Page 2117 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 August 2014
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especially because when it happens women are in a more vulnerable state. They have to focus on several outcomes at once—the needs of their baby, their relationships, their job and their financial security.
I am a fairly strong character. People assume I do not have any feelings sometimes, because I just plough on, but it has been tough at times—very tough. I managed to fight through, but there are many women for whom such treatment is the last straw, and they prioritise family over work. In a way, who can blame them? They are focusing perhaps on what matters more to them at the time. But they suffer later on when trying to re-enter the workforce, and in many cases their self-esteem suffers, with feelings of failure or dislocation. They then have no or less income, limited superannuation, and often even end up having less in the way of possessions of their own. We women are good at looking after others, and we often put ourselves last. That is another debate in itself, and one day we may have that debate too.
As I have demonstrated through the estimates process, it is almost impossible for a young couple to survive in Canberra on one income. Money is considered the root of a lot of relationship and marriage breakdowns, and closely related to it is a woman’s capacity to bring some income into the household as well. There are many women who just get to the point of thinking that the practicalities of being a full-time mother of a child and full time looking after the boss’s wants is just too much of a load.
A man I know was at a work gathering recently where it was being announced that another man in the workforce was away on leave after the arrival of his baby. Congratulations were offered, and followed up by a comment that he had not yet worked out what caused babies, obviously, because this was his fourth or fifth. He was not in the room to defend himself, and it was a belittling thing to say. It was not funny, and it is not how we should treat people who have had babies, who are managing a double load. When they come back to work we should be able to say, “How are you going?” not, “Isn’t it funny that the boss said that you don’t know what causes it?”
More needs to be done. Talking is important. It brings the issue out into the light and makes us aware of it. However, talking about it is not enough. We should not tolerate it, and we should work to change such a culture.
I suggest two actions. Monitoring, and also positive cultural change. We need to manage workplace incidents and make people accountable for what they say and do. We need stats, and we need to bring the issue fully out into the light. My motion calls on the government to provide more stats, and to ask the Human Rights Commissioner for more reporting on this form of bullying and harassment in particular, to ensure that there is a public service wide approach as well.
We also need to think about our own attitudes towards those women and families brave enough to produce for us the next generation of Australians. If we want to be a happy and healthy society then we must embrace all the facets that women bring to both the workplace and family.
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