On IWD 2020, there’s Good News: Little Changes Can Create Big Waves.
The next frontier for liberating women might just be liberating men. This International Women’s Day is about celebrating equality for both genders and Australian gender equality start-up Seat At The Table (SEATT) says we should start by rethinking our parental leave policies by giving Australian dads equal access to take time to care for their children.
Yes, Australia has some catching up to do when it comes to gender equality – particularly when it comes to women earning and taking a seat at the leadership table. WGEA 2019 data shows that despite women representing more than 50% of the workforce, men still out-earn women on average by $25k a year, and 83% of CEOs in Australia are men. In analysing the data, we see that the role women are still playing at home is holding them back. We remain a society that expects men to earn and women to care, and the majority of our parental leave schemes reflect this.
We are ready for change and a few small tweaks will see us accelerate a long way forward. And the good news is, the next generation of Australian men want change. Annabel Crabb’s Quarterly Essay included data that showed that in Australia 79% of men aged 35 and under want flexible working arrangements, 56% would like to work from home, 77% said paid parental leave influences their employer of choice and 79% said they want to work a compressed week.
SEATT believes that the time for change has arrived and we have set an ambitious target. We want to encourage policy and behaviour change that will see us catch up with the world. According to WGEA data, in 2019, 28.5% of all parental leave in Australia was taken by men, our aim is to get to parity. This number represents only a tiny shift from the year before; the yearly rate of change towards equal parental leave is just 0.7%. At this rate, equality in parental leave will not be achieved for 80 years, by 2100. We can shift that dial. Today we are launching a campaign to accelerate the rate of change to 10% per year which would see us reach parity in 6 short years – by 2026. And the good news is that the first steps are going to be easy.
This year’s IWD theme is #EachForEqual, and SEATT is calling on each of us to make a small change to make our world more equal. Re-aligning the responsibilities men and women take on at home enables women to take a seat at the leadership table, but also empowers men to move out of the ‘man box’ and away from harmful traditional gender stereotypes. We can create healthier families and boost our economy.
SEATT Director, Amelia Dixon says, “The fact is that the way we are working and living is not aligned with our values or the lives we want – and it’s holding us all back. If each of us asked questions of ourselves and others, took the conversation on a slightly different route when talking about gender roles with family and at work, we could create a big change. Better yet, a small act of bravery, through talking differently at work, questioning policies, or being the first man to take the leave that is available in a workplace can lead to big shifts towards gender equality.
“We know that when a business makes changes, their peers quickly catch up. There has been a steady rise in the number of organisations introducing shared parental schemes, just this week we heard that Facebook has joined the fold in Australia with a 6 month shared parental scheme and the impact is already being felt. A year ago, QBE introduced a flexible shared parental leave scheme. At that point, men accounted for 10% of those taking parental leave, this year the figure is 27% - a 300% increase since the scheme was introduced. Think about the impact of that change. Think about the women who have continued on their career trajectories, contributing to their family economically and to the broader world. Think about the depth and breadth of the lives those fathers are leading. And then think also about the children that are seeing a new way to do things. This is how change happens fast.”
What actions can you take?
1. Remove ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ from care leave policies. Define it simply as ‘carers leave’ (in line with leaders in the field in Australia).
2. Get line managers to encourage take-up visibly and vocally.
3. Incentivise men to take leave, improving their family’s financial health (so they are not discouraged through fear of shirking their earning responsibilities).
4. Encourage the men in your community to take leave early (in the first 2 years when habits are changing in families and forming for the future).
5. Don’t assume that formalising policies are enough, proactively communicate parental leave & flexible work culture for both men and women to all staff members.
6. Make mentoring initiatives, forums and workshops available for both genders coming back to work after parental leave to support re-integration.
7. Discourage women from looking at their income as a cost when planning to return to work (beware the childcare/woman’s income equation).
8. Encourage families to have healthy conversations about the long term goals for their family – including women’s career trajectories and men’s relationships with their children.
Amelia Horrigan-Dixon
Founder and CEO, Think Partnership