Submissions

I don’t have the time to respond to questions in full, but would like to offer the following on what would help us “strike the balance”.

Background:

My background will help understand my response:

1. Married mother of two children aged 5 and 7
2. Currently work part-time for Australian based “family friendly” consulting firm
3. Both my husband’s parents and my parents worked fulltime in salaried jobs throughout our upbringing
4. Both my husband and I are Uni-educated. We have both had times of being house-spouse, Richard before we had children, me after.
5. We lived in Norway for 18 months.
6. Of my school friends and sisters-in-law, all of whom did well academically, 2 are the main breadwinner in their family, 1 has recently had to put her career on hold to care for their disabled children, and 2 are fulltime house-spouses having children after establishing a career. (I think it would be interesting just to do research on my friends and family!)
7. My husband and I are both fairly committed to issues of work-life balance, and aim for us both to share parenting
8. My career has involved working for multinationals IBM and PwC, both of whom had work-life balance policies.

Some points to consider:

1. Thank you for work done on “Striking the Balance” and the opportunity to respond. A well-written, well-researched paper on a timely topic.
2. I agree with the paper’s discussion on “unpaid work” being one of the main issues in striking the balance. The question for me personally is why in our household, I feel guilty if I am away from family, whereas my husband merely misses the family. This seems to be a recurring theme amongst my friends. Their partners are involved, committed, caring, supportive with children, and they help. But they don’t take the responsibility. None of us are entirely sure why that is. Any answers…please let me know!
3. My husband and my experience in professional careers is that it enshrines a “single breadwinner model”. This has become even more pronounced with “globalisation”. For example, when I started working for PwC local offices were relatively autonomous, reporting back to a central group. In the Brisbane office, employees were encouraged to be good generalists to keep up a steady flow of work in the local market. In the 90’s it globalised. The model for an employee became “specialise or die”. Target customers became the top national and global firms, and these paid a premium for specialists. Specialists were then moved around to wherever the speciality was required. Most people in this type of work would be travelling extensively and working long hours. Despite work-life policies it would be very difficult for a family to sustain 2 such careers and be actively involved in family. If a couple had 2 careers before children, it is hard on both afterwards. One gives up their career entirely, the other is under pressure to perform because the other has sacrificed their career.
4. Part-time work CAN work, and doesn’t have to be a career backwater. The company I work for are very good at supporting flexible arrangements, have been awarded for their policies and practices, and are also recognised for growth and profitability. I think there needs to be more dialogue and public recognition of how flexible practices can (and can’t) work. Research into best practices and education for organisations would help. For example I think management needs to change to “manage by outcomes”, not “time spent in the office”. Arguably this is better practice anyway. There are some things you should avoid working flexibly and some things both companies and individuals can do to make it work.
5. The policies in these firms are very good. Both my husband and I benefited from paid parental leave and access to part-time work after the children were born. But it is generally the single breadwinner that is rewarded.
6. I think the aim should be for “work-life” balance, not so much “family friendly”. Singles and childless couples need a balance too to be able to be fulfilled people, find partners etc. The community also benefits if people without family can contribute to volunteer organisations, sporting achievements etc.
7. My anecdotal evidence as to why men don’t access parental leave is that it is not widely known that it is a legal entitlement. The other reason is that it is generally unpaid. In PwC, where both men and women could take paid parental leave, the takeup by men was increasing (in my group, 3 men and myself took parental leave in a 2 year period). Interestingly in Norway when we were there, women couldn’t get their full maternity leave entitlements unless their partner took some leave as well. An article I read at the time said that one of the unexpected consequences of this was that men were more open to flexible work practices on their return.
8. I think govt legislation can help without being overly intrusive. Swedish friends of ours with a good work-life balance and share of parenting say most of their friends are the same. They think this is because they are allowed to work an 80% work load for several years after their child is born. They say many use this, in combination with different childcare practices, to share parenting. (Childcare is paid per hour, rather than per day as it is here. This seems to encourage one parent starting work early, another later, and swapping for pickup. Not only does it minimise costs, it is probably much better setup for children). A family is probably better off financially doing this, as 2 smaller incomes is better than 1 large income for taxation. Also both parents “keep their hand in” at work.
9. An important consideration for equity, I think, is to encourage women to stay in workforce in some capacity while children are young. I think pay and role inequity is often because women’s confidence and ability to get jobs at the level they had before they took a break is compromised. This has been compounded in the last few years with the rate of technological and structural change in organisations.
10. Childcare. I think nannying needs to be included in supported govt childcare options. When working well, it makes going back to work with young children much easier. Not only is there not the logistical problem of packing kids up to get them out, a childcare centre is not as personal, there is no opportunity to get other unpaid work done (washing, shopping, cooking dinner), and there big impact when kids are sick. Govt support could include accreditation, help in facilitating shared-nanny arrangements and similar subsidies to childcare (means tested). While slightly different, friends who found it impossible to juggle their 2 jobs when in Australia are now very happy living in Botswana where they can manage both, mainly because they have paid domestic help.
11. Both our parents worked, but there are different challenges today. They fought community expectations that mothers shouldn’t work. We don’t get that so much, but our lives seem much fuller. Our parents worked and looked after family. There wasn’t much else. We are involved in P&F groups, want to exercise, travel, socialise etc. Magazines would have us believe we need to look good doing all of this too! i.e. I think our expectations are higher which makes time pressures more critical, which makes it harder to strike a balance. The thing that gives in all this is probably health and wellbeing for the couple.
12. I don’t necessarily agree with the paper’s statement on Hakim’s research i.e. that her theory on women’s choice is limited as women’s choice is limited by their options. It was a big “ah-hah” for me when I read her theories as it resonated so soundly with what I was seeing of the women I was mixing with in playgroups, schools and at work.

I would be happy to contacted for further info on these points.

Natalie Smith