The headline above seems rather obvious. And yet our Prime Minister’s current woes on paid parental leave can largely stem from the fact he ignored, or chose to disbelieve, the advice while in opposition.
Abbott’s long had a problem with securing the ‘women’s vote’ – often due to some memorable gaffes that many of us can easily roll off the tongue to explain his credentials with the opposite sex. As leader of the Opposition, his female popularity problem looked set to get in the way of his chances of becoming prime minister.
And so Abbott thought big. And obvious. And generous. And sought out what one could argue was one of the most efficient ways to spend a truckload of money on women.
He promised a paid parental leave scheme that would pay the primary parent their full replacement wage for six months, later capped at $75,000. Expected to cost $5.5 billion a year, it would replace the Labor government’s tax payer scheme (paying the minimum wage for 18 weeks) and be paid for via a levy on big business.
It was a big and wonderful way to help working mothers, and prove he really did support women at the same time. Indeed, by his own admission, the announcement proved he had changed his mind on the issue of maternity leave – something that’s extremely difficult for a politician to admit. During the Howard government, Abbott said such a scheme would only happen over his dead body. In 2012, he wrote to Mamamia on the reversal, “I don’t try to hide it. In fact, I think it’s proof that good policy can prevail provided the argument stacks up and politicians are big enough to admit getting it wrong.”
It became his ‘signature policy’, something that came to represent how significant he thought it was to support the economic participation of women
Unfortunately, however, the argument never entirely stacked up. Abbott pinned his credentials with women on the scheme – but not all women were impressed. Designed to keep women connected to the workforce, it couldn’t solve the big issue challenging a new parent’s return to work — accessible and affordable childcare. Big business hated it (especially those that would be paying for it), and even women of child-bearing age weren’t all that convinced, despite the fact they could be tens of thousands of dollars better off under the new scheme.
Things got especially awkward when the Abbott Government-backed Productivity Commission recommended scraping the expensive scheme to better support childcare.
The problem for Abbott was that he’d put all his women-winning eggs in the one basket. His support for the life and career choices of women was pinned to his brave vision for offering one of the most generous maternity leave schemes in the world.
Meanwhile, the conversation for women turned nasty. The scheme saw so-called “rich mothers” pitted against “poor mothers”. It was “women of caliber” against women without, and those who plan to have children against those who don’t, or can’t, or already have.
The childcare issue was largely sidelined, despite the fact we know it’s what many, many parents say is the real deal breaker when it comes to returning to the workforce.
After winning government, Abbott appointed himself the minister for women, unveiled a cabinet featuring just one woman and declared others were “knocking at the door”. Australian women noticed and wanted an explanation. But Abbott kept pushing his big, bold paid parental leave scheme, often referring to it as a means to fill the silence when it came to discussing other issues.
Now, Abbott’s conceded his PPL needs a rethink. His ‘signature policy’ for women wasn’t good or convincing enough to actually get off the ground.
A good employer knows that while a generous paid maternity leave scheme will be beneficial, it cannot be the only tool used to attract and retain female talent. What matters for women, whether they have children or not, is how they are ultimately treated in the workplace and the opportunities available for them to progress.
There’s a lesson for all of us in Abbott’s miscalculation. Women are not a niche. We will not all be won-over with blinkered policy announcements. We need more than great maternity leave policies. In business, we need more than mentoring, or sponsorship programs, networking groups or other ‘quick fix’ solutions designed to show what’s on offer for women.
We need a total cultural and structural shift in support of an inclusive Australia. Actions and words speak louder than a policy vision.