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Submissions


Submission to Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission


Striking the Balance:

Women, men, work and family


August 2005

prepared by

National Policy Office

COTA National Seniors Partnership

ACN 008 483 574

E-mail: NPO@nationalseniors.com.au Web: www.cota.org.au


GRANDPARENTS PLAY A FUNDAMENTAL ROLE IN BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY

COTA National Seniors Partnership (CNSP) is the largest seniors organisation in Australia with over 280,000 individual members and over 800 affiliated organisations. It offers members a vast range of services and benefits and is an influential vehicle for contributing to policy debates affecting seniors in Australia.

CNSP develops policy based on membership input, including through branches and member organization forums and has a pre-eminent role in representing, advocating for, and serving, senior Australians.

CNSP welcomes this opportunity to provide comment on the issues identified in your discussion paper Striking the Balance, Women, Men, work and family, examining family responsibilities and paid work.

With the Australian population ageing rapidly, improved workforce participation of all working age groups becomes more and more crucial for us to prevail against the challenges that Australia is facing. This necessitates not only corresponding changes in government policies, employers’ attitude and improvement of workplace conditions, but also cultural and social changes in the broader community.

We concur with the issues and questions identified in your discussion paper and believe that they are well supported by many other studies, such as recent research studies by Weston (2004), Goodfellow and Laverty (2003), Backhouse and Lucas (2003) and de Vaus, Gray and Stanton (2003). These studies identified a range of issues that are relevant to balancing work and family, particularly to the disincentives to starting a family and what would make it easier for parents who wish to return to the paid workforce. Among the findings, the following appeared to be more significant:

  1. the increased participation rate of females in paid workforce, which has contributed to the delay of childbearing and fewer number of children in a family;
  2. changes in family structure due to divorce and family breakdown that increase financial pressure on parents and the demand for on-going reliable child care, including ad hoc and casual child care that is not available in the current formal child care services or not at an affordable rate; and
  3. social and cultural changes, for instance, life style changes, that put more financial pressure on couples when starting a family as well as increase expectations or demand that will discourage childbearing.

The OECD report Women and work – resolving the riddle1 found that Australia’s comparatively lower level of female workforce participation rate has a positive association with the lower level of support for families with young children and that the high female participation rates in Sweden and the USA can be explained through a range of different policies. Among them, the importance of adequate childcare services appears to be evident. The Swedish model seems to emphasise the development in health care, child care and personal service sectors that have contributed to its achievement of the world top ranking of female workforce participation rate2 . Working parents with young and elderly dependents, who are more likely to be women, need supporting services to maintain their employment status, either part time or full time, and their career development when possible and desirable.

Baxter3 (2005) noted that a high proportion of parents still rely on informal care while they work, even though formal child care in Australia has expanded significantly since the 1970s. The use of formal child care in Australia was ‘very low’ compared to other OECD countries according to an OECD 2001 report. Baxter further stated that the affordability and availability of child care services remain an issue, particularly for young children. This situation has increased the reliance on informal child care, which is often provided by grandparents4 . ABS statistics (1999) indicated that grandparents, as part of regular childcare arrangements, currently care for over 20 percent of children below school age in Australia.

One consequence of increased longevity is that older Australians have more opportunities for intergenerational engagement and availability of family support. Older Australians have, and continue to make, a significant contribution to Australian society in both economic and social terms. CNSP would like to direct your attention to the fundamental role that grandparents play in the younger generation’s balancing work and family through the support they provide to their children.

Backhouse and Lucas (2003) noted that grandparents’ voluntary support in child care and other support, for instance financial assistance, emotional and moral support and practical help around the house, have encouraged and strengthened the younger generations’ commitment to childbearing and increased their confidence and security in their decision-making on starting a family and in managing a balanced family life.

The flexibility and continuity of informal child care they provide is unpaid and often incur costs to themselves but financially benefits their children5 and grandchildren. de Vaus, et al (2003) estimated the economic contributions made by people aged 65 years and over through their time spent in voluntary work, unpaid caring to their family members and non-family members in the wider community at almost $39 billion per year. This rises to $74.5 billion per year if the unpaid contribution of those aged 55-64 years is included.

The projected decrease in working age population in Australia6 and potential labour force shortage as one of the foreseeable consequences of this decrease have been driving many debates on a range of needed changes in government policy, social culture and perceptions and working environment. These changes are required to motivate working age people to participate and remain in the workforce. Should workforce participation rate improve for all age groups in the next decade, the availability of supporting services, such as health care, child care and personal services, will have to be improved to accommodate the needs, in particular families with young and elderly dependents. This will probably further accentuate the significance of grandparents’ role in assisting the younger generation with balancing work and family.

While grandparents’ contribution to the society is yet to be better recognised, there are some emerging issues that need to be considered.

The projected increase in the number of mature aged workers and expected longer stay in the workforce may have an impact on capacity/ability to provide informal care to their family members.

When grandparents have to stay in paid work themselves as well as provide caring responsibilities, it may limit senior Australians’ opportunity or choices of employment as they age, which will have an impact on their retirement income. de Vaus, et al (2003) found that the amount of unpaid household work and child care carried out outside of the household is greatest for those aged 55-64 years and that there may be a positive association between early retirement and the caring responsibilities that this age group carry. This age group, as the so-called ‘sandwich generation”, thus face heavy demands from both the younger and older generations in their family. They may face more challenges in terms of balancing their work and family.

Grandparents, as a major informal source of childcare, require support themselves. The assistance may include educational programs for grandparents in regard to communication with very young children and support available to them in emergency situations.

While grandparents provide various types of support to their adult children, many are in need of care and support themselves. Their children often provide this support. People in the workforce may have various caring responsibilities simultaneously, thus conflicting work and family priorities. Workplaces must recognise that elder care is a growing phenomenon and that it must be given the same status and recognition as childcare needs.

Balancing work and family is crucial for all Australians. To establish a society with well balanced work and family life requires not only favourable and supportive government policies at all levels (a whole of government approach), as identified in many studies including the above mentioned ones, but also a whole of community approach, which may involve:

  • individuals’ adjustment in their attitude to work and family that is dependent on their multidimensional expectations/perceptions, belief and commitment - on the whole, the life they desire to fulfil;
  • improved customer-oriented business culture in household service industry (including household maintenance and utilities) that is willing to provide services according to the demand, particular from parents with young children and heavy work commitment; and
  • effective debates in family values, structures and responsibilities as well as their impact on future generations.

CNSP recommends the Commission consider the following issues:

  • recognition of the fundamental role that grandparents play in enabling parents to balance work and family life;
  • recognition of the economic and social contributions they make through their unpaid work;
  • grandparents’ needs as regular informal carers; and
  • the potential negative economic impact on grandparents (potentially reduced workforce hours and retirement savings) that may occur as a result of care responsibilities.

Bibliography

Goodfellow, J & Laverty 2003, ‘Grandparents supporting working families’, Family Matters No. 66 Spring/Summer 2003

Backhouse, J & Lucas 2003, ‘Social change and its impact on the grandparent role of contemporary Australian grandparents’, Australian institute of Family Studies, viewed 12 April 2005, < http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/afrc8/backhouse.pdf >

Baxter, J 2005, ‘Returning to Work following Childbearing in Australia’, Family Matter, 9 th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, Melbourne, February 2005, < http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/afrc9/baxterje.pdf&gt;

de Vaus, D, Gray, M & Stanton, D 2003, ‘Measuring the value of unpaid household caring and voluntary work of older Australians’, Australian institute of Family Studies web site, viewed 10 April 2005 < http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/respaper/RP34.pdf >

Jaunotte, F, 2005, ‘Women and work – resolving the riddle’, OECD Economics Department, April 2005, viewed 10 August 2005 at OECD Observer, No. 248, March 2005, < http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/1573/Women_and_work.html >

Sweden – the official gateway 2005, Basic Fact Sheet, viewed 10 August 2005 < http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/BasicFactsheet____6048.aspx >

Cassell, R, McNamara, J, Lloyd, R & Harding, A 2005, Perceptions of Child Care Affordability and Availability in Australia: what the HILDA Survey tells us, National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, University of Canberra, paper presented at the 9 th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, Melbourne, 10 February 2005.

Endnotes

[1]OECD Observer No. 248, March 2005, brief on OECD report Women and work – resolving the riddle, by Florence Jaunotte, OECD Economics Department, published April 2005

[2] Sweden – the official gateway (2005) Basic Fact Sheet, available at : http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/BasicFactsheet____6048.aspx

[3] Baxter (2005) Returning to Work following Childbearing in Australia, Family Matter, 9 th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, 9-11 February 2005

[4] Goodfellow, et al (2003) ‘Grandparents supporting working families’, Family Matters No. 66 Spring/Summer 2003, pp14-19

[5] Backhouse and Lucas (2003) Social change and its impact on the grandparent role of contemporary Australian grandparents, available at: http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/afrc8/backhouse.pdf

David de Vaus, Matthew Gray and David Stanton (2003) Measuring the value of unpaid household, caring and voluntary work of older Australians, available at: http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/respaper/RP34.pdf

[6] Productivity Commission (2005) Economic Implications of an Ageing Population, Commonwealth of Australia 2005