Worker-funded maternity leave proposed
“A plan for a national paid maternity scheme funded partly by a weekly levy imposed on workers has public support, says the social policy adviser who designed the scheme.”
It’s an interesting idea and if the figures are accurate does seem like something that could be put into practice and negate a lot of the economic arguments against paid maternity leave.
Fertility blood test being developed
“WOMEN who plan to delay motherhood until their late 30s and 40s may soon being able to take a simple blood test to predict how many fertile years they have left.”
On one hand this seems like it might give women more choice but on the other hand it seems like the kind of thing that could be totally perverted to prevent choice and just generally gives me the squinks. Thoughts?
Indigenous maternal death rate alarming
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are almost three times more likely to die while pregnant, during labour or up to six weeks after giving birth than non-indigenous women.
And the system for reporting maternal deaths in Australia needs an overhaul, with inconsistent data collection between the states and territories undermining the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) efforts to provide accurate and timely statistics.”
Mothers at mercy of interest rates
“ALMOST half of Australian women aged 25-40 said they couldn’t afford their mortgage repayments if they took time off to have a baby.
An independent survey of 855 women found 49 per cent of those of typical child-bearing age would not be able to meet mortgage repayments if they were reduced to one salary.
“It’s become a case of baby or the house — and that’s a decision women shouldn’t have to make,” said consumer marketing expert Gillian Franklin, from the Heat Group.”
Govt must act on maternity leave: survey
“Forty-five per cent of women say they are not in a position to meet their mortgage repayments if they take time off to have a baby without government funded maternity leave, a new survey shows.”
How much more evidence does the government need before they realise that paid maternity leave is important.
Tax relief for working mums cautiously welcomed
“The Women’s Electoral Lobby has welcomed planned tax cuts for working mothers, but has questioned how many women will benefit from them
Chairwoman of the Women’s Electoral Lobby , Eva Cox, says “…I suspect the bulk of that’s going to come from the increase in the childcare rebate and the problem with that is, as soon as we start getting that through I suspect some of the private childcare centres will be raising their fees so that may disappear fairly quickly.”
It will interesting to see whether or not this will actually improve things for working mothers in the current economic climate. Any with more economic know-how then me care to enlighten us?
Inflexible workplaces deter breastfeeding
“UNSUPPORTIVE work colleagues and inflexible bosses are causing women to stop breastfeeding, even when they return to work only part-time.
A study has that found part-time and casual female employees in Australia give up breastfeeding at the same rate as full-time workers.”
This kind of story makes me equally sad and frustrated. Sigh.
