Legal
Issue No. 11 - June/July 2003
A Pregnant Pause
by Michael Hegarty
Calls for a national scheme for paid maternity leave are growing louder.
Those in favour of such a scheme argue that it would increase the number of women returning to work after giving birth. This would have benefits for employers, such as retaining skills and experience, reducing recruitment and training costs and improving staff morale. They say it would lead to improved organisational efficiency through maintaining long term service, industrial knowledge, networks and contacts.
Their opponents argue that the cost to employers would be untenable, particularly for small businesses. They say that employers should not have to fund parenthood or population policy or underwrite what is an essentially personal decision to have children. They argue that employers already provide enough paid leave and some even assist with child care.
The fact remains that at present Australia has no universal scheme providing for maternity leave. The provisions that do exist are often specific to an enterprise or award. Both employers and employees may perceive this to be unfair.
Whether the idea of maternity leave is supported or not, women are firmly entrenched in the Australian workforce. The majority of women in Australia are now working either full-time or part-time for most of their lives. In August 2001, 70% of women aged between 20 and 54 were in the workforce. 55% of female employees were working full-time and 45% part-time.
Arguably on the statistics alone some form of uniform scheme should be considered. Any such scheme should be flexible and fair to both employees and employers.
It is a sad fact of life that it costs money to live, and it is now very common for a family to have both parents working merely to make ends meet.
It is also true that women of childbearing age are those most likely to be in a domestic situation which requires them to work. Young couples starting out, taking on a mortgage and trying to establish thems...
