Week 35: Moving On

Wow, what a week. In the last seven days I’ve bought a house, panicked about swine flu, finished up in the office and discovered that baby is 2/5 engaged and preparing for arrival.

I feel like my head is about to fall off from all the spinning. While I’m very excited that the baby is doing everything she is supposed to do and moving further down in to my pelvis (cue awkward waddling), the realisation that I’m full term and that the baby could theoretically come any time from here without efforts to stop the labour is confronting.

I’m not ready! I’m still working, for starters. I’ll be manning this Babble baby until a new editor starts —  or I give birth. But I have drawn the line and sitting in an uncomfortable office chair for any longer.

Unfortunately, as I’m to give birth 18 months before the government’s paid maternity leave scheme kicks in, I’m only entitled to the baby bonus, so once that runs out I’ll have to resort to selling my breastmilk on eBay to pay the mortgage*.

We’ve written quite a bit about paid parental leave here on Babble. I’m amazed that it took so long for Australia to join the dozens of countries around the world who offer paid parental leave schemes, and that the model we did end up with is right down the bottom end of the scale in terms of length of leave and percentage of wage that the parents are entitled to.

I mean, if Bulgaria can finance 52 weeks at 100% of wage, plus another year at minimum wage, with the leave allowed to be taken by the father or a grandparents, I’m not sure how we ended up with 18 weeks leave at minimum wage, starting in two years from now!

In addition to paid parental leave, what many Australian parents are looking for is flexibility. Sending your child to daycare is less guilt-inducing if you can attend special Mother’s Day Morning teas or Christmas concerts. The ability to work from home, now that technology often allows us to is another huge bonus for working parents, although is often only afforded to those at the higher end of the wage scale, who have ‘earned’ the right to call the shots over their working hours.

I’m so lucky that my partner and I both work in tech-forward businesses which enable flexibility, to some degree. But for those whose workplaces can’t or won’t bring in family-friendly policies to the workplace (and this isn’t just about people with kids – many of us have other commitments which would benefit from a better work/life balance), where does government policy leave them?

The high cost of childcare means that many families make the decision to cut down to one wage for an indefinite period of time, supplemented by family tax benefits which do not stimulate the economy the same way that paid parental leave does.

While I’m so glad we’ve made the first step towards more equitable workplaces for parents, how about taking the next step and thinking about how we can improve workplaces beyond the first 18 weeks?

*Joking! Ebay won’t let you sell human remains, tissue or fluids.