Women

Elderly care the next hurdle for women

From Workplace Express

The "double shift" borne by women who combine paid work with a disproportionate amount of domestic tasks is likely to become a "triple shift" as they have to also take on elder care, Sex Discrimination Commission Pru Goward warned today as she launched a new discussion paper on better sharing of paid and unpaid work between men and women.

She says this "sandwich generation" of women is being squeezed between the demands of caring for children and caring for ageing parents.

Addressing the unequal division of paid and unpaid work is critical, Goward says, to boosting female labour force participation.

"Without the ability to share more unpaid work with their partners, women will not be able to increase their participation in paid work, necessary if we are to boost workforce participation rates".

As demographic forces push Australians into "a greater work effort", this will increase the tension over unpaid work, says Goward.

"Suddenly who does the washing and ironing, who looks after the children and who cares for ageing parents become questions of national significance."

"It means the sometimes tired work and family debate is not simply a 'women's issue'.

"Although, have no doubt, it is an issue for gender equality."

Goward makes it clear that women are not the only casualties of the current work and family regime. Men who work long paid hours are "denied many of the rewards and responsibilities of family life", while women working long unpaid hours miss out on the rewards and responsibilities of public life, particularly in terms of self-esteem and economic self-sufficiency.

The work and family debate, she says, must encompass the "experiences and attitudes" of men, or the work and family balance will continue to be framed as a concern of "women only", with men characterised as the secondary parent and women continuing to be subject to workplace discrimination because of their sex and family responsibilities. While that paradigm dominates, men will continue to be locked into the breadwinner role and be denied the opportunity for workplace flexibility and part-time work that would allow them to perform more unpaid caring work, she says.

Goward says that while women and men express strong support for egalitarian values, "there is a gap between belief and reality in many Australian households", with women still bearing the bulk of the domestic burden (though she acknowledges part of this is a result of men bearing more of the burden of paid work).

Unpaid caring work follows a similar pattern, with women again performing the lion's share.

The paper, Striking the balance: Women, men, work and family, launched in Sydney today, explores the reasons for gender imbalance in paid and unpaid work and poses 45 questions on which HREOC would like feedback .

HREOC is specifically seeking input on whether the Workplace Relations Act should be amended to address workplace disadvantages men and women face in dealing with their family responsibilities. The paper also asks whether men make sufficient use of the workplace relations system to balance their paid work and family responsibilities.

It is also seeking feedback on whether the Sex Discimination Act needs changes to help both genders deal with their work and family responsibilities. The paper goes further and asks for feedback on whether a system based on individual complaints can properly deal with family responsibilities discrimination.

HREOC says the paper marks a shift in its focus, after a recent emphasis on barriers faced by working women while pregnant and in the early stages of parenting.

It is seeking submissions by September 30 to familyresponsibilities@humanrights.gov.au.

Striking the balance: Women, men, work and family, HREOC discussion paper, June 2005

Striking the balance website

© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/latest_news/general/20050623_equity.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005