An Historic Achievement
From Sharan Burrow, ACTU President
What a wait it’s been. Thirty years after Australian women and unions first began campaigning for paid maternity leave, the Rudd Government has finally delivered.
The 18-week universal paid maternity leave scheme which will be in tonight’s Federal Budget corrects a massive market and policy failure that has seen Australia become one of only two OECD nations that do not offer some form of paid maternity leave.
How shameful for a country as wealthy and prosperous as Australia to have been left behind by not only the likes of the United Kingdom, Canada and most European countries, but even Tanzania and the Republic of Congo.
The millions of women who now make up nearly half the workforce are more educated and skilled than at any other time in Australia’s history. On average, those taking time out to start a family already have 10 years experience in the workforce.
It would be economically unproductive and an extravagant waste of public and private investment to see women drop out, or forced out, of the workforce indefinitely.
The minority of women benefiting from such civilised conditions are largely white-collar professionals. It’s the army of casuals, part-timers, self-employed and low paid women with no access to any form of paid maternity leave who are most vulnerable, and much more so in a volatile economic climate.
They are often the primary carers in the vast majority of Australian families that rely on two incomes to pay bills, rent or mortgage.
Even in recent prosperous years, the cost of living has been placing an unhealthy pressure on many working mothers to return to work too early to keep the family financially afloat. The social, psychological and medical costs of having women back at work before they have physically recovered or established breast-feeding and a bond with their newborn babies cannot be measured or tolerated in any forward-looking nation.
After 30 years of campaigning, the wait until the scheme commences in 2011 will feel like the blink of an eye.
It is disappointing to hear some employer lobby groups already whingeing and finding ways to frustrate the implementation of the scheme.
The truth is that employers have got off lightly. The government-funded scheme will not cost them an extra cent. The government-funded scheme is a great first step.
The ACTU and unions will continue to help working women bargain for measures to help balance their work and family responsibilities.
But by all means, let’s celebrate this historic achievement. It’s long overdue.
Paid Maternity Leave Digital Video Petition