The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, released yesterday, shows that women do double the housework of men. Women also do more of the childcare and the household errands. Now, call me cynical, but I wasn’t surprised. Are you?
Female breadwinners are on the rise; women now earn more than their male partners in one in four Australian households. But the traditional “male breadwinner” arrangement still prevails in the majority of Australian households.
Obvious as it is, this type of arrangement has ramifications at work – for both men and women – which then reinforces certain arrangements at home – for men and women. It explains the pay gap, the underrepresentation of women in senior positions and the prevalence of traditional gender roles.
Let me tell you a story that I heard last year. A professional couple, in their early thirties, were expecting their first baby. They were both quite well established in their careers and they had decided, in accordance with their respective employer’s parental leave policies, that the mother would take six months off work to care for their baby. The father would then take three months’ parental leave, as per his employment contract, to care for their child. By the time their baby was 9 months old they would access some formal childcare. To them, personally and professionally, it made sense.
Unfortunately, however, when the father-to-be approached his employer their answer was no. Accessing that policy wouldn’t be favourable for his career progression. (I am told there was some bewilderment even at the request – no father had ever accessed that particular policy).
In this day and age, even with pregnancy discrimination the growing problem that it is, it is hard to imagine a woman being told explicitly that she isn’t entitled to parental leave. Yet for some employers, fathers taking a substantial period of parental leave, appears to be a bridge too far. Which is a crying shame because it’s a bridge we desperately need.
It is disappointing and problematic because the ramifications – practical and personal – of that decision will linger well beyond those three months, at work and at home. And they extend beyond the individuals directly impacted.
On the home front, in practical terms, denying a father parental leave sets the scene for the mother becoming the primary caregiver. Being at home looking after a baby is the most simple way to becoming adept at looking after a baby. It is the quantity of time, rather than the quality of time, that tends to dictate competence and comfort with very small babies and children. The caring responsibilities will be skewed towards whichever parent is there the most.
Being at home is also the most simple, and obvious, way to find yourself responsible for looking after the home. The truth is whoever spends more time at home, is likely to spend the most time doing chores at home. This is why the household statistics aren’t surprising. Australian women are still more likely to work fewer hours at work than men, which means they’re at home more, which means they do more housework.
There is nothing sinister or untoward in that arrangement on its own. The problem, however, is this: are women working out of the home less because they’re expected to do more at home?
This is where the workplace dynamic becomes relevant. If an employer isn’t willing to accommodate a father’s request for parental leave, are they likely to accommodate him dropping his kids at school, working part-time or taking carers leave to look after his kids if they’re sick?
If they’re not, which doesn’t seem likely in this case, that automatically increases the burden of responsibility on the other parent. If a father isn’t able to take sick leave or do drop-offs or do any of the other reasonable activities associated with dependents, it means the other parent has to. That necessarily inhibits that parent’s capacity to work.
Most often, in Australian that parent is the mother. That is why it’s still women who overwhelmingly work part-time and access flexible work arrangements.
Australian workplaces are still largely geared towards men being unencumbered by responsibilities outside of work. The example I give is a case in point and unfortunately it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Aside from the impact at home, denying one willing father the opportunity to take extended parental leave sets the tone in that workplace. It sends a message – both implicitly and explicitly – to all the men and women in that team about what is expected of fathers.
The result is another generation of men whose primary responsibility is work and another generation of women whose primary responsibility is the home and children. That is why the HILDA findings didn’t surprise me.
Does your organisation offer men parental leave? Does anyone access it? Tell me a positive story to persuade me some employers embrace fathers as caregivers.