I have just emailed the Women's Weekly on this very important subject. "Maternity Leave" Let me know what you think!
Dear Woman’s Weekly,
I am writing in, to put forward some of my thoughts on the great maternity leave debate! I am a mother of two and currently work part-time. With my first child I received no paid maternity leave. I did however receive the first rollout of the baby bonus. I returned to work part-time in between my first and second child, and because the company I had worked for had been taken over by a UK company, I was given 6 weeks maternity leave at a part-time rate.
There are so many reasons that women should be entitled to paid maternity leave. For most absences from work, there is some sort of paid leave and why should having a baby be any different? Firstly I believe that some government professions such as teaching and nursing require staff to work no later than 36 weeks gestation due to legislation/WPHS; their may also be some restrictions on the timeframe for returning to work for these same WPHS reasons.
I would think that most women if given a choice would prefer at the very minimum to not return to work in the first 6-12weeks after the birth of their child, to allow their recovery and to care for their new born. Women are usually not entitled to take any accrued sick leave for their maternity leave absence from work, and whilst they are not sick spend at least 2 days in hospital as a minimum.
Women are forced to use their annual leave and long service leave in the absence of paid maternity leave. Some employers, whilst they offer paid maternity leave, they do not pay the full amount until the employees return to work even though they have given a full year (12months) of service prior to the commencement of maternity leave.
Australia is one of only a few countries in the OECD who don’t offer some sort of Paid Maternity Scheme and although we have had the baby bonus for the last 4 years - this will now be means tested so that many hard working families will not receive this.
I support both stay at home and working mothers. Both of these groups of women work equally hard to nurture the Australian adults of the future. So I propose for stay at home mothers to continue to receive the baby bonus even if it is paid in instalments rather than a lump sum amount and should be equivalent to a minimum of 12 weeks paid leave. For working mums to be - why can’t they receive a tax refund in lieu of the baby bonus equivalent to 12 weeks paid maternity leave? That way it is not seen as a burden to the tax payer but a way to help all Australian families.
In the process this may encourage women to return to the workplaces they are leaving behind and we may even give women the right to choose when they return to the workplace, rather than being forced because of their financial situation. Sadly the majority of many working women’s pay goes towards their hefty childcare fees.
I believe the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA), has told the Productivity Commission's inquiry into paid maternity leave that primary care-givers should be given 28 weeks paid leave, including two weeks before a birth.
Interesting times ahead! And I haven’t even mentioned how difficult it is for women to find part-time work in a professional capacity at the end of their maternity leave or the fact we need a change of mindset from employers for more flexible working arrangements for parents and a more practical approach for the provision of childcare.
Thanks for a great read and please keep us informed on the fight for paid maternity leave in Australia.
PS I read this great article on the ninemsn website - this might be of great interest to your readers:
http://optuszoo.news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=578071&rss=yes&_cobr=optus
I am writing in, to put forward some of my thoughts on the great maternity leave debate! I am a mother of two and currently work part-time. With my first child I received no paid maternity leave. I did however receive the first rollout of the baby bonus. I returned to work part-time in between my first and second child, and because the company I had worked for had been taken over by a UK company, I was given 6 weeks maternity leave at a part-time rate.
There are so many reasons that women should be entitled to paid maternity leave. For most absences from work, there is some sort of paid leave and why should having a baby be any different? Firstly I believe that some government professions such as teaching and nursing require staff to work no later than 36 weeks gestation due to legislation/WPHS; their may also be some restrictions on the timeframe for returning to work for these same WPHS reasons.
I would think that most women if given a choice would prefer at the very minimum to not return to work in the first 6-12weeks after the birth of their child, to allow their recovery and to care for their new born. Women are usually not entitled to take any accrued sick leave for their maternity leave absence from work, and whilst they are not sick spend at least 2 days in hospital as a minimum.
Women are forced to use their annual leave and long service leave in the absence of paid maternity leave. Some employers, whilst they offer paid maternity leave, they do not pay the full amount until the employees return to work even though they have given a full year (12months) of service prior to the commencement of maternity leave.
Australia is one of only a few countries in the OECD who don’t offer some sort of Paid Maternity Scheme and although we have had the baby bonus for the last 4 years - this will now be means tested so that many hard working families will not receive this.
I support both stay at home and working mothers. Both of these groups of women work equally hard to nurture the Australian adults of the future. So I propose for stay at home mothers to continue to receive the baby bonus even if it is paid in instalments rather than a lump sum amount and should be equivalent to a minimum of 12 weeks paid leave. For working mums to be - why can’t they receive a tax refund in lieu of the baby bonus equivalent to 12 weeks paid maternity leave? That way it is not seen as a burden to the tax payer but a way to help all Australian families.
In the process this may encourage women to return to the workplaces they are leaving behind and we may even give women the right to choose when they return to the workplace, rather than being forced because of their financial situation. Sadly the majority of many working women’s pay goes towards their hefty childcare fees.
I believe the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA), has told the Productivity Commission's inquiry into paid maternity leave that primary care-givers should be given 28 weeks paid leave, including two weeks before a birth.
Interesting times ahead! And I haven’t even mentioned how difficult it is for women to find part-time work in a professional capacity at the end of their maternity leave or the fact we need a change of mindset from employers for more flexible working arrangements for parents and a more practical approach for the provision of childcare.
Thanks for a great read and please keep us informed on the fight for paid maternity leave in Australia.
PS I read this great article on the ninemsn website - this might be of great interest to your readers:
http://optuszoo.news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=578071&rss=yes&_cobr=optus
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