Life’s balancing act
OUR region is growing younger according to the latest Census data. This is remarkable, maybe a first, because historically regional Australia has trouble holding on to its young people.
Geelong, Surf Coast and Golden Plains in particular have attracted more young singles, couples and families than the rest of regional Victoria in the past five years. This is a good omen for the region’s economic future … if they stay.
The number and variety of good jobs with decent pay are increasing – a good start if we want to hang on to our under-30s. Vastly better public transport links, more housing for non-millionaires, 24/7 digital connection and green open space will further seal the deal.
Beyond the physical environment, there’s also an opportunity to improve work/life balance for our young families.
Covid has given us a head start with the working-from-home revolution, which has benefited Geelong and the G21 region more than any other part of Victoria by driving even greater numbers of young and talented people our way.
WFH has fast-tracked a new way of working and opened the door a little wider to equality and inclusion, especially for women. Parents (of younger children in particular) can now share the load more flexibly, but there’s more we can do.
This week’s federal budget will include an increase in the paid parental leave scheme from 18 weeks to 26 weeks. The updated scheme is likely to “strongly encourage” new dads to spend six weeks at home on baby duty. This is more important than it sounds. Shared leave is an essential starting point for setting a longer-term pattern of sharing the load at home and in the workforce. We know it works because other countries already do it.
In Australia, very few men take up the current two-week allowance, but a concerted campaign to change this feeble turnout will give us a small but necessary step in shifting the expectation that women will shoulder most of parenting.
When we measure progress, opportunities and choices, the arrival of children is when gaps open up irretrievably for most women, as they forgo careers and independence.
In the peak years of our working lives (24 to 44 – although I’d extend that to 54 these days) substantially more women than men are caring for kids and working part time in jobs literally well below their pay grade.
Lower pay, lower super savings, lower status follow from here, and lower living standards loom for many if a marriage breaks up or a spouse dies. This is not news to anyone, but the fact that we still haven’t got it sorted is a national embarrassment.
For the fiscal purists, less workforce participation means less pay and less tax collected to invest in nation building initiatives while creating a larger reliance on government-funded support. In other words, a drag on the economy.
But it’s not all about money. For the humanists, it means partners (mostly men) are missing out on one of life’s most defining experiences – taking responsibility for a young human and all the messy, tiring, excruciating and delightful minutiae that comes with it. It’s an unpaid, full time job that’s likely to transform your entire understanding of life.
With a G21 “youthquake” under way, it would be a backward step for our region if women or men are excluded or “self-exclude” from work or parenting because we’ve failed to update our expectations and embrace a better culture.
If we can get the right balance, dismantling other inequities will be easier – not just for women but for anyone whose choices and opportunities remain limited by a lack of policy imagination.