to be in paid work". [386] Another noted:

I do not support the paid maternity scheme. Better, for greater encouragement to mothers at home, to continue to stay at home during the few early years of infancy and childhood. I have survived and benefited from family values as we have chosen to be a single income earner for the last 20 years while my wife cared for our 5 children, and continues to do so. We could use more encouragement for more of this to happen. [387]

A number of commentators consider that the needs of children require that one parent, usually the mother, remain at home for many years to provide full time care. Others refer to research, including opinion polls, which suggest that women prefer to remain at home with young children. Despite a range of socio-economic factors which have driven the increasing participation rate of mothers in paid work over the past twenty years, clearly there is still community disagreement about the desirability of this trend.

While the conclusions about women's preferences may be debatable, it is true, as Catherine Hakim's analysis has made clear, that women are drawing from an array of options for their work and family arrangements. [388] Social equity is maximised by facilitating a broad range of choices, thus the need for Governments to support a number of different work and family arrangements.

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6.8 Conclusion

Paid maternity leave will directly contribute to increasing women's economic security by providing a guaranteed source of income at the time of birth of a child. In particular, paid maternity leave will provide income replacement for those women in employment who are currently required to forego their regular income as a result of taking time out of the workforce to give birth. Paid maternity leave will also help families with the additional costs faced at the time of birth of a child.

Paid maternity leave will assist some women to maintain their labour force attachment and make it easier for women to combine work and family. This will have longer term benefits for women by improving their lifetime earnings and increasing their superannuation savings.

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7. Addressing workplace disadvantage

7.1 Introduction

Australian workplaces are structured around historical arrangements intended to maximise workplace efficiency but which are frequently at odds with the private lives and responsibilities of Australian men and women. This particularly applies to work and family responsibilities. One of the consequences for women of the incongruencies in workplace and family arrangements is discrimination and workforce disadvantage.

This Chapter explores the nature of workplace disadvantage experienced by women as a result of maternity. It also considers paid maternity leave as a work related entitlement and how a national scheme of paid maternity leave ensures fairness of this entitlement across the workforce.

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7.2 Sex discrimination in employment

Women continue to experience employment discrimination based on their sex, pregnancy or family responsibilities. For example, women are often dismissed, demoted or harassed when they become pregnant. [389] When women experience sex discrimination there are legal provisions in place to provide a remedy. Australia currently has legislation that makes employment discrimination on the basis of sex and pregnancy unlawful. At the federal level, the relevant legislation is the Sex Discrimination Act. [390] The Sex Discrimination Act also prevents dismissal of employees on the basis of their family responsibilities. Industrial and workplace relations legislation gives pregnant employees protection against dismissal, and guarantees non-casual employees a right to return to their employment after a period of unpaid maternity leave. [391]

Despite these protections, women continue to experience discrimination and unfavourable treatment at work when they become pregnant, give birth and return to work. In the 2001-2002 year, pregnancy and family responsibilities discrimination complaints to HREOC made up 32 per cent of all complaints under the Sex Discrimination Act. [392] In addition, many complaints of sex discrimination concern issues relating to family responsibilities.

Other complaints and advisory bodies reported to HREOC that discrimination against employed women because of childbirth or child-rearing responsibilities remains a serious problem. The Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales wrote that women in their child bearing years face "… serious and significant sex discrimination and harassment in employment". [393]

This discrimination commonly takes the form of lower remuneration for women, demotion, failure to be appointed or promoted, dismissal actual or constructive, due to potential pregnancy, pregnancy and post pregnancy return to work issues. Women continue to face discrimination the grounds of their carer's and family responsibilities for many years after the birth of a child. [394]

The New South Wales Working Women's Centre also expressed concern about the level of discrimination against women because of maternity, stating that their research indicates women in paid work are:

… continuing to experience difficulties during pregnancy, whilst on maternity leave and during the return to work, as attested by the 17% of calls to the Centre in the past year … This is despite existing provisions for statutory unpaid maternity leave in conjunction with remedies against discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy, sex and family responsibilities, as well as unfair dismissal … [395]

Similarly, the Queensland Working Women's Service wrote that their Service:

… frequently receives complaints from women who have been dismissed from their employment due to their pregnancy. Often women are unable to prove that this is the case but have a strong sense that things changed for them at work when it became known that they were pregnant. Currently some workers are excluded from the right to claim for unfair dismissal in these circumstances. We consider that paid maternity leave will assist in redressing some of the disadvantage that women face due to their childbearing role. [396]

These submissions support HREOC's concern that the incidence of discrimination against pregnant women and women with family responsibilities remains unacceptably high.

Anti-discrimination legislation is crucial in protecting women's interests at work, but it is aimed at providing a remedy for individuals who have suffered disadvantage through specific acts or practices in their workplaces. By itself, anti-discrimination legislation cannot eliminate discrimination that is generalised, diffuse and systemic. The Work + Family Policy Research Group at Sydney University submitted that current anti-discrimination legislation is insufficient to overcome gender inequities.

Australia's system of social justice has recognised since the 1970s that specific measures are necessary to overcome the inequities experienced by women in the workforce. Yet, despite anti-discrimination legislation and pay equity initiatives, it is quite well established that Australian women still experience significant disadvantage in the workplace. While there is a range of reasons for this, key to overcoming the continuing inequity is attending to the economic disruption caused by taking leave without pay to bear and care for children. [397]

Some submissions considered that paid maternity leave would complement existing anti-discrimination laws in addressing sex discrimination in employment. The New South Wales Public Service Association wrote that:

… a scheme of paid maternity leave for women workers is consistent with national objectives of anti-discrimination and support for workers with family responsibilities as articulated in federal legislation. [398]

The Independent Education Union pointed out the social significance of anti-discrimination legislation, which "… represents the nation's community standards …" That submission argued that paid maternity leave would have a similar "… ethical and social justice significance …" [399]

However, the submission from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry questioned the relevance of discrimination to the paid maternity leave issue, saying that figures demonstrating a high incidence of pregnancy discrimination "… do nothing to justify a new entitlement, nor do they show that the current system is not working - arguably precisely the opposite". [400] That submission stated that:

[a]ny unequal treatment of women in the workplace based on their role in bearing and caring for children can and should be addressed using anti-discrimination options at the state and federal level. [401]

In HREOC's view, the ongoing discrimination against women in paid work is an indication that additional action is required to address sex discrimination in employment and to promote changes to attitudes and behaviour. Policies such as paid maternity leave can make a positive contribution to addressing this goal.

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7.3 Women's workplace disadvantage

The historical development of modern society has seen remuneration restricted to tasks performed in the public domain. As such, the bearing and raising of children, as a function designated to the private domain, receives no remuneration. These functions are primarily performed by women, who as a result find themselves with less economic security than their male counterparts. Joan Williams has pointed out that structures which support male patterns of work disadvantage women.

[M]arket work continues to be structured in ways that perpetuate the economic vulnerability of caregivers. Their vulnerability stems from our definition of the ideal worker as someone who works at least forty hours a week year round. This ideal-worker norm, framed around the traditional life patterns of men, excludes most mothers of childbearing age. [402]

This is not to suggest that women cannot be in paid work and renumerated accordingly. As noted by the Union Research Centre on Organisation and Technology, "[w]omen can be mothers and workers just as men can be fathers and workers. Yet the implications of such situations for women and men are vastly different". [403] Although the male breadwinner model of family structure is no longer the situation in most families, "… the arrangements for work in many industries are still based on these working relationships". [404] The majority of women therefore earn less, have lower retirement incomes and are more likely to be welfare dependent than men. [405]

As argued in the submission from Marty Grace:

… because of the historical development of our institutions, practices are built on a gendered division of labour, and the fiction of separate public and private spheres … We want to change the rules to enable us to be both the workers and the parents we want to be. [406]

It is not only women who are disadvantaged by working within this gendered structure. It is important to bear in mind that the gender roles within which we all work disadvantage men as well as women.

The commonplace observation is that women are hurt by the hard choices they face. Once the focus shifts away from women's choices to the gender system that sets the frame within which those choices occur, we can see that domesticity's peculiar structuring of market work and family work hurts not only women but also men, children, politics and our emotional life. [407]

Many submissions pointed out that women's inequality is not only caused by individual acts of sex discrimination, but general, entrenched and ongoing workplace disadvantage. While many women choose unpaid work in the home, this choice should not mean that they are treated unfairly when they enter the paid workforce or that their home-based work should be undervalued.

One of the key reasons given in submissions for women's unequal status in relation to men is their disproportionate participation in unpaid and underpaid work. For example, Karen Simmer, from the Neonatology Clinical Care Unit of the University of Western Australia, noted that women's responsibility for childbirth and rearing prevents them from reaching positions of seniority in employment.

Girls in schools do well, often better than boys. However, in most professions and businesses, few women have progressed to the higher levels. One of the main and clearly obvious reasons for this is women take time off to have children and never return to the workforce in the same capacity or with the same opportunities as those without children or a man with children. This is an indisputable fact and overwhelmingly obvious to any working mother. For the sake of our daughters, we need to campaign vigorously to help them have the options and choices to continue work after they have children, if they so choose to do so. [408]

The Queensland Working Women's Service linked women's key role in child care to women's wages, promotions and workforce participation.

There are many reasons why gender inequality persists but we can link much of this to the social, economic and biological effect of childbirth and child rearing. Women still bear much of the responsibilities of family and child caring. When we examine women's wages, promotions and workforce participation we find that in child-bearing years women's employment suffers. The birth of a child imposes immediate financial pressures on women and their families and often results in their dislocation from work and impedes their future work experience. In order to advance equity, security and human dignity women workers need to be able to resolve the problems associated with childbearing and workforce participation. [409]

The Australian Council of Trade Unions wrote: "[p]ut simply, men can become parents without disrupting their work, women cannot". [410] Some of the general disadvantage or systemic discrimination that women face was summed up in a submission from the YWCA of Victoria.

Women experience discrimination in relation to employment in many ways, including the concentration of women in particular sectors or industries which are relatively low paying, the continuing comparative lack of women in senior management, the concentration of women working in the informal sector and as casual employees, and difficulties for women in securing employment that is flexible and responsive to their roles as parents and carers. [411]

A few submissions questioned whether systemic discrimination is a continuing problem for women today. One submission, from the National Women's Council of South Australia, noted that:

[l]atest surveys of women identify that the majority of professional women no longer believe that concepts like "glass ceilings" are hampering their progress but rather they are mostly disadvantaged by their own insecurities and personal constraints. It is too easy to rely on this old (and tired) observation [about systemic discrimination] as an excuse and women themselves are realising that. [412]

Another argued that since women are responsible for making choices that have an adverse impact on their lives, "[t]he systemic discrimination is within the female culture rather than the workforce". [413]

However, almost all submissions recognised, either implicitly or explicitly, that women do suffer workplace disadvantage and discrimination as a result of their responsibilities for bearing and caring for children. These submissions, discussed below, all suggested that women's continued disadvantage is an issue that needs further attention and remedy.

The National Tertiary Education Union viewed paid maternity leave as a means of combating workplace disadvantage.

Women in work face unique disadvantage, including employment discrimination, lack of access to career progression and low wages compared with their male counterparts. This disadvantage is often exacerbated greatly if a woman chooses to have a child. Paid maternity leave for working women is one way to combat this kind of overall disadvantage for women … [414]

One union submitted that the positive benefits of introducing paid maternity leave include "[c]losing the gender pay inequity gap …" and "… address[ing] systemic discrimination and disadvantage suffered by women when they seek to balance child-bearing and paid work". [415] As one individual wrote, "[w]omen need to be encouraged to be mothers and take their place in the workforce without being disadvantaged". [416]

Workplace disadvantage distorts or changes the choices people will make. Often the cost of this is borne by the community, and not just the individual. HREOC believes that paid maternity leave is one small element in the endeavour to restructure our working arrangements to better accommodate the needs of mothers and their families and in particular new born babies. It also provides compensation for the disadvantage women suffer under current arrangements for family formation. [417]

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7.4 Fairness for all employees

A number of submissions were concerned that some women in the workforce currently have access to paid maternity leave while the majority do not. This is an important issue for HREOC, raising basic principles of fairness and the need for all women to be able to recover from birth and establish a relationship with their new babies. The uneven provision of paid maternity leave is akin to providing paid sick leave to only some workers and not to others.

The objective of ensuring that women have a financially secure period of time out of the workforce in order to recover from childbirth should be met for all women in paid work. The issue of equity applies not just to each woman's right to recover from the birth of her child without returning to work prematurely for financial reasons, but also to the right of each child to have access to their mother in the weeks immediately following child birth without financial pressure forcing their separation.

As set out at 3.3 the existing arrangements for paid maternity leave in Australia are inadeqate. Over 60 per cent of female employees do not have access to paid maternity leave. [418] Further, the current spread of paid maternity leave through the Australian workforce is uneven. Whether any particular employee will have access to paid maternity leave will depend on the type of organisation and industry she works in, as well as her occupation and employment status.

Women working in smaller organisations and the private sector are more limited in their access to paid maternity leave, compared to women working in the public sector and larger organisations.

Highly skilled women in full time work have greater access to paid maternity leave than women in more marginal employment, with lower skills, who are in part time or casual work. Fifty-one per cent of women in full time work, 21 per cent of women in part time work and 0.4 per cent of women in casual employment reported that they had access to paid maternity leave. [419]

Sixty-five per cent of managers and administrators and 54 per cent of professionals had access to paid maternity leave. In contrast only 18 per cent of elementary clerical, sales and service workers and 21 per cent of labourers and related workers had access to paid maternity leave. [420]

HREOC is of the strong view that the market and enterprise bargaining have failed to provide fair access for all employees to paid maternity leave and do not reflect the social benefits of children, and raising children. A maternity leave payment "based on the luck of the draw is likely to further entrench the divisions between the "haves and have nots". [421] As one woman commented to HREOC:

If people are left to negotiate their own conditions of employment sometimes you do well and sometimes you don't. There are some professions which traditionally do very poorly, such as teachers, nurses and childcare workers, anything that is female dominated. [422]

As noted in the submission by Lyn Collins and Barbara Pocock:

[h]aving a paid maternity break depends on which workplace you happen to be in at the time of the birth, on the random generosity of your employer, or on the assertiveness of your union. [423]

Another woman noted her resentment at the different treatment of women in different sectors.

I watch the news and I see the stories about the women who work in a bank and get all this paid maternity leave and I think: what makes you so bloody special? What makes you giving birth to a baby any more special than me. What makes your baby worth more than mine? [424]

Several submissions argued that paid maternity leave was particularly important as a protection for the most vulnerable groups of women workers, who were affected by multiple forms of discrimination or disadvantage. These included women on low incomes, from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or non-English speaking backgrounds and in insecure employment. [425] BPW New South Wales asserted that the provision of a paid maternity leave scheme would "… be a necessity over the coming years as we see more women being forced to make the choice of a career over family just to survive". [426] This point was also raised in consultations with HREOC, where it was argued that paid maternity leave would increase the status of the most disadvantaged workers.

[I]f you are the person who pulls the entrails out of the chicken on the processing line you don't have choice, but if you get recognition through paid maternity leave you have a status that you never had before and you can engage in a way with your community in a very different way because you are recognised. It's very easy to have women in professional work talk about choice but the majority of women in Australia work part time/casual and they don't have that. This provides a dignity, a status, a recognition of the work done. [427]

The submission of Immigrant Women's Speakout pointed out that some groups of employed immigrant and refugee women are much more likely than Australian-born employed women to have children. It argues that these patterns are significant in considering paid maternity leave. [428] The Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria drew together issues of the relative disadvantage of women from non-English speaking backgrounds and their greater levels of casual or intermittent employment to emphasise the need for a scheme of paid maternity leave to ensure equitable coverage for all workers. [429]

The issues and difficulties faced by Indigenous women need to be specifically addressed in relation to a paid maternity leave scheme as noted in the submission from the New South Wales Working Women's Centre.

[F]rom the Centre's own work with women from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, we can report a concentration in certain industries (community services and health in particular - with a higher level of project-based fixed-term employment) in the lower-skilled and lower-paid occupations. [430]

Disruptions to women's paid work can be the cause of workplace vulnerability as women are more likely than men to be casual or part time workers, with fewer entitlements. A significant number of submissions were concerned about the lack of paid maternity leave currently available to women in part time and casual work or contract based employment who together constitute almost half the workforce. Existing paid maternity leave provisions are usually restricted to women in permanent full time work. A national scheme of paid maternity leave can offset this disadvantage.

Despite the fact that there has been a rise in the participation rates for women in the workforce they remain the primary care givers of children. That is one of the reasons that women in South Australia are over represented in part time and casual work and do not have equal access to minimum leave entitlements. If women are to improve their participation in the workforce in permanent and higher paying occupations it will be important that a total package of family support is available. Paid maternity leave is one part of such a package. [431]

A union argued that "[o]ur members are predominantly low income workers, and few have access to benefits such as paid maternity leave for reasons of poor job security and high casual employment". [432]

The Hawke Institute submitted that:

[i]ncreasingly women make up a considerable proportion of part time, casual and contract workforce. Unless the entitlement is extended to all workers, both full and part time, the policy would risk exacerbating the horizontal segregation which is already a worrying feature of the Australian workforce, especially in relation to gender based disadvantage. [433]

Concern was also expressed about the need for self employed women to have access to paid maternity leave. The National Pay Equity Coalition noted that:

[b]usinesses carried out by self-employed people are almost by definition small and generate low incomes. The people who run them have limited capacity to save for the costs and foregone income of maternity. It may be that for some businesses the need to take time off without income and without a capacity to engage someone else to replace the work of the self-employed person would cause the demise of the business. [434]

The International President of the Federation of BPW, also highlighted the need for self employed women to have access to paid maternity leave.

Women who own their own business are no less entitled to the benefit than those in the employed workforce and as business owners, incur expenses in keeping their business running whilst they are caring for the baby. [435]

HREOC agrees that any national scheme of paid maternity leave should ensure that all women in paid work should, so far as practicable, have equivalent access.

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7.5 Balancing work and family responsibilities

Increased workforce participation of women has not been accompanied by men significantly increasing their responsibilities in caring for and raising children. [436] The result is that women retain the major responsibility for caring for children as well as participating in the paid workforce.

Many of those consulted expressed a desire to see men more able to share in family responsibilities. There was almost unanimous agreement that this would be beneficial for children, women and men.

As observed by the women's organisation Mothers of In(ter)vention, "… men need to lift their game in the home, but their workplaces need to allow time to be there enough to do so". [437]

In addition to the concern that men be able to contribute more to family life, several submissions observed how difficult the management of work and family balance is for women and that frequently women are discouraged from attempting it.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association surveyed its members nationally and found that, of those mothers who did not return to work following the birth of a child, 25 per cent said that they wanted to stay home and 19 per cent went to a different employer. The others appear to have been deterred from returning because of structural biases and disincentives including 22 per cent who said that suitable hours could not be arranged, and others who believed that achieving a work-life balance was too difficult, that satisfactory childcare was not available, and that the economic benefits of work were not "worth the hassle". [438]

In those submissions concerned with achieving a better work and family balance, paid maternity leave was considered to be only part of the solution. Employers and employer organisations noted that employers already provide a complex array of family assistance to their employees.

Australian Business Industrial noted that "… for employers, the obligations to their employees with family responsibilities do not cease with the provision of paid maternity leave". [439] This submission asserted that "[m]aternity leave can only be considered as one of a suite of measures to enable a work-family balance". [440]

Even so, many submissions and consultations considered paid maternity leave to be an essential part of these work and family policy suites. The Illawarra Forum and the Illawarra Women's Health Centre, for example, asserted that paid maternity leave "… would provide one part of a whole series of entitlements that ultimately lead to family friendly employment structures". [441]

In a consultation held with employer groups in Melbourne, it was stated that:

[p]aid maternity leave is a very important issue as it addresses the work/family issue … more effectively. It is a structural change. [442]

As BPW Australia noted, a scheme of paid maternity leave "… needs to be part of a long-term plan for supporting Australians to balance their work and family commitments". [443]

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7.6 Conclusion

Women experience sex discrimination and workplace disadvantage as a result of maternity. While not a total solution, paid maternity leave can contribute to overcoming these barriers. HREOC considers that access to a financially secure period out of the workforce in order to recover from child birth should be a basic right for women. The current ad hoc arrangements for paid maternity leave are unfair and further disadvantage the most vulnerable women in the workforce. A national scheme of paid maternity leave will extend access to paid leave across the workforce. Paid maternity leave will also make it easier for women to combine work and family responsibilities.

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8. Equality

8.1 Introduction

A significant number of submissions raised the issues of equality, equity and discrimination. The majority of these submissions expressed concern about women's equality and advocated paid maternity leave as a means of achieving equality between men and women.

CEDAW, to which Australia is a party, is based on the principle of equality of men and women. This involves "… the participation of women, on equal terms with men, in the political, social, economic and cultural life of their countries". [444]

Equality in this context is more than simply ensuring women's economic security or eliminating discrimination against women in employment due to their child bearing role. Achieving equality involves "… the maximum participation of women on equal terms with men in all fields". [445]

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8.2 Paid maternity leave as an equality issue

Paid maternity leave is one measure that supports women moving between work in the home and the world of paid employment. In international conventions, paid maternity leave is proposed as a means of addressing workplace discrimination and promoting equality between men and women. [446] The International Labour Organization states that a principle objective of paid maternity leave is "… to further promote equality of all women in the workforce". [447]

Many submissions placed gender equality or non-discrimination principles as one of the primary objectives of any paid maternity leave scheme. For example, one submission stated that "[n]o civilised country, which regards equality between the sexes as important, could neglect to address paid maternity leave". [448] The Centre for Applied Social Research suggested that "[e]xplicitly naming gender equality as an objective of the proposed paid maternity leave scheme may also help address the 'motherhood' discrimination that exists in the workforce". [449]

As the Queensland Working Women's Service wrote:

[t]he primary objectives of a paid maternity leave scheme should be to further facilitate equity for women, through recognition of their needs and choices around the issue of child bearing. [450]

The Work/Life Association submitted that one of the main objectives of a paid maternity leave scheme was:

… social equity for women, including addressing systemic discrimination, fairness (especially with respect to current inequities in relation to access to paid maternity leave, currently available to about a quarter of working women); supporting women's choices, ensuring that women are not disadvantaged in their employment through their intrinsic role in child bearing, and developing socially responsive Australian workplaces … [451]

The National Women's Council of South Australia wrote that they supported the different objectives raised in the paper, and specifically endorsed the "[e]limination of discrimination in society" [452] as an objective of paid maternity leave.

Another submission argued that the objective of paid maternity leave should be to support a "… balance in the workforce of men and women". [453]

Consultations also identified discrimination or inequality as reasons to introduce paid maternity leave.

[Paid maternity leave] is about removing the inequity [women] suffer when they are out of the workforce - their careers suffer when they take maternity leave, they always face discrimination when they return. [454]

Many submissions that proposed equality or anti-discrimination as primary objectives of a paid maternity leave scheme did so on the basis that a paid maternity leave scheme would assist in addressing women's workplace disadvantage. [455] Coles Myer considered that paid maternity leave would contribute to workplace equity.

An additional benefit of a paid maternity leave scheme would be to reduce the extent of financial disadvantage experienced by women as a result of the necessity to take time out of the workforce in order to have children, thereby contributing to greater workplace equity. [456]

Another submission argued that paid maternity leave would advance equality by easing the transition into and out of paid work, given that:

… many women want to be mothers and have jobs. Paid maternity leave is an important part of the support that is essential if women are to truly have equal opportunity at work … Equality in the workplace will be advanced if women have the chance to take time off, and return to work in good shape, without compromising their career, if that is what they want. [457]

The YWCA of Victoria referred to the fact that it is inequitable to require women to cobble together other forms of leave in order to take time off to have a baby, or to forego income altogether. [458]

Submissions acknowledged that paid maternity leave alone could not bring about gender equality, with statements that paid maternity leave "[w]ill go some way towards addressing systemic discrimination on the basis of gender". [459]

Paid maternity leave was also identified in submissions as a benefit that would assist in creating greater equality between disadvantaged and more privileged women, as well as between men and women.

The emphasis on paid maternity leave as a workplace entitlement and on removing as many barriers as possible to access [a] paid maternity leave scheme is consistent with a principle of promoting gender equality not just between men and women but also between different groups of women. [460]

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8.3 Arguments against equality objectives for paid maternity leave

Some submissions questioned whether a scheme of paid maternity leave would address the issue of women's equality or disadvantage at all.

One submission made the point that "[i]t is unrealistic to expect that the area of employment should be magically exempt from any disadvantageous effect". [461] The Women's Action Alliance considered that paid maternity leave would not contribute to workplace equity.

Certainly paid workplace opportunities for women are constrained by their having children, or at least they are delayed. But young women seem to be under the impression that if they take more than a few months out of paid work to care for their families they will destroy their career prospects. This in not borne out by observing the lives of many, many women who have borne several children and later climbed to career heights. (One female member of the federal parliament has eight children and several of them have four or five.) [462]

A number of submissions also warned that a system that required employers to directly fund paid maternity leave for their own employees would create discrimination, as employers would deliberately choose men over women workers to avoid payments. HREOC agrees that this issue is a significant concern, and it is one of the grounds on which HREOC has recommended government funding of a national scheme of paid maternity leave. [463]

Of course, there is no doubt that a scheme of paid maternity leave would not by itself address the range of workplace disadvantages faced by women as a result of their caring responsibilities. It would be facile to argue that it would. As one submission emphasised, "[f]ourteen weeks of paid maternity leave will not bring gender equity to this country". [464] However, many submissions strongly argued that paid maternity leave is an essential element of a social restructure that would better recognise and value the contribution of women to reproducing the next generation. [465]

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8.4 Conclusion

Women's ongoing workplace disadvantage and the employment discrimination they experience are directly linked to their primary role in childbirth and child-rearing. HREOC considers that a commitment to equality requires positive steps to create structural changes that would remedy entrenched discrimination.

In addition, paid maternity leave would meet the objective of ensuring equality for women by providing structural recognition of women's roles as employees and mothers and by offsetting the disadvantage that stems from women's caring responsibilities. This would be a positive step towards delivering equality between men and women, and increasing women's ability to participate in all aspects of community life.

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9. Social benefits

9.1 Introduction

Fundamentally, encouraging and providing assistance for parents to raise their children benefits society. Paid maternity leave is a mechanism which addresses this social need. To the extent that paid maternity leave directly assists people to combine work and family responsibilities, it may also have flow-on benefits for the fertility rate, community life and social cohesion.

A number of submissions supported the introduction of a government funded paid maternity leave scheme on the basis of the benefits of such a scheme for society. This Chapter describes the social benefits of paid maternity leave as identified in submissions and consultations.

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9.2 Valuing motherhood and children

A national scheme of paid maternity leave can be seen as recognition by society and the Government of the importance and value of motherhood and children. Society not only benefits immediately from a next generation, its continuance depends upon there being future citizens and economic producers. This point was acknowledged in consultations.

Some of us like the idea of children as the future but it is actually vital for all kinds of reasons - economic future for country and standard of living are just a few aspects of it. Children are the future. [466]

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) considers that "… the healthy development of children is crucial to the future well-being of any society". [467]

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC) recognises the importance of children to society and emphasises the social responsibility for their wellbeing. Australia is amongst the 191 nations that have ratified this Convention. CROC establishes the human rights of children, and the role of Government in supporting and promoting these rights. CROC recognises the primary role of parents in raising children, and obliges Governments to support parents in this role. [468]

The social significance of maternity is also included in the Preamble to CEDAW as a foundation of women's rights. The Convention refers to:

… the great contribution of women to the welfare of the family and to the development of society, so far not fully recognised, the social significance of maternity and the role of both parents in the family and in the upbringing of children, and aware that the role of women in procreation should not be a basis for discrimination but that the upbringing of children requires a sharing of responsibility between men and women and society as a whole ... [469]

The importance of motherhood and children was supported in submissions. One individual noted that "… a society without children has devastating long term consequences for us all". [470] The New South Wales Working Women's Centre also submitted that:

… children should be understood as a social asset as well an individual choice. In order to achieve a socially sustainable business community, Australia must recognise the economic and social importance of women's role as the bearers of children as well as active members of the labour market. [471]

An individual drew attention to the community wide benefit of children, and that this meant all in society should share in the costs of supporting children.

People who do not want to fund paid maternity leave because they do not intend to have children should be aware that they are depending on others to provide the next generation of workers and taxpayers to support them beyond their working years. [472]

Many submissions highlighted the importance of women continuing to reproduce society and argued that this role is currently undervalued in society. This view was held particularly strongly by unions and women's organisations. [473] For example, the Women's Action Alliance considered that:

[w]omen taking time out [of the workforce] to care for their young children are not applauded in any quarter. This career change is not seen as "work" and remains invisible to the public eye and in Government documents. [474]

The Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria also considered that " ... whilst children and the role of parenting may be highly valued in society at an emotional level, we have stalled when it comes to recognising this financially". [475]

Another individual considered that paid maternity leave was an investment by the community in families.

[Paid maternity leave] will just make the whole experience less traumatic. If society as a whole is comfortable with that then society as a whole needs to work out a way to finance it. I don't think in the long run it's as expensive as things like people getting divorced. I think it would be a really good thing. It's an investment in families in helping them through a great time of expense. [476]

HREOC agrees with those submissions that argued that a maternity leave payment acknowledges the social and economic benefits that society gains through women bearing children. [477] A government funded paid maternity leave scheme would, as Immigrant Women's Speakout pointed out, be "… the mark of a society that cares for mothers and children". [478]

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9.3 Valuing the dual role of women in society

Today women are an invaluable part of the Australian labour force. If available to women in the workforce, paid maternity leave provides the social recognition that many women perform a dual role, as employees and mothers. That this dual role is currently undervalued was highlighted in a number of the submissions. For example, the Women's Economic Think Tank commented that:

... the lack of any specific payments for the many women who take time off their paid jobs to have children, exacerbates the perception that such decisions are not recognised as legitimate and valued … this adds to the belief that combining roles is not supported. [479]

Many submissions considered that paid maternity leave can provide this recognition. A group of academics submitted that:

[p]aid maternity leave would be the only payment [made by government to benefit Australian families] which recognises the dual responsibilities of baby and infant care and employment attachment. [480]

The Australian Industry Group considered that paid maternity leave would "… demonstrate that the dual roles of working women as mothers and employees is recognised and valued". [481]

Not only did submissions regard paid maternity leave as social recognition of this dual role, a number of submissions considered that paid maternity leave would assist women practically to combine work and family responsibilities. For further discussion of the ability of paid maternity leave to facilitate combining work and family responsibilities see 7.5.

HREOC considers that the absence of a nationally mandated system of paid maternity leave suggests that the decision to have a child in Australia is predicated upon choosing between having a child and having a paying job. The introduction of paid maternity leave would recognise that society benefits from women's workforce participation and also from their role as bearers of children.

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9.4 Cultural change in the workplace

Offering paid maternity leave as a workplace entitlement may encourage a change in workplace culture. Workforce structures and cultures need to change to accommodate the different lives of women. This would promote equality and remove systemic discrimination, to the benefit of women, their families and society. For example, the Australian Capital Territory Ministerial Advisory Council on Women suggested that we need:

… a cultural shift that recognizes that attention to the psychological and social needs of children is essential to the health of society, that young children cannot be squeezed into the spare moments available at the end of the day, and that children can benefit greatly from active involvement with their parent/s and other significant adults. We need to acknowledge the social and economic costs that may result for children whose caring needs are not met, while continuing to recognize the benefits to society of women in the workforce. Therefore, we need to structure work arrangements, which encourage and enable all parents to devote appropriate time and attention to children when they need it. [482]

There is some anecdotal evidence that resentment exists among male employees who do not have access to paid maternity leave. [483] In particular, some women working in male dominated industries stated that they avoid taking paid maternity leave entitlements because of this resentment.

In recognising that women perform a dual role in the paid workforce and as the bearers and primary carers of children, paid maternity leave is an important step in changing workplace culture. This was acknowledged in a number of submissions, for example, the submission from the CSIRO Staff Association pointed out that:

[i]n an industry where time off work had been deemed to show lack of commitment to science, women on paid maternity leave came to be accepted as still serious about their work. [484]

At a consultation with women's groups and community in Brisbane, the point was made that "[p]aid maternity leave legitimises the right of women to move in and out of the workforce. It keeps their careers on track." [485]

The experience of workplaces that have introduced paid maternity leave supported this. For example, the New South Wales EEO Practitioners' Association cited AMP as expressing the view that:

… introducing 6 weeks paid parental leave for men and women simultaneously has had a significant impact on our culture over time. It signalled serious support (prepared to pay for it) and said men as well as women want to create a balance. [486]

Very few submissions disagreed that paid maternity leave would lead to workplace change. Those that did however felt that paid maternity leave may actually create a culture which is detrimental to the development of family friendly workplaces. The Australian Family Association argued that "[a]n 'officially' recognised short absence from work may erroneously promote a perception that having a child represents no more than a brief interruption in a career". [487]

HREOC considers that a government funded paid maternity leave scheme would provide a strong signal to employers, workplaces and the community that supporting parents to balance work and family is an important issue that requires action. This may influence workplace cultures to strengthen the acceptance by employers that employees should be supported in balancing work and family. It may also mean that more women access existing family supports and maternity leave entitlements.

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9.5 Fertility

9.5.1 Introduction

The ability of paid maternity leave to affect fertility rates has become a focus of the public debate that followed the launch of the interim paper. HREOC is concerned about the fertility rate to the extent that it reflects the difficulties women and their partners face in managing family responsibilities under current social and employment structures.

9.5.2 Current trends in fertility

Like much of the developed world, Australia's declining Total Fertility Rate of 1.73 births per woman in 2002 [488] has a range of implications for Australian society. It is projected that fertility rates in advanced industrialised countries, including Australia, will continue falling. [489]

Current estimates are that 24 per cent of Australian women now in their childbearing years will not have a baby. [490] Based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, [491] the National Pay Equity Coalition extrapolated that by the year 2016 "couples without children will outnumber couples with children", [492] and that the average age of first time mothers will be 31.2 years by 2008. [493]

Submissions acknowledged that in Australia, as in other industrialised countries, current fertility rates continue to decline as women give birth to fewer children and at later stages in life. [494] As the South Australia Liberal Women's Council noted, "… children are increasingly seen as a non-option by young Australian women". [495]

HREOC's interim paper argued that the declining birth rate is in part a result of the financial, professional and social disadvantage encountered by families. [496] This was a view strongly reflected in the submissions. One submission outlined factors it considered had led to the decline in the fertility rate.

[A]lthough some of this drop is due to a rise in physical fertility problems, much of it is due to irreconcilable economic and social pressures on young women to earn an income in preference to having children or because women who have deferred having a child until they are financially secure then find that it is too late physically. [497]

The Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria considered that "[t]he declining birthrate reflects both the economic difficulties confronting women in their childbearing years and the lack of support in our social structures for childbearing and childrearing." [498]

Personal anecdotes in submissions supported this view, highlighting that the decision to have a child is a difficult one for many women to make. One individual explained that "I would really like to have a child, but it is really tricky to finance ... I have been saving money and holidays for ages … it remains a mystery to me how people can afford to have a second child". [499]

The interim paper also identified delayed family formation as a consequence of extended periods of education and training, which often last until young people are well into their twenties. [500] Again, this was reflected in some of the submissions received. [501]

9.5.3 The effects of declining fertility

Submissions from unions, employers and individuals argued that today's declining fertility rate is of national concern, and one that needs urgently to be addressed. [502]

The implications of declining fertility for Australia's long term national sustainability were identified in a number of submissions. One concern was the serious social and economic problems caused when this declining rate is combined with a rapidly ageing population. [503] As one individual noted, "[we are n]ot even replacing ourselves … Australia will have a problem in some 20 years funding the retirement of all the baby boomers if the population does not grow". [504]

A related concern was the resulting decline in the growth in Australia's labour force. [505] The Australian Industry Group argued that:

… labour supply growth is expected to continue to decrease in Australia and … this will act to constrain economic growth outcomes shaving another 0.25% or more off annual GDP [Gross Domestic Product] growth rates by the end of the decade. [506]

A number of submissions also expressed concern that a declining fertility rate would have a negative impact on industry [507] and lead to a reduced base of young people to pay taxes and support the social welfare system. [508] The Victorian Government submission, for example, argued that "… the declining birth rate and the aging of our population … will over time lead to increased pressure on government services and therefore the tax base." [509]

9.5.4 Paid maternity leave and the fertility rate

The level of fertility in any community exists within and reflects a social and economic context. It is affected by a range of factors. Just as no single policy measure could be expected to control economic growth, so too, no single policy measure will increase Australia's fertility rate to replacement level.

That is not to say, however, that the actions of Governments cannot and do not affect the family formation decisions of their citizens. [510] In this context, paid maternity leave can be expected to make a contribution to Australia's fertility by making it easier for families who have decided to have a child to do so. By providing financial assistance and support to families, paid maternity leave goes some way to addressing financial restrictions that discourage family formation. This was argued in a number of submissions, in particular from individuals. For example, Victorian Women Lawyers suggested that " ... financial assistance can mean the potential parents who want to have a child are then able to act on that decision as the financial barrier to having a child is reduced". [511] Similarly, Coles Myer argued that paid maternity leave:

… may enable women to elect to commence a family earlier than they are currently doing as they will not have to save up to compensate for the loss of income to the extent of the value of the payment. [512]

The Women's Electoral Lobby suggested that paid maternity leave would "… assist women already planning to have children to have a first child earlier, increasing the possibility of having a second child". [513] This was affirmed by an individual who wrote that:

[e]ven when a woman manages to have children and return to the workforce, the lack of paid maternity leave is a huge disincentive to have another child. Like me, she has probably delayed having the first child until well into her thirties and will need several years to recover financially from the experience before considering another, at which point her fertility, her own health and the baby's health would be at considerable risk. Without paid maternity leave having one child is extremely difficult … having more than one is well nigh impossible! [514]

The CSIRO Staff Association observed that:

[d]ecisions about when to start a family and how many children a woman will have are very personal and not usually made by CSIRO employees primarily on the basis of availability or length of paid maternity leave. However, the availability of paid maternity leave has influenced these choices and made it easier to proceed with a family when the decision is made. [515]

A recent study assessing family friendly public policy in 21 OECD countries concluded there were so many factors affecting fertility that any linkages between fertility change and any one of these factors were likely to be weak. [516] The author, Francis Castles, identified a number of factors that appear to affect fertility. These include women's changing work and family preferences, changes to women's education levels, broader social and cultural changes and the different family friendly public policy schemes introduced across countries, of which paid maternity leave may be only one. [517] While Castles did not conclude that paid maternity leave had an effect on fertility rates, it was always present in those countries which had, at some point, successfully arrested declining fertility rates.

As decisions about family formation are complex and affected by a number of factors, a period of paid maternity leave alone will not repair Australia's falling fertility rate. [518] Paid maternity leave would need to be part of a suite of family friendly workplace policies if it is to assist families to combine work and family and remove some of the barriers to the decision to have a child. [519] This was acknowledged in a number of submissions. The Council for Equal Opportunity in Employment, for example, argued that:

… introducing [paid maternity leave] along with a range of other programs promoting work/family/life flexibilities would provide a platform on which to build an increase in the birth rate over time.

Such programs were seen as strategically important in providing incentives for workers with family responsibilities, both for children and aging family members, to remain actively engaged in employment and contributing to the economy. [520]

While the majority of submissions acknowledged the declining fertility rate as a national concern, and some that paid maternity leave may assist in reversing this trend, a number of other submissions argued that the provision of paid maternity leave was unlikely to reverse Australia's declining fertility rate.

I am not confident that paid maternity leave will address the reduced fertility … [HREOC's] interim paper states that "the lowest fertility levels are recorded amongst women with higher attachment to the labour force, higher income and greater educational attainment". I would assert that these are the women who don't need paid maternity leave because they either can afford to fund themselves or have chosen not to have children. [521]

A number of submissions discussed the need to look beyond paid maternity leave and family friendly polices to the broader range of government policies and options available if the declining fertility rate is to be addressed. [522]

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9.6 Conclusion

This paper has argued that paid maternity leave contributes to the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies, and addresses in part the disadvantage and inequality that women experience in the workplace as a result of their role in childbirth.

In addition to these benefits that relate directly to individual women, HREOC also considers that a national paid maternity leave scheme would provide a range of social benefits to the community. Paid maternity leave would acknowledge the benefit to the community of maternity and children. It would also recognise the dual role that many women take on as the bearers and carers of children as well as being active participants in the labour force.

While HREOC considers that addressing the declining fertility rate is not a primary objective of a paid maternity leave scheme, the issue of fertility rates is an important element in this discussion. It indicates that even those Australian women and their partners who would like to have children are having difficulty in successfully integrating their need for economic security and career development with their desire for a family.

While much of the decline in fertility may be the result of factors beyond the influence of Governments, clearly there is still a role for Government to support families wanting children, and to remove barriers to this decision where possible. In particular, the declining fertility rate suggests that public policy to date has insufficiently recognised and supported the choices young women and their families wish to make. Australia's falling fertility rate signals that a range of measures need to be introduced to allow women to combine work and family as they decide. Paid maternity leave is one such measure.

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10. Benefits to employers and the economy

10.1 Introduction

To the extent that paid maternity leave would enable women who decided to do so to maintain their labour force attachment, [523] economic benefits would flow to employers and society as a whole. These benefits include the retention of a skilled and experienced workforce and the maintenance of an acceptable dependency ratio to support an ageing population. This Chapter considers the benefits of paid maternity leave to individual employers, specific industries and the broader economy.

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10.2 Benefits to individual employers

Providing paid maternity leave is one of the means adopted by best practice employers to accommodate employees' work and family responsibilities. Individual employers provide paid maternity leave because of the benefits they gain in doing so. For some employers, there is a strong business case argument for providing paid maternity leave. [524] This includes being recognised as an employer of choice, and being more able to attract and retain skilled staff in a competitive labour market. [525]

If a female employee leaves the workplace permanently after giving birth, she takes with her valuable knowledge, skills and experience. This loss is considerable in a country where women make up almost half of the labour force. [526] In addition, since the age at which women in Australia most commonly give birth today is between 30-34 years, [527] many women are leaving workplaces with at least ten years experience and expertise.

By increasing the labour force attachment of women with children, paid maternity leave benefits employers by reducing staff turnover costs. These costs include the direct costs of recruitment and retraining new staff as well as loss of productivity. [528]

As the Public Service Association of South Australia noted:

[i]n most situations, there are advantages for both employers and workers to form and maintain a continuing long term attachment, in order to defend their investments in firm specific training. There is invariably some specific skill acquisition associated with a job, even if the training appears general. In these cases, measures which encourage ongoing employment relationships will be consistent with the financial objectives of the firm ... [529]

A number of submissions attempted to estimate the cost of losing an employee. For example, the Victorian Women Lawyers asserted that on 1998 estimates "[the] cost of replacing a fourth year lawyer ranged from $61,400 for a small firm, $71,600 for a medium firm to $145,000 for a large firm". [530]

A number of submissions also argued that the cost of these losses was greater than the cost of providing paid maternity leave. The National Pay Equity Coalition pointed out that "[t]he cost of losing an employee can be around a year's salary while paid maternity leave of 14 weeks costs just over a quarter of a year's pay (26.9%)". [531]

Some submissions considered that reducing financial pressure on women to remain in employment as close to the birth as possible and to return to work before they had physically recovered from giving birth would also have benefits for business. At the consultation held with employers in Adelaide, concern was expressed that "[e]conomically, often families can't afford not to have the woman working right up to the birth and this is a health risk". [532] Some of the employers present believed that there was a strong occupational health and safety argument for offering paid maternity leave. [533] As one employer put it "[p]aid maternity leave would help, because women can leave [the workplace] when they need to". [534]

The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union Vehicle Division confirmed these health concerns for some women from an employee's perspective.

Production work is physically demanding and often dangerous. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of mothers need to leave work earlier and return later in comparison to white collar workers. But, the lower wages of production workers also mean that most mothers in our industry are forced to return to work earlier than they would like. The six week paid maternity leave [current industry standard] is inadequate and undermines family/work balance and also the health of the worker. For these reasons the AMWU [Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union] Vehicle Division strongly advocates a minimum of 14 weeks paid maternity leave. [535]

The Australian Retailers' Association considered that:

... any scheme designed to ensure optimum health of mothers and their infants and to support families at this important time of their lives will have a benefit to employers by ensuring that women have had sufficient opportunity to recover from the birth and are better prepared for their return to work. [536]

A further benefit of paid maternity leave for employers was noted in the submission received from the Law Institute of Victoria. They suggested that increased sick leave may be used by employees who return to work too early after giving birth due to financial pressures. [537] A period of paid maternity leave would allow women time to recover from childbirth, without having to return to work due to these pressures. This potentially reduces this use of sick leave and the related cost for employers.

However, not all employers recognise the business case for paid maternity leave and for others, particularly small business and those on narrow profit margins, paid maternity leave may not be sufficiently affordable to justify the benefits. As a result, our current system of employer provided paid maternity leave means that many women in low paid jobs, or those employed in small businesses miss out on paid maternity leave. [538]

A government funded scheme of paid maternity leave could go some way towards addressing these issues of workplace equity by extending paid maternity leave more evenly across the labour force. [539]

A number of submissions considered that a government funded paid maternity leave scheme, independent of any employer funded paid maternity leave, may continue to benefit employers. [540] In addition, a government funded national paid maternity leave scheme could be structured in such a way as to allow or encourage individual employers to provide a top up. [541] For example, employers may be able to provide a top up on a government funded scheme by extending the government payment to full income replacement levels. Alternatively they may extend the number of weeks for which it is paid, or provide other measures during the initial period of leave. [542] This would enable them to retain the benefits of being an employer of choice.

A government funded scheme of paid maternity leave may also benefit employers by enabling them to focus on other family friendly provisions. As noted in a majority of submissions, while paid maternity leave may provide an incentive for women to return to their employers, it remains a limited incentive if not implemented as part of a suite of family friendly measures.

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10.3 Benefits to specific industries

A number of industry specific submissions highlighted the specific need for, and benefits of, paid maternity leave to their industry.

According to the Law Institute of Victoria for example, paid maternity leave will facilitate the retention within the legal profession of highly trained female lawyers. [543] Studies suggest that this is important for the legal profession as they fail to retain women beyond their fifth year of practice. This was reinforced in the Victorian Women Lawyer's recent report, Flexible Partnership - Making it work in law firms.

[The introduction of flexible work practices including paid maternity leave] resulted in almost irreplaceable knowledge, experience and client relationships being kept within the firm while simultaneously fostering a strong sense of loyalty and motivation among those staff members … [This meant a reduction in] the cost to the firm of replacing the lawyer, the loss of investment … and the cost to other practitioners in having to cover for their departed colleague. [544]

Female dominated industries suffering critical staff shortages also identified the provision of paid maternity leave as beneficial in assisting them to attract and retain female staff.

The Education Industry is suffering from a worldwide shortage of teachers. Retention and recruitment of teachers to the profession is becoming increasingly difficult in the present economic environment … schemes such as paid maternity leave which enhance workers entitlements can only benefit an industry which is predominantly female. [545]

Paid maternity leave was also noted as useful in assisting with the attraction and retention of skilled nurses. [546]

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10.4 Economic benefits to the broader economy

10.4.1 Introduction

It was commonly argued in the submissions that paid maternity leave benefits individual employers and contributes to sustaining a dynamic, prosperous economy. [547] In fact, very few submissions argued that paid maternity leave would not contribute to Australia's economy. [548]

Submissions pointed out that benefits may flow from employers to the broader economy, and back again.

Society gains the benefit of a productive member of the workforce rather than just the employer for whom the woman works ... Benefits may flow to the immediate employers at the time that the carer of the child returns to work, but benefits also flow to future employers ... [549]

The National Pay Equity Coalition argued that paid maternity leave:

… will yield benefits to the overall economy. The overall greater use of the economic resources of the country - including women's labour - will produce greater economic activity relative to social and economic infrastructure. Households with two incomes produce more for the same investment in transport, housing, services etc. Higher household incomes drive increased consumption providing markets for more household and other services, including childcare. Higher household incomes produce increased capacity to pay tax. [550]

10.4.2 Maintaining a high quality and competitive labour force

Many of the benefits of paid maternity leave to the individual employer stem from the ability of such leave to assist women's labour force attachment. A number of submissions identified the shared economic benefits of the continued labour force participation of women following childbirth. [551] For example, the Australian Council of Trade Unions submitted that "[w]omen's employment and the retention of skills will contribute to economic growth, productivity and improved living standards". [552]

If Australia is to continue to develop and maintain an internationally competitive workforce, it must ensure that women are not discouraged from maintaining workforce attachment. This was recognised in a number of submissions. The Council for Equal Opportunity in Employment for example, pointed out that:

… the entire potential labour pool, including women and men with young children have skills and abilities which are needed by Australia in an increasingly competitive global market. [553]

The Victorian Government pointed out that women participate in the labour market for a variety of reasons, "… and the Australian economy, if it is to be internationally competitive, needs well educated, well trained, skilled and experienced women in the workforce. The commercial success of many companies is inextricably linked to the recruitment and retention of well trained women." [554]

Many submissions considered that paid maternity leave contributes to the maintenance of a high quality labour force. The Australian Nursing Federation submitted that:

[p]aid maternity leave will facilitate the opportunities for women to remain in the workforce and in so doing, will promote the retention of skills, experience and expertise within the workforce. [555]

At the consultation with union representatives in Perth, participants highlighted a trend for some highly skilled women to return to the workforce after childbirth into casual, low skilled work. [556] A number of submissions acknowledged the role of paid maternity leave in dealing with this issue.

[Paid maternity leave ensures] a skilled workforce as women can return to their jobs at the end of their maternity leave rather than having to take up casual work until they can find suitable permanent work ... [557]

10.4.3 Attracting skilled labour

Not only is it increasingly important for Australia to maintain its best possible labour force, but countries also compete to attract skilled workers. With high levels of education, training, work experience and mobility young men and women are an increasingly valuable commodity.

Failing to provide paid maternity leave affects Australia's ability to attract overseas employees and to retain its own young skilled population. Anecdotal evidence from the submissions supports this.

I arrived as a permanent resident visa holder in Australia eight years ago from the Netherlands, where I was educated and gained work experience in several European countries … when people ask me why I have never become an Australian citizen, I have pointed out in the past that as a woman my social support, education and employability overseas would be at risk if I did. Even more vividly so now we are contemplating a second child my family and I would be better off if we moved back to Europe. I could continue to work, receive paid maternity leave entitlements and earn a higher wage. Like myself, other higher skilled employed permanent resident women will most likely take this option into account. [558]

10.4.4 Maximising the return on education and training

Australia's investment in women's skill formation is significant. [559] During 2000, $4.16 billion was invested in public vocational education and training. [560] In 2000, women made up almost half (49.2 per cent) of the 1.75 million students in the public Vocational Education and Training sector [561] and 57.9 per cent of all bachelor degree commencements. [562]

One woman told HREOC that she considered her six years of tertiary education was " ... almost going to have been a bit of a waste ... " [563] because of the difficulty of combining work and having children. She considered that she was faced with delaying childbirth for five to six years until her position in the workforce was more secure, or retraining in order to re-enter the workforce.

Maintaining female labour force attachment after the birth of a child ensures that the return on the community's investment in women's education and training is maximised. The role of paid maternity leave in assisting female labour force attachment and therefore returns on the community investment in the education and training of women was also recognised in a number of submissions. [564]

Taxpayers invest heavily in the education and training of educators and attrition of a highly skilled workforce such as this is a major problem. [565]

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10.5 Conclusion

As noted earlier, HREOC considers that the principal reasons for introducing paid maternity leave relate to women's and babies health and wellbeing, addressing women's workplace disadvantage and ensuring women's equal participation in the community. These objectives provide clear and direct benefits to women, children and families as well as significant social benefits to the community.

To the extent that paid maternity leave helps women to be better able to combine paid work and family, and assists women to maintain their attachment to the labour force, paid maternity leave will also benefit employers and the economy. Employers will see a greater return on their investment in recruitment and training of staff and a reduction in staff turnover costs. The economy will benefit through the attraction and maintenance of a highly skilled and competitive workforce, and through maximising the community investment in education and training.

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11. Outstanding issues

11.1 Introduction

The establishment of a national paid maternity leave scheme is one step towards meeting the objectives outlined in this paper. However, no single policy change will resolve the conflict between work and family responsibilities. While paid maternity leave will make a difference to the lives of individual women, many submissions made the point that paid maternity leave on its own is insufficient in addressing the issues that result in the disadvantage experienced by women as a group in Australia today. [566] In particular, feedback from submissions and consultations stressed the need for further legal and policy change on work and family issues, alongside a future paid maternity leave scheme.

Wherever appropriate, this paper has considered the work, family and other issues related to paid maternity leave. However, some of the issues raised in submissions and consultations are beyond the scope of this paper. This does not mean that issues such as access to childcare, education or flexible work are not important. In recognition of the need for further work on these issues, this Chapter outlines some of the major concerns raised in submissions that are not directly about paid maternity leave. It is important that paid maternity leave not be seen as a panacea for all work and family issues. HREOC recognises that further work is needed to meet all of the objectives outlined in this paper.

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11.2 Paid maternity leave as one of a "suite of measures"

Consultations and submissions made it clear that paid maternity leave is viewed, even by its strongest proponents, as only one aspect of the complex issues surrounding work and family. Many submissions referred to paid maternity leave in the context of social issues ranging from the status of women in society to the role of the family. For example, some individuals and organisations viewed paid maternity leave as integral to the broader issue of supporting families as units of society.

Paid Maternity Leave is only one aspect of an extremely complex social issue, which requires careful consideration of the totality and interdependence of issues and measures that may be necessary to achieve these objectives. That is, the discussion should move beyond the parameters of Paid Maternity Leave and employees to a comprehensive examination of the current and future measures necessary for families to be supported. [567]

For others, the context for paid maternity leave is the range of experiences working women face as mothers.

[A] holistic approach is needed for working women in respect to pregnancy, maternity leave and return to work. [568]

Paid maternity leave can also be seen as part of broader social issues such as workplace participation, education, childcare and population policy.

The whole maternity leave "argument" cannot easily be divorced from the role of child-care and early education in general. [569]

Employer groups, unions, parents and academics all urged HREOC to consider paid maternity leave in the context of these broader social issues.

For some, the insufficiency of paid maternity leave as a complete solution to a complex set of issues was a reason not to support it. The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce submitted that they did not support a paid maternity leave scheme because:

… a range of initiatives may be necessary to assist women and families in all socio-economic groups when combining motherhood with workplace participation. Paid maternity leave, in our view, is a narrow response to a complex and urgent problem. [570]

However, most submissions raised the complex social context of paid maternity leave in order to support further complementary measures in addition to paid leave. Australian Business Industrial stated that:

[m]aternity leave can only be considered as one of a suite of measures to enable a work-family balance. Consideration needs to be given to other areas of the social security and taxation system framework in order to assist employers in continuing to help their employees in this way. [This is in] addition to the provision of a paid maternity benefit that is sufficient to enable working women to take time away from paid work to have children. [571]

The Women's Council of the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia Division) wrote:

… we believe that the Government should include paid parental leave in a "mix" of policy options for families with young children to assist them to meet their work and family commitments. [572]

The BPW Australia's submission similarly argued for a long-term view and consideration of other policy changes.

PML [paid maternity leave] needs to be a part of a long-term plan for supporting Australians to balance their work and family commitments. Other aspects need to be considered simultaneously - affordable childcare, flexible work arrangements when mothers return to work and a tax system that treats the family as a unit and recognises the variety of forms that families take. [573]

HREOC agrees with the submissions emphasising both the complexity of issues surrounding paid maternity leave and stressing the need for further action complementing any future paid maternity leave scheme. Paid maternity leave is one of a suite of measures that need to be considered to give full meaning to the objectives outlined in this paper. There is no doubt that there is further work to do in this area, and some submissions and consultations point to valuable areas of future inquiry.

The many suggestions for further work raised in submissions relate to:

changing attitudes to men's and women's work;
developing family friendly workplaces;
childcare; and
return to work issues.

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11.3 "Men's work" and "women's work"

11.3.1 Introduction

Paid maternity leave relates to the social and personal balance of work and family responsibilities. Several submissions made the point that paid maternity leave on its own is insufficient if underlying stereotypes of "women's work" and "men's work" are not challenged.

Several submissions pointed out the need to change current ideas of gender roles and the limited and limiting understanding of what men and women do at work and in the family if broader work and family issues were to be solved.

11.3.2 Valuing motherhood and women's unpaid work

The general low status of motherhood was singled out for criticism, for undermining the importance of families and children in Australian society and for contributing to Australia's declining birth rate. [574]

[A]nother important issue is the value and status accorded to mothering, particularly full time mothering. Women taking time out to care for their young children are not applauded in any quarter. This career change is not seen as "work" and remains invisible to the public eye and in Government documents. If we value children and what is best for them, giving families financial assistance and reinstating mothering as a job worth doing must be the two pronged approach of any attempt to seriously address our declining birth rate. [575]

Similarly, one mother wrote that the low status of parenting and negative attitudes to children were reasons that men and women were choosing not to become parents.

The lack of respect for mothers and the lack of importance given to parenthood and the emphasis on parental acquisition are also driving forces in the choice to postpone or not have children. Many people view children as a nuisance, inconvenience, or "parasites", both in utero and after birth. [576]

The failure to recognise adequately the amount of work that women do, without remuneration, in caring for children, was another point highlighted in submissions. This raises fundamental questions of how work is valued and whether the domestic work performed by women is a "natural" extension of their biological and social role as mothers which should be performed on the basis of affective ties rather than for financial reward.

Those submissions that challenged the traditional view that women's domestic and caring work should be unpaid, suggested ways of compensating women for their labour. One women's group argued for benefits to women at home that would formally recognise women's labour.

[W]hile a revolution has occurred in the public realm in terms of women's entrance and participation in the mainstream economy and labour market, a corresponding revolution has not taken place in the home. Our labour is unrecognised, unpaid and unvalued. We would like to see provision made to women who were not already in the workforce (increasingly women are still training and studying into their 30s) through a 26 week maternal endowment. [577]

Another submission pointed out the fundamental reliance of the public world of paid work on the unpaid, "private" work carried out by women, and suggested a number of measures to remedy the imbalance.

The market still lives as a parasite on the unpaid work carried out in homes, predominantly by women. Distortion in what is treated as economic activity results in distortion of distribution of economic resources.

…..

We need to find ways to allocate a fair share of economic resources to people undertaking caring work. This could include a range of strategies including decent wages for childcare and personal care workers, drawing more caring work into the market as paid work, providing more services to people undertaking caring work to provide breaks, education, training and respite, and providing generous family allowances, not means-tested on income. [578]

One suggestion for valuing women's unpaid labour was for some form of remuneration or "allowance" to be paid to women who accept primary responsibility for work in the home and who do not undertake paid employment. The Australian Family Association, the Festival of Light and the Endeavour Forum all raised the idea that women should be remunerated for their work in the home. [579]

HREOC agrees that paid maternity leave does not solve the fundamental issue of women's disproportionate responsibility for unpaid work. As long as caring work remains unpaid, women are more vulnerable to poverty and social disadvantage. Without necessarily being in support of direct financial remuneration for caring work or other work performed in the home, HREOC supports further consideration of this issue. Ways of increasing the status of women who choose work other than in paid employment should also be explored.

11.3.3 Men's work and paternity leave

A counterbalance to the undervaluing of women's work as mothers and homemakers is the pressure placed on men to focus on paid work at the expense of their participation in family life. Submissions referred to the inadequate concept of a "father" as primarily a "worker" in the public sphere, a person who works long hours and does not have the time to care for children and the home.

Research has shown that:

[p]roblems with juggling work and family was a major issue for all the men in the study. All the men would have liked to have had more leave from work and they all would have liked to make some changes in their patterns of work. Various kinds of paid leave and restructured working hours provide an incentive for women and men to participate more equally at work and at home. The men in this study claimed that they would avail themselves of such provisions if they were available in Australia. [580]

The narrowness of men's working lives was described as destructive to women as well as men.

We need to face up to the fact that fathers' long hours of work are damaging mothers. Mothers suffer physically from overwork and lack of sleep. They suffer mentally and emotionally from lack of breaks, from isolation and excessive unshared responsibility for children and housework. Relationships suffer because women feel abused by the conditions of their work as mothers. [581]

Men's working patterns also impact on women because men often depend on the unpaid support of women at home. For women in paid employment, who often do not have access to such unpaid support, being a successful employee and a mother is simply too hard.

It is clear that women are limiting their families because the category of "worker" remains a male construct, and, as so many women have discovered, relies on the unpaid and unacknowledged labour of a "wife" to maintain the domestic realm. [582]

Men's restricted caring role within the family led some submissions to call for paid paternity leave as well as maternity leave.

We need to enable fathers as well as mothers to take time out from employment or limit working hours without economic or career penalty. If we want men to participate equally in caring work, we need paternity leave, to be taken simultaneously with maternity leave. Perhaps fathers could have six weeks' paid paternity leave for the express purpose of caring for mother and baby, followed by half-time leave for a further ten weeks. It may be necessary to provide guidance to encourage fathers to perform and gain skills in household work and childcare, since this expectation runs counter to the practices of some sections of the community. [583]

The importance to men of paid work, and sometimes financial necessity, means that they may be unprepared to take even quite short periods away from the workplace to be with their families unless they have paid entitlements.

In order to maintain the family's income, men are more likely to be prepared to take leave if they can do so on full pay and so it is more usual for them to use other forms of leave such as annual leave and long service leave. [584]

HREOC agrees that men's patterns of working, paternity leave and encouraging men to access leave provisions are all important areas of future study.

See also 4.3, 14.2.4 and the discussion of long hours at 11.4.3.

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11.4 Developing family friendly workplaces

11.4.1 Introduction

Paid maternity leave invites a broader discussion of other workplace benefits or arrangements that support employees with families. Many submissions directly referred to the importance of family friendly workplaces and flexible employment arrangements as crucial accompaniments to a future paid maternity leave scheme. Without such additional measures, it was argued, paid maternity leave is only of short term benefit.

UMPA [University of Melbourne Postgraduate Association] would suggest that no matter which paid maternity scheme is implemented in Australia there are still gaps in the workplace and barriers that need to be overcome. Having paid maternity leave would assist women and parents in the first year of their child's life but it is also in the subsequent years that women require support systemically. There still needs to be a considerable culture change in workplaces - even at universities - before equity for parents would be achieved. [585]

More than a hundred submissions referred to the need for legal and policy change within workplaces to make work more flexible and family friendly.

The emphasis in this section is on the role of employers in assisting and supporting employees with families. However, this paper also considers, at 11.4.4, the need for comprehensive research into work and family issues to assist the development of future policies.

11.4.2 Flexible work arrangements

There is growing acknowledgement by all participants in the work and family debate that flexibility is a key characteristic of a workplace that attracts and retains male and female employees with family responsibilities. Submissions and consultations particularly emphasised the need for part time working arrangements and opportunities to job share, flexible hours and flexible leave arrangements.

Arrangements for telecommuting and other home based work, family friendly rostering arrangements, prenatal leave to attend medical appointments [586] and breastfeeding facilities were also raised as issues requiring further consideration. Return to work issues, including the right to return to work, extended maternity leave, expanded access to family leave and part time work are discussed at 11.5.

Suggestions for flexible work practices came from employers, unions, community groups and individuals. For example, the Australian Industry Group wrote that:

[a]lready, a range of measures have begun to emerge at individual workplaces, often as part of the enterprise bargaining process. These include flexible working time arrangements, permanent part-time arrangements, job-sharing, teleworking and employer assistance with child-care. This trend will likely to continue in the future and such measures would complement the introduction of a government funded paid maternity leave scheme. [587]

The Australian Nursing Federation stated that it:

… strongly endorses the view expressed in [HREOC's] Interim Paper that paid maternity leave should be seen as one of a range of measures required to address workplace equity and employment issues. A broader approach is needed to direct attention to other issues such as access to affordable high quality child care; family leave; flexibility for employees within the workplace; rostering arrangements that support an acceptable work/life balance; greater use of part-time and job share options and other family friendly provisions. [588]

The Union of Australian Women:

… strongly believes that, for a paid maternity leave scheme to be effective, it must be supported by improved access to affordable, quality child care, and genuinely flexible working hours and conditions that make provision for parental responsibilities. [589]

HREOC agrees that there is a great deal more work to do on developing flexible workplaces. As the Australian Industry Group stated, there have been many improvements in this area in recent years, and many workplaces have developed practical working arrangements and benefits that allow their employees to function effectively as paid workers and as parents. However, these benefits are not universal and some employees in particular industries and workplaces have no real access to flexible working arrangements. This is an important area for ongoing and definitive inquiry.

11.4.3 Family friendly working hours

Paid maternity leave, along with other family friendly measures, may not make a meaningful difference to families if other working conditions make it difficult to access such leave. For some organisations and individuals, the pressure to work long hours offsets the provision of benefits to employees with family responsibilities. The Financial Services Union wrote that:

… a recent study of the impact of work/family provisions in the finance sector found that the existence of such provisions is not enough. Employees in the sector are now working such excessive hours, that they are often unable to take advantage of these provisions … The pre-natal period of work, pregnancy and return to work are all affected. [590]

Suggestions were put to HREOC that the federal Government should do more to encourage permanent part time work and job sharing for Australian employees, in order to encourage reasonable working hours.

[T]he government should stop promoting unrealistic worker hours, or at least promote job sharing. [591]

The Women's Council of the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia Division) also wrote that:

[a]t present many Australian workers are forced to work longer hours than they would choose or that they are paid for and we are concerned about the loss of momentum to encourage permanent part time work for parents in the work force with young children. [592]

The Australian Council of Trade Unions recently ran a test case in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, seeking to establish guidelines on excessive hours of work. In response to this claim, employer groups such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry argued that employees were not working excessive hours, that when long hours were worked they were adequately compensated and that negotiated workplace agreements are the best way of establishing appropriate working hours. [593]

The Full Bench rejected the Australian Council of Trade Unions' claim for a test case standard in the terms sought by it, but awarded a test case provision of a more limited kind. [594] The standard allows an employee to refuse to work overtime where it would result in the employee working unreasonable hours. One of the factors in determining unreasonableness is the employee's personal circumstances, including any family responsibilities. In setting the standard, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission recognised that long hours are not conducive to family life. The test case outcome was welcomed by both the federal Government and the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. [595]

Attention has also been given to the issue of reasonable hours as part of the broader social debate on balancing work and family responsibilities. A recent survey by a recruitment agency has found a quarter of Australian workers believe current working hours are undermining family life. The survey, which questioned employees in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore found that 25 per cent of Australian employees believed current working hours were undermining family life "a great deal" or to "some extent". It also found almost 40 per cent of those surveyed were working more than 40 hours per week. [596]

The attention given to this issue is important and HREOC supports the work that has already been done, as well as encouraging future work on reasonable hours. Depending on trends in working hours in the years following the Reasonable Hours decision, further steps may be necessary, perhaps by more closely defining reasonable hours of work or mandating limits.

11.4.4 Further research on work and family issues

It is only recently in Australia that there has been broad recognition of the need to address work and family issues. As such, there is need for further research on these issues in order to assess and draw conclusions about the impact of various family friendly policies. As noted in the submission from the Centre for Applied Social Research:

[r]esearch into work and family balance is burgeoning, but it remains hamstrung by problems of patchy, overly aggregated and sometimes inconsistent data. This not only makes for ill-informed public and political debates but also makes it difficult to measure the impact of policies such as the provision of paid maternity leave. We endorse the call from HREOC for further research in this area [HREOC interim paper]. We need for example to undertake the collection of data and research into the impact of both paid and unpaid maternity leave on choices to return to work, on what women do in the absence of paid maternity leave and also on the consequences for pay inequality over the life course. [597]

The Australian Retailers Association argued in its submission that the current lack of research in this area also makes it difficult to address the work and family related issues.

With the continuing increase of women's participation in the workforce [ABS 6203.0 Labour Force August 2001, p16] ARA believes that the need for research, going beyond the time of birth to include the first 5 years of the child's life, is imperative. Data is required to gain an understanding of what support the community as a whole should be providing, financial or otherwise, to assist in the development of a system that supports the raising of well educated and healthy children in our community for the future of our community, in a way that does not discriminate against or disadvantage those who do so and in a way that recognises the changed circumstances of families in society today. [598]

That the lack of statistical data affects the ability to debate work and family issues was argued by the Women's Action Alliance.

We agree with the observation in the preface [to HREOC's interim paper] that the "lack of current statistical information about maternity, family responsibilities and work arrangements" is hampering the debate and concur that "Future research in this area is vitally important" [599]

Clearly there are advantages in undertaking further research in the area, as noted by the Hawke Institute.

[T]here is the need for greater research in this area. Australia should be able to draw upon and learn from international best practice. Research that increases our understanding of the factors which influence reproductive rates and choices, and the nexus between family and paid work responsibilities is crucial for the development of effective and efficient policies. [600]

HREOC agrees that there is a need for further research in this area, but considers that it is beyond the scope of this paper to identify the exact elements of research and data collection that are required. HREOC urges the Government to review data collections and research in this area, in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, in order to identify gaps and areas for future work. However, this research should not hinder the introduction of a national scheme of paid maternity leave.

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11.5 Return to work issues

11.5.1 Introduction

Return to work issues were also singled out for particular attention in submissions and consultations. These issues include the right to return to work full time or part time, extended maternity leave and expanded access to family leave.

11.5.2 Right to return to full time or part time work

Despite the fact that women with access to unpaid maternity leave have a right to return to work after that leave, [601] consultations and submissions made it clear that some women did not know of this right, did not insist upon it or were encouraged not to access it. For example, some women leave work rather than experience the "guilt" of inconveniencing their employer.

[W]omen feel that it will be an imposition on the employer to keep the job open, so rather than make a fuss they will go. They know that the small employer can't manage it, and they don't know that they can have a job held open - but there are those who think that's a bit unreasonable anyway. [602]

Even where women do return to work, they are not always reinstated in their former position, or they struggle to continue to work full time, sometimes resigning because they cannot access part time work.

All too often, the IEU [Independent Education Union] has had to protect its members in situations where they have been told to return to work full time after maternity leave or resign or that part-time work was incompatible with holding a promotions position. [603]

Under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth), awards and agreements, a woman is entitled to return to the position she held prior to taking maternity leave or to a comparable available position if her original job has ceased to exist. The Sex Discrimination Act may also apply where a woman is disadvantaged when offered an alternative position on her return from leave.

Some awards and agreements also allow for women to work part time after maternity leave by agreement with the employer. If an employer refuses a reasonable request for part time work, a woman may be able to argue that a failure to provide her with such work is unlawful under the Sex Discrimination Act. [604] There has been some case law in this area that gives direction on when a woman's treatment on return to work will be unlawful [605] but this area of law needs further clarification.

Some submissions from employee representatives called for legislative clarification of a right to return to part time work.

Without a legislative, award or enterprise agreement providing rights for primary care givers to return to work on a part time or flexible hours basis, families are forced to combine full time work with parenting young children. This can lead to increased pressures on young families trying to juggle work and family commitment, as well as increased pressure to provide affordable and suitable child-care.

….

The ASU [Australian Services Union] MEU/Private Sector Victorian Branch submit that returning to work part time from parental leave should be a legislative right at the election of the parent. [606]

HREOC supports consideration of legislative amendments to industrial and discrimination legislation to clarify when employees are entitled to return to part time work. For example, the United Kingdom has introduced legislation that requires employers to give reasonable consideration to a request for part time work by employees who are parents of young or disabled children. From April 2003, parents of children under six years of age or of disabled children aged under 18 years will have the right to apply for flexible work. Employers will have a statutory duty to consider a request for a change to an employee's working hours, a change to the times an employee is required to work or a request by an employee to work from home. [607]

There is also a convincing argument that further education is needed to inform employees and employers of women's right to return to work after a period of unpaid maternity leave.

11.5.3 Extended maternity leave and family leave

Some submissions called for a right to extended unpaid maternity leave beyond the current one year limit.

Whilst recognising the need for some predictability re return to work to meet employer needs, we also believe in supporting mothers who wish to spend longer periods of time out of the paid workforce to care for their children ... [608]

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association recommends extended unpaid leave of up to three years. [609] Coles Supermarkets provides 18 months unpaid parental leave to employees who have had 12 months continuous service. [610] Other submissions suggested a right to access other leave, such as accrued long service leave in order to expand a period of paid maternity leave. [611]

Some submissions also suggested an expansion of access to family leave following return to work. For example, the Australian Education Union supported a right to access up to ten years leave for family responsibilities, [612] and another union recommended a right for women to have:

… greater access to periods of unpaid maternity leave and for either parent to be entitled to access unpaid family leave in blocks of time up to the time their child is 6 years of age. [613]

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has announced its intention to run a Work and Family Test Case in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in 2003, seeking up to three years unpaid maternity leave and more family friendly working hours for all employees. [614]

HREOC considers that these suggestions may have some merit but that they need detailed examination in consultation with employers and other stakeholders. HREOC recommends further work in this area.

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11.6 Childcare

11.6.1 Introduction

Childcare was one of the issues raised most often in submissions and consultations. [615] Submissions referred to adequate childcare as essential to supporting women's place in the paid workforce and ending employment discrimination. The Australian Retailers Association, which represents a female dominated industry stated that:

[c]onsideration should be given to the area of childcare and the restructuring of existing payment schemes in light of women's role as an integral part of today's workforce. [616]

EMILY's List stated that "… good quality, affordable child care - both pre school and school age care is a must to ensure an end to systemic discrimination in the workplace". [617]

Mothers of In(ter)vention demanded that the federal Government:

… reverse its cuts to community-based childcare, that it properly remunerate childcare workers, and that it introduce measures to build childcare into women's and men's workplaces. A range of diverse forms of childcare should be available to meet the very personal and varied requirements of families, in terms of religion and other factors. [618]

For the majority of stakeholders in the paid maternity leave debate, childcare was seen as a crucial area of concern to be considered alongside paid maternity leave. The Australian Industry Group wrote that:

[i]n addition to paid maternity leave, the Government should examine other support measures such as further child-care assistance. Child-care costs remain a major barrier to women returning to employment after having children. Areas that should be further examined include taxation arrangements as they relate to child-care costs incurred by employees, together with further incentives for employers to assist employees with child care costs. [619]

However, the Motor Traders' Association of New South Wales saw childcare as the crucial issue in the work and family debate, and argued that it should take precedence over paid maternity leave.

Women need wider options when balancing work and family commitments. Providing paid maternity leave does not increase their options. It would result in a small benefit for a short period of time without looking at issues which need long term solutions in terms of providing real benefits to women. The issue of child care is immensely important, especially for families that rely on a dual income. As government financial support for child care has reduced over the years, increasing levels of stress are placed upon parents to adequately look after their children.

….

Considering that there are women who choose not to stay at home after giving birth because they rely on paid work and/or they need or desire to maintain their careers, paid maternity leave would not be a desirable option for them, but subsidised child care would more likely be a beneficial option for these women. [620]

A few submissions, however, were opposed to additional childcare funding, asserting that most mothers do not want nor need more childcare [621] or preferring funds to be spent on alternative centres.

Instead of subsidising child care centres, I would like to see better (and much smaller) subsidies for mother-and-child-care centres; places where isolated mothers can meet during the day with their children. It is often loneliness, as well as economics, which drive mothers back to work. [622]

11.6.2 Cost and availability of childcare

Childcare costs were viewed by some as one of the reasons for the current trend towards delaying childbirth.

I wonder if there is research available which has asked women what actual factors prevented them from having children earlier, or more children. I would expect that many women would say that the cost of child care is a huge factor … [623]

Not only was the cost of childcare raised as an issue, but also the lack of available childcare places. The Women's Council of the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia Division) wrote that:

[w]hile we acknowledge the increase in places created by the Howard Government over the past 7 years, access to affordable and quality child care is still a problem for many families with young children. We support any efforts from the federal Government to continue the expansion of child care places in areas of unmet need. [624]

A few submissions and consultations also pointed out the special childcare needs of shift workers, single parents and women working in rural and remote areas. [625]

[T]he rostering and hours in call centres make it difficult to try to fit in childcare arrangements - [the roster] is regimented and often you can't make up time to fit in these arrangements. [626]

One shift worker and single parent wrote of the difficulties she had managing childcare in a way that was appropriate for her and her child.

Child care centres do not cater to shift workers. If I book for particular days this must be every week regardless of whether the child is in care, and if I miss days then I lose part of the rebate. So for dayshift I must book 50 hours of care per week, every week at a cost of approx $200 per week. I also need to have afternoon up to 11.30pm and also overnight care for when I work P.M. shifts which involve up to 7 afternoon or nights. Even while I am at work between 3.00pm & 11.30pm or 11.00pm until 7.00am, I am still required to place my child into the day care. [627]

Given the enormous interest in, and concern over, childcare places and affordability, HREOC believes that this is an area that needs further examination as a matter of urgency.

11.6.3 Work based childcare

One solution to the perceived childcare problem was for the federal Government to assist employers in establishing work based childcare.

We also encourage the federal Government to consider financial incentives for employers to provide quality, workplace childcare where possible as a part of its policy "mix" to assist families with young children. [628]

One specific proposal is for tax deductibility for childcare services, either to employers for the costs of services provided in the workplace, or to employees for services accessed in the community. This was raised in many submissions as an important step to encourage employers to assist employees with childcare needs. For example, Victorian Women Lawyers referred to tax deductibility of childcare as a "key issue". [629] Employer groups also supported consideration of tax deductibility. For example, Australian Business Industrial:

… recommends that the government review the Fringe Benefit Tax liability associated with employers providing financial assistance to employees for childcare. The status quo regarding this tax legislation stands as a barrier to many small and medium sized businesses from offering employees benefits for childcare, due to the FBT liability attached to such payments. Businesses that can afford to establish their own childcare facilities (predominantly larger enterprises) are not subject to the same regulation. [630]

Any future consideration of childcare should include a discussion of taxation issues.

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11.7 Tax credits and income splitting

Some submissions made general recommendations for consideration of taxation issues surrounding parenthood.

[We would make a] strong recommendation for the federal Government to examine tax options for making parenthood more affordable in order to recognize the unique needs of children and their parents. [631]

However, the majority of submissions on taxation issues specifically supported income splitting [632] or tax credits. [633] Their general concern appeared to be the need to support two parent families where one parent chose to work as a full time carer and homemaker. In some submissions the stated policy objective was to support couples in traditional relationships.

Further tax law changes to allow income splitting for married couples with children would ease the unfair financial burden on families struggling to raise children on one income, with only one tax-free threshold. [634]

HREOC does not support any system that gives preference to one kind of family over another on the basis of marital status or sexuality. Even where income splitting is applied in a "neutral" manner, in isolation from other benefits it would have the effect of financially supporting two parent families over single parent families. This is of particular concern when single parent families remain the most economically disadvantaged of families.

Other submissions argued that income splitting, tax credits or similar schemes would have the effect of providing women with genuine choice. The Australian Family Association submitted that:

[t]he federal Government should explore a homemaker's allowance, income splitting, family unit taxation, a child tax credit, or some such scheme, which will offer women real choice. It should be helping women, especially mothers, to exercise genuine choice, instead of funnelling women into a predetermined end. [635]

The Endeavour Forum asked:

[w]hy not allow all mothers genuine choice by a homemaker's allowance, income splitting, family unit taxation, a child tax credit, or some such scheme? [636]

Many women want to stay home full time to care for children, and it is the strong view of HREOC that such choices should be valued and supported. However, income splitting and tax credits may instead have the effect of providing an active disincentive for women to work, even where they would prefer to maintain some attachment to the labour force. For the reasons outlined at 6.7, women gain many benefits from their labour force attachment that would not be adequately compensated by variations in taxation arrangements. Income splitting and tax credits may also encourage men to focus more on paid employment, spend longer hours at work and be less available to their families.

HREOC does not believe that women need further incentives to care for children or to perform domestic work. [637] A system that simply supports women and men in their own work and family choices is most equitable, and most practical.

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11.8 Research on fertility choices

If Australia is to incorporate increasing the birth rate as part of its population policy, there obviously needs to be a consideration of the factors affecting a woman's decision to have children.

A number of submissions and consultations expressed concern that there was a lack of research and data collection being undertaken exploring women's decisions to have children, and the input of this into population policy. For example, the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce recommended that:

… further relevant research be completed that takes into account the changed society in which we live, with particular emphasis on the economic position of women, and the factors considered whilst choosing to have or not to have children. This research then needs to be supplemented with the exploration of the mechanisms to assist or encourage women to have children. [638]

Specific areas for research were identified in the submission from the Motor Traders' Association of New South Wales, which recommended the following.

Further investigation of overseas experiences with paid maternity leave schemes and their impact on fertility levels.
Exploration of the causes that contribute to the falling birth rate and addressing these causes, rather than attributing only one factor, the availability of maternity leave.
Research into the factors that women consider when choosing to have or not to have children in order to determine whether a short-term economic benefit would encourage women to have children. [639]

The Australian Mines and Metals Association considered that data collection and research was needed on men and women's decisions to reproduce, [640] the impact of government spending on the fertility rate [641] and the means of meeting Australia's population policy objectives. [642]

The National Women's Council of South Australia commented that:

... there is a greater need for understanding of factors, which influence reproductive rates and choices, and the nexus between family and paid work responsibilities. If the government is concerned about fertility rates, and is in the process of developing family based policies, these developments must be undertaken along side support for research in this area. [643]

As stated at 9.5 and 9.6, HREOC considers that Australia's falling fertility rates are a symptom of the broader problem for parents, and in particular women, in trying to combine work and family. HREOC considers that research on fertility rates should be undertaken in the broader context of women's decisions about work and family.

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242. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave, interim paper 2002 HREOC Sydney 2002, Part C.

243. Health aspects of maternity leave and maternity protection are discussed in a statement by the World Health Organization to the International Labour Conference 2 June 2000 www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publicatins/French_FPP_93_3/

Health_aspects_of_maternity_leave.en.html ; Maternity Protection Convention 2000 (No. 183) and Maternity Protection Recommendation 2000 (No. 191).

244. Australian Capital Territory Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, Submission 120, p6.

245. Catherine Matson, Submission 12, p1.

246. Julie Lynch, Submission 213, p1.

247. HREOC Interview 24, September 2002.

248. S Brown and J Lumley "Maternal health after childbirth: Results of an Australian population based survey" (1998) 105 British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 156 at 156, 157.

249. J Thompson et al "Prevalence and persistence of health problems after childbirth: Associations with parity and method of birth" (2002) 29 Birth 83.

250. J Thompson et al "Prevalence and persistence of health problems after childbirth: Associations with parity and method of birth" (2002) 29 Birth 83.

251. J Thompson et al "Prevalence and persistence of health problems after childbirth: Associations with parity and method of birth" (2002) 29 Birth 83 at 92.

252. J Thompson et al "Prevalence and persistence of health problems after childbirth: Associations with parity and method of birth" (2002) 29 Birth 83 at 85.

253. P McGovern et al "Time off work and the postpartum health of employed women" (1997) 35(5) Medical Care 507 at 519.

254. L Tulman and J Fawcett "Recovery from childbirth: Looking back six months after delivery" (1991) 12(3) Health Care for Women International 341 at 344.

255. Job Watch Inc., Submission 191, pp10-11.

256. Meeting with Women's Economic Policy Analysis Unit, Curtin University, Perth, 20 June 2002.

257. Unpublished data from a population based cohort study conducted in the Australian Capital Territory in 1997 show that 30 per cent of the 1 193 women surveyed had been in paid employment at some time in the first six months after childbirth, and that among the women who returned to work within six months of having their babies, 77 per cent cited financial pressure as one of the main reasons for returning to work. Cited in Jane Thompson, Submission 135, p1.

258. Lyn Collins and Barbara Pocock, Submission 232, p5.

259. Warwick Giles, Submission 97, p1.

260. P McGovern et al "Time off work and the postpartum health of employed women" (1997) 35(5) Medical Care 507 at 519; See also DW Gjerdingen et al "Changes in women's physical health during the first postpartum year" (1993) 2(3) Archive of Family Medicine 277 at 277.

261. P McGovern et al "Time off work and the postpartum health of employed women" (1997) 35(5) Medical Care 507 at 518.

262. P McGovern et al "Time off work and the postpartum health of employed women" (1997) 35(5) Medical Care 507 at 518. See also Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Submission 229, p3.

263. Union consultation, Hobart, 27 June 2002.

264. Union consultation, Hobart, 27 June 2002.

265. Australian Federation of University Women (South Australia) Inc., Submission 179, p2. Also raised at union consultation, Melbourne, 9 July 2002.

266. CA McVeigh "An Australian study of functional status after childbirth" (1997) 13(4) Midwifery 172.

267. CA McVeigh "An Australian study of functional status after childbirth" (1997) 13(4) Midwifery 172 at 173-174.

268. L Tulman and J Fawcett "Functional status during pregnancy and the postpartum: A framework for research" (1990) 22(3) IMAGE Journal of Nursing Scholarship 191.

269. Adoptive parents consultation, Sydney, 19 June 2002.

270. CA McVeigh "An Australian study of functional status after childbirth" (1997) 13(4) Midwifery 172 at 173. See also L Tulman et al "Changes in functional status after childbirth" (1990) 39(2) Nursing Research 70.

271. CA McVeigh "An Australian study of functional status after childbirth" (1997) 13(4) Midwifery 172 at 176.

272. CA McVeigh "An Australian study of functional status after childbirth" (1997) 13(4) Midwifery 172 at 176.

273. N Nassar and EA Sullivan Australia's Mothers and Babies 1999 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Perinatal Statistics Unit Sydney 2001, p17.

274. N Nassar and EA Sullivan Australia's Mothers and Babies 1999 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Perinatal Statistics Unit Sydney 2001, p62.

275. N Nassar and EA Sullivan Australia's Mothers and Babies 1999 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Perinatal Statistics Unit Sydney 2001, pp18-19.

276. N Nassar and EA Sullivan Australia's Mothers and Babies 1999 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Perinatal Statistics Unit Sydney 2001, p17.

277. N Nassar and EA Sullivan Australia's Mothers and Babies 1999 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Perinatal Statistics Unit Sydney 2001, p6.

278. ABS 3301.0 Births Australia 2001, p6.

279. Karen Simmer, Submission 72, p2.

280. Helen Wilkinson et al Time Out: The costs and benefits of paid parental leave Demos London 1997, p210.

281. H Rosenberg "Motherwork, stress and depression: The costs of privatized social reproduction" in HJ Maroney and M Luxton (eds) Feminism and Political Economy: Women's work, women's struggles Methuen Toronto 1987, pp181-196 at 183.

282. It is estimated that 10 to 15 per cent of mothers in the community may suffer from postnatal depression. See Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Submission 229, p4; Tresillian Family Care Centres, Submission 166, p2.

283. For an overview of the literature on the duration of postnatal depression see P Romito "Work and health in mothers of young children" (1994) 24(4) International Journal of Health Services 607 at 612-613.

284. Tresillian Family Care Centres, Submission 166, p2 citing National Health and Medical Research Council Postnatal Depression: A systematic review of published scientific literature to 1999 Commonwealth of Australia Canberra 2000, p1.

285. Eleanor Wilson, Submission 133, p6. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Adelaide, 14 June 2002, p9.

286. National Community Child Health Council, Submission 167, p2.

287. S Brown and J Lumley "Maternal health after childbirth: Results of an Australian population based survey" (1998) 105 British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 156 at 158.

288. JF Thompson et al "Early discharge and postnatal depression: A prospective cohort study" (2000) 172 The Medical Journal of Australia 532.

289. Lyndall Strazdins, Submission 241, p1.

290. Michelle Falstein Coppola, Submission 38, p2.

291. JP Smith, LJ Ingham and MD Dunstone The Economic Value of Breastfeeding in Australia National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health Australian National University Canberra 1998, p21.

292. F Al-Yaman, M Bryant and H Sargeant Australia's Children: Their health and wellbeing 2002 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Canberra 2002, p273.

293. Public Service Association of South Australia Inc., Submission 198, p1.

294. Australian Breastfeeding Association, Submission 222, p6.

295. Confidential, Submission 67, p1.

296. HREOC Interview 24, September 2002.

297. World Health Organization The Optimal Duration of Exclusive Breastfeeding: Report of an expert consultation WHO Geneva 2001.

298. Women's Electoral Lobby, Submission 248, p3. See also Beverley Walker, Submission 192, p1; National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p10; Queensland Council of Unions, Submission 239, p11; Anna Edgelow, Submission 78, p1; Australian Breastfeeding Association, Submission 222, p6.

299. F Al-Yaman, M Bryant and H Sargeant Australia's Children: Their health and wellbeing 2002 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Canberra 2002, p275.

300. Australian Breastfeeding Association, Submission 222, p8 citing S Donath and L H Amir "Rates of breastfeeding in Australia by state and socio-economic status: Evidence from the 1995 National Health Survey" (2000) 36 Journal of Pediatric Child Health 164.

301. Australian Breastfeeding Association, Submission 222, p7.

302. F Al-Yaman, M Bryant and H Sargeant Australia's Children: Their health and wellbeing 2002 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Canberra 2002, p274.

303. J Smith , J Thompson and D Ellwood Hospital system costs of artificial infant formula feeding: Estimates for the Australian Capital Territory Canberra Hospital Canberra 2002 unpublished manuscript, p1.

304. Vicki Clifton, Submission 59, p1 based on a report by Research Triangle Park USA.

305. Gastrointestinal illness, respiratory illness, otitis media, eczema and necrotizing enterocolitis.

306. J Smith, J Thompson and D Ellwood Hospital System Costs of Artificial Infant Formula Feeding: Estimates for the Australian Capital Territory Canberra Hospital Canberra 2002 unpublished manuscript, p1.

307. D Drane "Breastfeeding and formula feeding: A preliminary economic analysis" (1997) 5(1) Breastfeeding Review 7 cited in JP Smith, LJ Ingham, and MD Dunstone The Economic Value of Breastfeeding in Australia National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health Australian National University Canberra 1998, p20.

308. R Cohen et al "Comparison of maternal absenteeism and infant illness rates among breastfeeding and formula feeding women in two corporations" (1995) 10(2) American Journal of Health Promotion 148; EG Jones and RJ Matheny "Relationship between infant feeding and exclusion rate from child care because of illness" (1993) 93 Journal of the American Dietary Association 7 cited in JP Smith, LJ Ingham, and MD Dunstone The Economic Value of Breastfeeding in Australia National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health Australian National University Canberra 1998, p21.

309. Women's Electoral Lobby, Submission 248, p3.

310. Union consultation, Hobart, 27 June 2002.

311. JP Smith, LJ Ingham, and MD Dunstone The Economic Value of Breastfeeding in Australia National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health Australian National University Canberra 1998, p19. See also Australian Breastfeeding Association, Submission 222, p7.

312. See, for example, Vicki Clifton, Submission 59, p1; Australian Breastfeeding Association, Submission 222, p7; JP Smith, LJ Ingham, and MD Dunstone The Economic Value of Breastfeeding in Australia National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health Australian National University Canberra 1998, p19.

313. M Norrie, McCain and JF Mustard Early Years Study: Final report Ontario Children's Secretariat Toronto 1999, pp41-42.

314. Union consultation, Hobart, 27 June 2002.

315. Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Submission 229, p2 citing M Morrow-Tlucak, R H Maude, C B Emhart "Breastfeeding and cognitive development in the first two years of life" (1988) 26 Social Science Medicine 635.

316. Philip Gammage, Submission 91, p1.

317. Eleanor Wilson, Submission 133, p7.

318. Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Submission 229, p2. See also Australian Capital Territory Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, Submission 120, p4.

319. Women's Electoral Lobby, Submission 248, p5.

320. Queensland Working Women's Service, Submission 219, p7.

321. Women's groups and community consultation, Wagga Wagga, 17 July 2002.

322. Women's groups and community consultation, Wagga Wagga, 17 July 2002.

323. P Hopper and E Zigler "The medical and social science basis for a national infant care leave policy" (1988) 58(3) American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 324 at 332.

324. M Barkley Work and Home Commitments: Some issues for Australian parents Paper presented at the Fourth Australian Family Research Conference Sydney 1993. See also P Hopper and E Zigler "The medical and social science basis for a national infant care leave policy" (1988) 58(3) American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 324 at 331-332.

325. Maternity Leave Conditions and Entitlements under the State Service Wages Agreement 2001, cited in Tasmanian Government, Submission 244, Attachment A, pp1-2.

326. Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, Submission 173, p11.

327. Women's Action Alliance (Australia) Inc., Submission 146, p6. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Perth, 20 June 2002.

328. ABS 6361.0 Survey of Employment and Superannuation April - June 2000 unpublished data. See also 3.3.2.

329. See 11.3.3 and 14.3.

330. HREOC Interview 2, August 2002.

331. See, for example, Australian Business Industrial, Submission 119, p2; Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Submission 197, p19; Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p4; Queensland Nurses' Union, Submission 134, p6; Victorian Women Lawyers, Submission 137, p4; Melissa Austin, Submission 149, p1; Australian Services Union MEU Private Sector Victorian Branch, Submission 154, p1; Australian Retailers Association, Submission 165, p12; Women's Studies Research Unit, School of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Submission 48, p2; New South Wales EEO Practitioners' Association, Submission 77, pp1-2; Victorian Government, Submission 250, p8; Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales, Submission 214, p12; YWCA of Australia, Submission 228, p11. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Sydney, 30 April 2002.

332. South Australian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Submission 71, p2.

333. Australian Federation of University Women - Victoria, Submission 101, p1; See also Job Watch Inc., Submission 191, p11.

334. See 3.3 for further discussion of who currently has access to paid maternity leave.

335. Victorian Government, Submission 250, pp1-2.

336. National Community Child Health Council, Submission 167, p1.

337. Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, Submission 173, p14.

338. Carrie Parsons, Submission 25, p1.

339. Martje McKenzie, Submission 9, p1.

340. Katherine Whincop, Submission 2, p1. Also raised at employers consultation, Hobart, 27 June 2002, where it was stated that, "[f]or working women there doesn't seem to be any incentive to have children. Especially those highly skilled women. They tend to lose out."

341. Australian Business Industrial, Submission 119, p13.

342. Women's Economic Think Tank, Submission 125, p4.

343. AMP-NATSEM The Cost of Children Issue 3 October 2002 www.amp.com.au/au/ampweb.nsf/content/E180+AMP+

NATSEM+Reports.

344. Women's groups and community consultation, Perth, 20 June 2002.

345. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p11. Also raised at union consultation, Darwin, 7 June 2002.

346. See, for example, International Adoptive Parents Association, Submission 145, p2; R and N Cornhill, Submission 131, p5; Australian African Children's Aid and Support Association Inc., Submission 22, p1; D Seitam, Submission 39, p1; L Hayes, Submission 43, p1; P and M Marshall, Submission 45, p3.

347. R and N Cornhill, Submission 131, p5.

348. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Submission 197, p33.

349. Bruce Chapman et al The Foregone Earnings from Child Rearing Revised Discussion paper No 47 Centre for Economic Policy Research Australia National University Canberra 1999. See also National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p11; Labor Council of New South Wales, Submission 218, p3; Community and Public Service Union - State Public Services Federation Group, Submission 230, p3.

350. See, for example, Union Research Centre on Organisation and Technology, Submission 254, p3; National Pay and Equity Coalition, Submission 224, pp10-15; YWCA of Australia, Submission 228, p4.

351. International studies do indicate that paid maternity leave contributes to women's long term economic security. For example, empirical evidence from the United States indicates that women covered by a formal maternity leave policy, and who return to their original employer have higher pay: J Waldfogel "Working mothers then and now: A cross-cohort analysis of the effects of maternity leave on women's pay" in F Blau and R Ehrenberg (eds) Gender and Family Issues in the Workplace Russell Sage Foundation New York 1997. A European study shows that rights to a short period (fourteen weeks) of paid parental leave raises the employment rates of young women with little impact on hourly earnings: Christopher J Ruhm "The economic consequences of parental leave mandates: Lessons from Europe" (1998) 113 The Quarterly Journal of Economics 285.

352. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p12.

353. Union consultation, Perth, 21 June 2002.

354. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p12 cites S Donath Women and Superannuation Seventh Interdisciplinary Women's Studies Conference Adelaide 1997; Community and Public Service Union - State Public Services Federation Group, Submission 230, p4 : "… long term detachment from the workforce results in … negative effects on retirement incomes and shifting women from contributing to the taxation system to being reliant on the welfare system".

355. Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria, Submission 242, p4; see also YWCA of Australia, Submission 228, p4.

356. Superannuation was also identified as a critical issue at the union consultation, Brisbane, 24 April 2002.

357. YWCA of Victoria, Submission 127, p15.

358. Women's Economic Policy Analysis Unit, Curtin University of Technology, Submission 98, p10.

359. Women's Economic Policy Analysis Unit, Curtin University of Technology, Submission 98, p11 (emphasis in original).

360. See, for example, Women's Economic Policy Analysis Unit, Curtin University of Technology, Submission 98, p18; Community Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation Group, Submission 230, p10; Chris Van Der Wijngaart, Submission 35, p1.

361. The study was conducted by S Austen, T Jefferson and A Preston in 2001 for the Women's Policy Office, Western Australia Government. It can be found at Women and Retirement Income: Issues and inequities www.cbs.curtin.edu/research/wepau.WEPAUBookII.pdf.

362. Women's Economic Think Tank, Submission 125, p6.

363. Women's Electoral Lobby, Submission 248, p21.

364. Women's Economic Policy Analysis Unit, Curtin University of Technology, Submission 98, p18.

365. Chris Van Der Wijngaart, Submission 35, p1.

366. Work + Family Policy Research Group University of Sydney, Submission 251, p12.

367. See 19.4.

368. See 2.5.5 and Table 2.1.

369. ABS Census 2001, customised tables for George Megalogenis, The Australian newspaper.

370. Work + Family Policy Research Group University of Sydney, Submission 251, p8.

371. Victorian Government, Submission 250, pp7-8.

372. See, for example, Queensland Nurses' Union, Submission 134, p6; Melissa Austin, Submission 149, p3; Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, Submission 108, p3. See also the experience of Westpac Banking Corporation, AMP, Hewlett Packard and SC Johnson set out below.

373. See, for example, Susan Tucker, Submission 187, p1; Angelo Zanatta, Submission 180, p1; Australian Federation of University Women (South Australia) Inc., Submission 179, p2; Australian Nursing Federation, Submission 123, pp7-8; Job Watch Inc., Submission 191, p1; Melissa Austin, Submission 149, p3; National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p9; Labor Council of New South Wales, Submission 218, p5; Queensland Nurses' Union, Submission 134, p6.

374. Australian Nursing Federation, Submission 123 p7.

375. Commonwealth Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business ACCI National Work and Family Award Winners and Finalist: Business benefits of paid maternity leave Commonwealth of Australia Canberra 2001, p2.

376. George Trumbell "Creating a culture that's good for a business" in Ed Davis and Valerie Pratt (eds) Making the Link: Affirmative action and industrial relations No 8 Labour Management Studies Foundation Sydney 1997, 31-33 at 32.

377. Commonwealth Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business ACCI National Work and Family Award Winners and Finalist: Business benefits of paid maternity leave Commonwealth of Australia Canberra 2001, p2.

378. Commonwealth Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business ACCI National Work and Family Award Winners and Finalist: Business benefits of paid maternity leave Commonwealth of Australia Canberra 2001, p2.

379 . Australian Industry Group, Submission 121, p16.

380. See, for example, YWCA of Victoria, Submission 127, p11; Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales, Submission 214, p12; New South Wales Working Women's Centre, Submission 225, p10; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Submission 116F, p1; Queensland Nurses' Union, Submission 134, p6; Victorian Women Lawyers, Submission 137, p5; Karen Bijkersma, Submission 150, p1; Australian Services Union MEU Private Sector Victorian Branch, Submission 153, p2; Women's Studies Research Unit, School of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Submission 48, p3.

381. Work + Family Policy Research Group University of Sydney, Submission 251, p8.

382. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p25.

383. Melissa Austin, Submission 149, p3.

384. Women's Economic Think Tank, Submission 125, p8; see also National Tertiary Education Union, Submission 169, p6.

385. YWCA of Australia, Submission 228, pp13-14.

386. Women's Action Alliance (Australia) Inc., Submission 146, p5. See also Maryse Usher, Submission 65, p1.

387. Gerry Watts, Submission 66, p1.

388. Catherine Hakim Work-Lifestyle Choices in the Twenty-first Century: Preference theory Oxford University Press Oxford 2000.

389. See Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Pregnant and Productive: It's a right not a privilege to work while pregnant HREOC Sydney 1999.

390. The relevant sections are section 5, which defines sex discrimination, and section 7 which concerns discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. See section 7A for discrimination on the ground of family responsibilities. Family responsibilities discrimination is only unlawful under the Sex Discrimination Act where it involves dismissal. Section 14 makes these grounds of discrimination unlawful in the area of employment. The interim paper pointed out that an employer's failure to provide paid maternity leave could arguably be indirect sex discrimination under the Sex Discrimination Act. There have been no cases under the Sex Discrimination Act or comparable legislation where a woman established that a failure to provide paid maternity leave was unlawful sex discrimination. However, such an outcome remains a possibility. For further discussion, see Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave, interim paper 2002 HREOC 2002, p40.

391. See, for example, Schedule 14 clause 12 Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth). This Act only applies to full time and part time employees. Some casual employees may have these rights under federal awards or State legislation.

392. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Annual Report 2001 - 2002 HREOC Sydney 2002, p73. This is a significant increase from the previous year's complaints, in which pregnancy and family responsibilities discrimination made up 18 per cent of all complaints to HREOC under the Sex Discrimination Act: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Annual Report 2000 - 2001 HREOC Sydney 2001, p73. Note that, in addition, many complaints of family responsibilities are brought as indirect sex discrimination complaints under the Sex Discrimination Act.

393. Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales, Submission 214, p10.

394. Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales, Submission 214, p10.

395. New South Wales Working Women's Centre, Submission 225, p9. See also YWCA of Australia, Submission 228, p6: "The YWCA urges the government to recognise the barriers that prevent women from full participation in the workforce, including direct and indirect workplace discrimination."

396. Queensland Working Women's Service, Submission 219, p5.

397. Work + Family Policy Research Group University of Sydney, Submission 251, p6.

398. New South Wales Public Service Association, Submission 110, p3.

399. Independent Education Union of Australia, Submission 204, p5.

400. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Submission 197, p28.

401. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Submission 197, p28.

402. Joan Williams Unbending Gender: Why work and family conflict and what to do about it Oxford University Press New York 2000, p2.

403. Union Research Centre on Organisation and Technology, Submission 254, p2.

404. Union Research Centre on Organisation and Technology, Submission 254, p4 citing I Wolcott and H Glezer Work and Family Lives: Achieving integration Australian Institute of Family Studies Melbourne 1995, p14.

405. See 6.6.

406. Marty Grace, Submission 151, pp1-2.

407. Joan Williams Unbending Gender: Why work and family conflict and what to do about it Oxford University Press New York 2000, p3.

408. Karen Simmer, Submission 72, p3.

409. Community and Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation Group, Submission 230, p2.

410. Australian Council of Trade Unions, Submission 208, p6. Also raised at union consultation, Brisbane, 24 April 2002.

411. YWCA of Victoria, Submission 127, p5.

412. National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 128B, p1.

413. H Colley, Submission 143, p1.

414. National Tertiary Education Union, Submission 169, p3.

415. Australian Services Union MEU Private Sector Victorian Branch, Submission 154, p2.

416. Primary school teacher quoted in Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p12. Also raised at employers consultation, Hobart, 27 June 2002.

417. See also the discussion of paid maternity leave as an equality issue: Chapter 8.

418. ABS 6361.0 Survey of Employment Arrangements and Superannuation April - June 2000 unpublished data.

419. ABS 6361.0 Survey of Employment Arrangements and Superannuation April - June 2000 unpublished data.

420. ABS 6361.0 Survey of Employment Arrangements and Superannuation April - June 2000 unpublished data.

421. South Australian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Submission 71, p3.

422. HREOC Interview 3, August 2002.

423. Lyn Collins and Barbara Pocock, Submission 232, p7 (emphasis in original).444. HREOC Interview 24, September 2002.

425. See, for example, New South Wales Working Women's Centre, Submission 225, p8. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Melbourne, 31 May 2002.

426. BPW New South Wales, Submission 118, p2.

427. Union consultation, Hobart, 27 June 2002. Other submissions also stressed the increased status for women as a reason for introducing paid maternity leave. See National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p9: "The provision of PML will provide a stronger legitimation of women's continued participation in paid work after childbirth. This support will contribute to reduced pregnancy and maternity discrimination (as will increased rates of return of women to their jobs)."

428. Immigrant Women's Speakout Association New South Wales Inc., Submission 158, p3.

429. Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria, Submission 242, pp4-5.

430. New South Wales Working Women's Centre, Submission 225, p13: This submission also cites J C Altman and B Hunter The Geographic Distribution of Unemployment-Related Benefits and CDEP Scheme Employment CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 112 Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research Australian National University Canberra 1996 and New South Wales Working Women's Centre Report of the Indigenous Women's Project 1999.

431. South Australian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Submission 71, p2.

432. Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, Submission 153, p2.

433. Hawke Institute, Submission 174, p4.

434. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p17.

435. BPW International, Submission 82, p1; See also BPW Australia, Submission 148, p6.

436. See 2.4.7.

437. Mothers of In(ter)vention, Submission 104, p2. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Melbourne, 31 May 2002; employers consultation, Canberra, 17 June 2002. See 5.4 and 11.3 for further discussion.

438. Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, Submission 173, p5.

439. Australian Business Industrial, Submission 119, p5.

440. Australian Business Industrial, Submission 119, p5. This submission reported on a survey of members of the organisation which revealed a wide array of family friendly policies provided, p14.

441. Illawarra Forum Inc. and Illawarra Women's Health Centre, Submission 162, p4. Also raised in employers consultation, Canberra, 17 June 2002.

442. Employers consultation, Melbourne, 30 May 2002.

443. BPW Australia, Submission 148, p12; See also Australian Council of Trade Unions, Submission 208, p13; see also Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales, Submission 214, p13; New South Wales Working Women's Centre, Submission 225, p10; Victorian Government, Submission 250, p1; Women's Council, Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia), Submission 100, p2; see also Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, Submission 217, p2; Australian Federation of University Women - Victoria, Submission 101, p2.

444. Preamble Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women GA Res 180 (XXXIV 1970), 19 ILM 33 (1980).

445. Preamble Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women GA Res 180 (XXXIV 1970), 19 ILM 33 (1980).

446. See article 11(2) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women GA Res 180 (XXXIV 1970), 19 ILM 33 (1980) and the Maternity Protection Convention 2000 (No 183). See also YWCA of Victoria, Submission 127, 4-5; Centre for Applied Social Research RMIT University, Submission 234, p7.

447. Maternity Protection Convention 2000 (No 183).

448. Philip Gammage, Submission 91, p3.

449. Centre for Applied Social Research RMIT University, Submission 234, p8 citing S Charlesworth "Working Mums: The construction of women workers in the banking industry" (1999) 4 (2) Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies 12.

450. Queensland Working Women's Service, Submission 219, p5.

451. Work/Life Association, Submission 171, p9 (emphasis in original).

452. National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 68, p1 (emphasis in original). See also the Hawke Institute, Submission 174, p2 and Australian Services Union South Australia and Northern Territory, Submission 189, p4.

453. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Submission 116A, p1.

454. Women's groups and community consultation, Darwin, 5 June 2002.

455. See, for example, Adoptive Families Association of the Australian Capital Territory Inc., Submission 115, p2; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Submission 116A, p1, 116C, p1, 116H, p1; Australian Nursing Federation, Submission 123, p6; Queensland Nurses' Union, Submission 134, p6; National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 68, p1; Flight Attendants' Association of Australia, Submission 139, p1; Melissa Austin, Submission 149, p2; Australian Services Union MEU Private Sector Victorian Branch, Submission 154, p2; Immigrant Women's Speakout Association of New South Wales Inc., Submission 158, p8; EMILY's List, Submission 159, p2; Illawarra Forum Inc. and Illawarra Women's Health Centre, Submission 162, p2; Victorian Independent Education Union, Submission 163, p3; Women's Studies Research Unit, School of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Submission 48, p2; Women's Health in the North, Submission 60, p2; Union of Australian Women, Submission 89, p1; National Tertiary Education Union, Submission 169, p3; Work/Life Association, Submission 171, p9.

456. Coles Myer Ltd, Submission 107, p7.

457. Lyn Collins and Barbara Pocock, Submission 232, p3.

458. YWCA of Victoria, Submission 127, p12. Also raised at union consultation, Canberra, 16 July 2002, where it was stated that: "[s]ome of our employers are offering women to take long service leave before the time of birth. Although this helps them and extends the period of time they have off, it is not what long service leave is for. It's meant to be a time to recharge batteries".

459. Women's Studies Research Unit, School of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Submission 48, p2.

460. Centre for Applied Social Research RMIT University, Submission 234, p8.

461. H Colley, Submission 142, p4.

462. Women's Action Alliance (Australia) Inc., Submission 146, p6.

463. See 13.4.2 for further discussion.

464. Marty Grace, Submission 151, p4.

465. See, for example, National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 68, p6; Centre for Applied Social Research RMIT University, Submission 234, p11.

466. Women's groups and community consultation, Adelaide, 14 June 2002.

467. UNICEF Why Make a Special Case for Children? www.unicef.org/crc/specialcase.htm.

468. Articles 5 and 18 Convention on the Rights of the Child GA Res 44/25 (1989).

469. Preamble Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women GA Res 180 (XXXIV 1970), 19 ILM 33 (1980).

470. Rosemary Freney, Submission 80, p1; See also, for example, Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, Submission 173, p12.

471. New South Wales Working Women's Centre, Submission 225 p10; See also Australian Federation of University Women Inc., Submission 202, p1.

472. Karen Bijkersma, Submission 150, p2.

473. See, for example, Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, Submission 108, p4; Australian Services Union MEU Private Sector Victorian Branch, Submission 154, p1; Isobel Gawler, Submission 235, p1; Kate Purcell and Tim O'Reilly, Submission 20, p1; Mothers of In(ter)vention, Submission 104, p3-4; Queensland Council of Unions, Submission 239, p8; Women's Policy Research Unit, School of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Submission 48, p3; YWCA of Australia, Submission 228, p15. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Hobart, 25 June 2002.

474. Women's Action Alliance (Australia) Inc., Submission 146, p3.

475. Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria, Submission 240, p2.

476. HREOC Interview 17, 12 September 2002.

477. See, for example, Marty Grace, Submission 151, p2; Rosemary Freney, Submission 80, p1; Work + Family Research Group University of Sydney, Submission 251, p6; Karen Bijkersma, Submission 150, p1; South Australian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Submission 71, p2; Women's Action Alliance (Australia) Inc., Submission 146, p5. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Canberra, 8 July 2002.

478. Immigrant Women's Speakout Association New South Wales Inc., Submission 158, p12. See also discussion at 11.3.2 and 14.4.3.

479. Women's Economic Think Tank, Submission 125, p3. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Perth, 20 June 2002.

480. Work + Family Research Group University of Sydney, Submission 251, p7.

481. Australian Industry Group, Submission 121, p13. See also Women's Economic Think Tank, Submission 125, p8; Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p12; Immigrant Women's Speakout Association New South Wales Inc., Submission 158, p12.

482. Australian Capital Territory Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, Submission 120, p4. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Brisbane, 24 May 2002.

483. See, for example, union consultation, Adelaide, 1 July 2002; women's groups and community consultation, Perth, 20 June 2002.

484. CSIRO Staff Association, Submission 226, p6.

485. Women's groups and community consultation, Brisbane, 24 May 2002.

486. New South Wales EEO Practitioners' Association, Submission 77, p7. See also CSIRO Staff Association, Submission 226, p5; YWCA of Australia, Submission 228, p11.

487. Australian Family Association, Submission 114, p3.

488. ABS 3301.0 Births Australia 2001, p6.

489. Francis G Castles "The world turned upside down: Below replacement fertility, changing preferences and family friendly public policy in 21 OECD countries" unpublished paper 2002 (forthcoming (2003) 13 Journal of European Social Policy), p67.

490. ABS 3301.0 Births Australia 2000, p6.

491. ABS 4102.0 Australian Social Trends 2002, pp37-40.

492. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p6.

493. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p6.

494. For a further discussion of current trends in fertility see Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave, interim paper 2002 HREOC Sydney 2002, p61.

495. Women's Council, Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia), Submission 100, p2.

496. See Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave, interim paper 2002 HREOC Sydney 2002, p61.

497. Sandra Wills, Submission 29, p1.

498. Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria, Submission 242, p3.

499. Confidential, Submission 181, p1. See also C Harvey, Submission 238, p1; 6.3.

500. See Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave, interim paper 2002 HREOC Sydney 2002, p61. See also 2.4.3.

501. See, for example, CSIRO Staff Association, Submission 226, p8; Law Institute of Victoria, Submission 215, p2.

502. See, for example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Submission 116E, p1; Australian Council of Trade Unions, Submission 208, p12; Coles Myer Ltd, Submission 107, p9; Paul Russell, Submission 184 p1; Recruitment and Consulting Services Association, Submission 220, p2; R and N Cornhill, Submission 131, p5; Queensland Nurses' Union, Submission 134, p2.

503. See, for example, South Australian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Submission 71, p2.

504. Guy Witcomb, Submission 5, p1.

505. See, for example, Coles Myer Ltd, Submission 107, p9.

506. Australian Industry Group, Submission 121, p12 citing the Australian Industry Group How Fast Can Australia Grow? Mark II Australian Industry Group Discussion Paper December 2000, p8.

507. See, for example, Motor Trade Association of South Australia Inc., Submission 142, p2; Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, letter accompanying Submission 112, p1.

508. Festival of Light, Submission 102, p1.

509. Victorian Government, Submission 250, p1.

510. See, for example, Peter McDonald "Work-family policies are the right approach to the prevention of low fertility" (2001) 9 (3) People and Place 17-27 at 24-26, which argues that family policy can make a difference to family formation and fertility.

511. Victorian Women Lawyers, Submission 137, p6.

512. Coles Myer Ltd, Submission 107, p9. See also Eleanor Wilson, Submission 133 p3; Law Institute of Victoria, Submission 215 p2; Public Service Association of South Australia Inc., Submission 198, p1.

513. Women's Electoral Lobby, Submission 248, p17.

514. Karen Bijkersma, Submission 150, p1. See also, for example, Susan Tucker, Submission 187, p1; Australian Federation of University Women (South Australia) Inc., Submission 179, p2; Belinda Fischer, Submission 246, p1; BPW Adelaide East, Submission 178B, p1: "[paid maternity leave] will encourage population growth within a statistically well educated and/or high work value population which traditionally has a lower birth rate than a socially more dependant population"; C Harvey, Submission 238, p1; Confidential, Submission 181, p1; Graham Evans, Submission 15, p1; Jill Johnson, Submission 62, p1; John Patterson, Submission 21, p1; Martje McKenzie, Submission 9, p1; National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p9: "[p]aid maternity leave is likely to improve the prospects of some women and families being able to have a second child"; National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 68, p1; New South Wales Public Service Association, Submission 110, p4.

515. CSIRO Staff Association, Submission 226, p8. See also Melissa Austin, Submission 149, p9.

516. Francis G Castles "The world turned upside down: Below replacement fertility, changing preferences and family friendly public policy in 21 OECD countries" unpublished paper 2002 (forthcoming (2003) 13 Journal of European Social Policy), p25.

517. Francis G Castles "The world turned upside down: Below replacement fertility, changing preferences and family friendly public policy in 21 OECD countries" unpublished paper 2002 (forthcoming (2003) 13 Journal of European Social Policy), pp32-33.

518. See, for example, Victorian Women Lawyers, Submission 137, p6; Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia Ltd, Submission 117, p1; Motor Traders' Association of New South Wales, Submission 141, p5; Motor Trade Association of South Australia Inc., Submission 142, p1; Melissa Austin, Submission 149, p9. This issue was also raised at the employers consultation, Melbourne, 30 May 2002.

519. See 11.2 for further discussion on the need for a suite of measures.

520. Council for Equal Opportunity in Employment Ltd, Submission 252, p2. See, for example, Susan Tucker, Submission 187, p2; Australian Council of Trade Unions, Submission 208, p12; Australian Institute of Family Studies, Submission 113, pp3-4; Australian Nursing Federation, Submission 123, p12; Coles Myer Ltd, Submission 107, p6; Confidential, Submission 14, p2; National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p9; Paul Russell, Submission 184, p1; Penny Stewart, Submission 31, p1; Printing Industries Association, Submission 172, p8; South Australian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Submission 71, p2; Women's Council, Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia), Submission 100, p2.

521. National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 128B, p2. See also Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, Submission 112, p7; Motor Traders' Association of New South Wales, Submission 141, p2; Susan Tucker, Submission 187, p7; Confidential, Submission 168, p3; Australian Business Industrial, Submission 119, p6.

522. For example, the Australian Mines and Metals Association suggested that immigration policy should be included in any consideration of means addressing the ageing of the population: Australian Mines and Metals Association, Submission 130, p2. The International Adoptive Parents Association considered that "… adoption should be encouraged as a way of forming families": International Adoptive Parents Association, Submission 145, p2.

523. See 6.7 for further discussion.

524. The business case argument outlining why individual employers should provide paid maternity leave is not included in this paper as an employer funded scheme of paid maternity leave is not a recommended proposal. For a full discussion on the business case for paid maternity leave however, see Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave, interim paper 2002 HREOC Sydney 2002, pp56-57.

525. Kerry Brown and Rachel Wynd "Australian employers' motivations for providing paid maternity leave" in Di Kelly (ed) Crossing Borders: Employment, work markets and social justice across time, discipline and place Papers from the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand Conference 2001 AIRAANZ Wollongong 2001 volume 1, pp357-363 at p362.

526. Women make up 44 per cent of the overall labour force according to ABS 6203.0 Labour Force Australia August 2001, 26. See also the discussion in New South Wales Labor Council, Submission 218, p5.

527. ABS 3301.0 Births Australia 2000, 16. The median age for first births for women is now 30 years: ABS Births Australia 2001, p6.

528. See, for example, Karen Bijkersma, Submission 150, p1.

529. Public Service Association of South Australia Inc., Submission 198, p2.

530. Victorian Women Lawyers, Submission 137, p6.

531. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p15.

532. Employers consultation, Adelaide, 13 June 2002.

533. See Chapter 5 for a general discussion of the health and wellbeing objectives of paid maternity leave.

534. Employers consultation, Adelaide, 13 June 2002.

535. Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union Vehicle Division Statement in Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, Submission 237, pp18-19.

536. Australian Retailers Association, Submission 165, p16.

537. Law Institute of Victoria, Submission 215, p2.

538. See Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave, interim paper 2002 HREOC Sydney 2002, pp18-23. See also 3.3 on existing maternity leave arrangements.

539. See 7.4.

540. See Chapter 7 for further discussion on how paid maternity leave can address the workplace disadvantage experienced by women.

541. See 19.4.

542. See 19.4.

543. Law Institute of Victoria, Submission 215, p2.

544. Cited in Victorian Women Lawyers, Submission 137, pp5-6.

545. Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p29.

546. See, for example, the Queensland Nurses' Union, Submission 134, p6; Australian Nursing Federation, Submission 123, p6. Also raised at union consultation, Darwin, 7 June 2002.

547. See, for example, Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, Submission 108, p3; Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University, Submission 234, p8; New South Wales Public Service Association, Submission 110 p4; Victorian Government, Submission 250, p8; Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p4, p29.

548. See, for example, National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 128B, p2.

549. Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, Submission 108, pp3-4. See also New South Wales Public Service Association, Submission 110, p4; Victorian Government, Submission 250, p8; Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p4; Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p29. Also raised at employers consultation, Perth, 20 June 2002.

550. National Pay Equity Coalition, Submission 224, p9.

551. See, for example, the Australian Federation of University Women (Inc.), Submission 202, p2. See also 6.7 for a discussion on the benefits of labour force attachment for women.

552. Australian Council of Trade Unions, Submission 208, p8.

553. Council for Equal Opportunity in Employment Ltd, Submission 252, p2; see also Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Submission 116E, p1.

554. Victorian Government, Submission 250, p7.

555. Australian Nursing Federation, Submission 123, p6. Also raised at employers consultation, Canberra, 17 June 2002.

556. Union consultation, Perth, 21 June 2002.

557. Melissa Austin, Submission 149, p3.

558. Martje McKenzie, Submission 9, p1.

559. See 2.4.3 for further discussion on the trends in women's education.

560. Australian Council of Trade Unions, Submission 208, p10 citing National Centre for Vocational Education Research Australian Vocational Education and Training Statistics 2000: Women in VET 2000 at a glance National Centre for Vocational Education Research Adelaide 2001.

561. National Centre for Vocational Education Research Australian Vocational Education and Training Statistics 2000: Women in VET 2000 at a glance National Centre for Vocational Education Research Adelaide 2001, p2.

562. ABS 4102.0 Australian Social Trends 2001, p92.

563. HREOC Interview 6, August 2002.

564. See, for example, Australian Capital Territory Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, Submission 120, p7; Australian Council of Trade Unions, Submission 208, p10; New South Wales Public Service Association, Submission 110, p4; Patricia Todd and Judy Skene, Submission 176, p2.

565. Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p4.

566. This was particularly the case in relation to securing women's long term economic security, see Chapter 6, and delivering equality, see Chapter 8. However consensus was that a minimum period of paid maternity leave on its own would deliver significant benefits for the health and wellbeing of mothers and infants.

567. Australian Catholic Commission for Employment Relations, Submission 194, p2 (emphasis in original).

568. Finance Sector Union, Submission 161, p4. See also Marty Grace, Submission 151, p4: "[f]ourteen weeks of paid maternity leave will not bring gender equity to this country. Even with paid maternity leave, it will still be unreasonable to expect one person to look after a baby, wash, cook, clean and shop for a household seven days a week without breaks. We will still have all the problems with finding high quality affordable childcare and women's double shift of work at work and work at home when they return to employment."

569. Philip Gammage, Submission 91, p2 (emphasis in original). See also, for example, Susan Tucker, Submission 187, p1: "I believe paid maternity leave is a small part, and the least cost[ly] option in a range of initiatives the Government could make if serious about retaining women in the Australian workforce and increasing the population of Australia" and National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 68, p7: "[i]t needs to be recognised that a single policy is unlikely to adequately address all of these challenges and a host of initiatives, including affordable, accessible, high quality childcare, needs to be developed" (emphasis removed from original).

570. Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, letter accompanying Submission 112, p2.

571. Australian Business Industrial, Submission 119, p5.

572. Women's Council, Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia), Submission 100, p1.

573. BPW Australia, Submission 148, p12.

574. See also 9.2 and 9.5.

575. Women's Action Alliance (Australia) Inc., Submission 146, p3 (emphasis in original).

576. Eleanor Wilson, Submission 133, p5 (emphasis in original).

577. Mothers of In(ter)vention, Submission 104, p2.

578. Marty Grace, Submission 151, p5.

579. Australian Family Association, Submission 92, p1; Festival of Light, Submission 102, p3; Endeavour Forum, Submission 144, p1.

580. M Barkley Work and Home Commitments: Some issues for Australian parents Paper presented at the Fourth Australian Family Research Conference Sydney 1993.

581. Marty Grace, Submission 151, p4.

582. Mothers of In(ter)vention, Submission 104, p2.

583. Marty Grace, Submission 151, pp4-5.

584. Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, Submission 173, p6. See also Finance Sector Union, Submission 161, part 2, p2.

585. University of Melbourne Postgraduate Association, Submission 76, p1.

586. Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p3.

587. Australian Industry Group, Submission 121, p25.

588. Australian Nursing Federation, Submission 123, p12. Also raised at employers consultation, Sydney, 12 June 2002.

589. Union of Australian Women, Submission 89, p2 (emphasis removed from original). See also EMILY's List, Submission 159, p3: "[f]lexible work options with a focus on quality part time work that would include the opportunity to move full and part time work, as well as access to training and opportunities for promotion, are also important. And for true equality for women, pay equity is certainly a must."

590. Finance Sector Union, Submission 161, p3 (footnotes omitted).

591. D Purcell, Submission 90, p1.

592. Women's Council, Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia), Submission 100, p2.

593. For an outline of some of these points see Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry "Overtime and Working Hours - The Facts" Press Release 23 September 2002.

594. Reasonable Hours Test Case Australian Industrial Relations Commission Print 072002 23 July 2002.

595. Minister Tony Abbott "Test Case Outcome Welcome" Media release 23 July 2002.

596. For further details see www.kellyservices.com.au.

597. Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University, Submission 234, p11.

598. Australian Retailers Association, Submission 165, p8. See also National Farmers' Federation, Submission 160, p15; Motor Trade Association of South Australia Inc., Submission 142, p2.

599. Women's Action Alliance (Australia) Inc., Submission 146, p2.

600. Hawke Institute, Submission 174, p6.

601. See Schedule 1A, section 14 Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth).

602. Union consultation, Sydney, 3 July 2002.

603. Independent Education Union of Australia, Submission 204, p8.

604. Depending on the circumstances, this may be direct or indirect sex discrimination in employment under the Sex Discrimination Act, or possible dismissal on the ground of family responsibilities if the woman has to leave the position as a result.

605. See, for example, Thomson v Orica Aust Pty Ltd [2002] FCA 939 (30 July 2002); Gibbs v Australian Wool Corporation (1990) EOC 92-327; Hickie v Hunt & Hunt (1998) EOC 92-910.

606. Australian Services Union MEU Private Sector Victorian Branch, Submission 154, p6.

607. United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry New Employment Legislation: Flexible Working - the Right to Apply www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual/flexible-p1516.htm.

608. Work/Life Association, Submission 171, p10.

609. Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, Submission 173, p3.

610. Coles Myer Ltd, Submission 107, p3. Note that Coles Supermarkets also provides 26 weeks unpaid parental leave to employees with 6 months continuous employment.

611. See, for example, Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p3.

612. Australian Education Union, Submission 122, p2.

613. Independent Education Union of Australia, Submission 204, p8.

614. Australian Council of Trade Unions Maternity Leave: Test Case to build on maternity leave, 18 October 2002 www.actu.asn.au/public/campaigns/maternity/wftestcase.html.

615. For example, 75 separate submissions raised the issue of childcare, almost all in support of increased access and affordability. It was raised as an issue in the majority of consultations. See, for example, Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce and Industry consultation, Darwin, 7 June 2002; union consultation, Perth, 21 June 2002.

616. Australian Retailers Association, Submission 165, p2.

617. EMILY's List, Submission 159, p3.

618. Mothers of In(ter)vention, Submission 104, p2.

619. Australian Industry Group, Submission 121, p26.

620. Motor Traders' Association of New South Wales, Submission 141, p2. See also Motor Trade Association of South Australia Inc., Submission 142, p2 (emphasis in original): "we agree [with sister organisations] that childcare and retraining needs should also be examined by governments before implementing any form of social welfare benefit".

621. Cathy Sherry, Submission 205, p3.

622. Maryse Usher, Submission 65, p1. Australian Family Association, Submission 92, also expressed concern about support for childcare.

623. Confidential, Submission 14, p2.

624. Women's Council, Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia), Submission 100, p1.

625. See, for example, Northern Territory Trades and Labor Council, Submission 84, p1; Verlaine Bell, Submission 19, pp1,2. See also employers consultation, Canberra, 17 June 2002.

626. Union consultation, Sydney, 3 July 2002.

627. Verlaine Bell, Submission 19, p1.

628. Women's Council, Liberal Party of Australia (South Australia), Submission 100, p2.

629. Victorian Women Lawyers, Submission 137, p6.

630. Australian Business Industrial, Submission 119, p6 (emphasis removed from original).

631. Printing Industries Association, Submission 172, p10 (emphasis in original).

632. See, for example, Salt Shakers, Submission 109, p1; Patrick Healy, Submission 175, p1; Diane McGill, Submission 182, p1.

633. See, for example, Paul Russell, Submission 184, p1; Agnes and Matt Furlong, Submission 188, p1.

634. Festival of Light, Submission 102, p3.

635. Australian Family Association, Submission 92, cover letter.

636. Endeavour Forum, Submission 144, p1.

637. For a contrary position, see Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia Ltd, Submission 117, p1: "[i]ncentives need to be established to encourage a parent to be a primary care giver. This could be by tax breaks, (income splitting) government paid allowances (eg paid maternity leave) out of social security which is not means tested."

638. Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, Submission 112, p4; Individual response provided through the National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 128C, p1. Also raised at women's groups and community consultation, Brisbane, 24 May 2002.

639. Motor Traders' Association of New South Wales, Submission 141, p4.

640. Australian Mines and Metals Association, Submission 255, p16.

641. Australian Mines and Metals Association, Submission 255, p14.

642. Australian Mines and Metals Association, Submission 255, p17. See also Australian Business Industrial, Submission 119, p5.

643. National Women's Council of South Australia, Submission 68, pp6-7.

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A Time to Value - Part C

Archived

A Time to Value - Proposal for a National Paid Maternity Leave Scheme

Part C: The Benefits

4. Overview

5. Health and wellbeing of mothers, babies and their families

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Health and wellbeing of mothers

5.2.1 Introduction

5.2.2 Physical health

5.2.3 Physical effects of early return to work

5.2.4 Fatigue

5.2.5 Functionality

5.2.6 Method of birth

5.2.7 Mental health

5.2.8 Breastfeeding

5.3 Health and wellbeing of babies

5.3.1 Breastfeeding

5.3.2 Bonding

5.4 Emotional wellbeing for the father

5.5 Conclusion

6. Economic security

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Financial support at the time of childbirth

6.3 Income replacement

6.4 The costs of children

6.5 Women's lifetime earnings

6.6 Superannuation and retirement incomes for women

6.7 Labour force attachment

6.8 Conclusion

7. Addressing workplace disadvantage

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Sex discrimination in employment

7.3 Women's workplace disadvantage

7.4 Fairness for all employees

7.5 Balancing work and family responsibilities

7.6 Conclusion

8. Equality

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Paid maternity leave as an equality issue

8.3 Arguments against equality objectives for paid maternity leave

8.4 Conclusion

9. Social benefits

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Valuing motherhood and children

9.3 Valuing the dual role of women in society

9.4 Cultural change in the workplace

9.5 Fertility

9.5.1 Introduction

9.5.2 Current trends in fertility

9.5.3 The effects of declining fertility

9.5.4 Paid maternity leave and the fertility rate

9.6 Conclusion

10. Benefits to employers and the economy

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Benefits to individual employers

10.3 Benefits to specific industries

10.4 Economic benefits to the broader economy

10.4.1 Introduction

10.4.2 Maintaining a high quality and competitive labour force

10.4.3 Attracting skilled labour

10.4.4 Maximising the return on education and training

10.5 Conclusion

11. Outstanding issues

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Paid maternity leave as one of a "suite of measures"

11.3 "Men's work" and "women's work"

11.3.1 Introduction

11.3.2 Valuing motherhood and women's unpaid work

11.3.3 Men's work and paternity leave

11.4 Developing family friendly workplaces

11.4.1 Introduction

11.4.2 Flexible work arrangements

11.4.3 Family friendly working hours

11.4.4 Further research on work and family issues

11.5 Return to work issues

11.5.1 Introduction

11.5.2 Right to return to full time or part time work

11.5.3 Extended maternity leave and family leave