March 8 is International Women’s Day; a day where companies post on LinkedIn how awesome women are and a handful (not all!) guys comment “When’s International Men’s Day?!”
…seriously, time for a new joke, Dave!
This is the first year that I’ve looked at this day and been totally disappointed.
I don’t want a purple cupcake with ‘International Women’s Day’ sparkles.
I don’t want to sit in a hall and listen to how businesses support their women by being “flexible” and promoting their interests.
I don’t want to queue up the “Girl Boss” playlists or dance around with women chanting “F**k the patriarchy”
If you ask me, IWD is a PR calendar day for workplaces to show the world they are doing “their” part to support women and honestly, I’m calling BS.
It’s a joke
I became a mum in 2022, and it has been the most incredibly fulfilling experience of my life.
The love I have for this little girl is beyond anything I thought I was even capable of holding, but here we are.
Before having my daughter, I was faced with a redundancy a month out from heading on maternity leave by a brand that champions women, not just on IWD but every day… or so I thought.
Although there were tears (so many tears), a lot of stress (so much stress), and some last-minute scrambling, I was able to secure a four-week contract with a publisher to try to make up for the lost income I would experience when on maternity leave.
I wrapped up my contract on a Friday and went into labour on Tuesday night and didn’t have much downtime to mentally disconnect from the last month before jumping into my next adventure.
I survived for 18 weeks on Centrelink’s minimum mat leave wage (which I am so grateful even exists), and then, that’s it, we were on our own.
Over the last 15 months, we’ve chewed into our ‘rainy day’ savings by half- I guess that’s what they’re for right? And I had to head back into the workplace a lot sooner than I wanted to.
New mum? Good luck!
I said from the start of my pregnancy I wanted to take 12 months off to enjoy everything that comes with being a mum: the good, the wonderful, the sleep-deprived, and the midnight poo-explosions.
I’m lucky I work in an industry where I can pick up odd jobs here and there, but I found it incredibly difficult to find work that supported me as a new mum.
To put into context these feelings, today I opened my Seek app and looked at a few industries looking to hire and the split between full time and part-time work.
Here’s what I found:
Accounting
- 5,917 full time
- 607 part-time
Advertising, Arts, and Media
- 484 full time
- 40 part-time
Banking and Finance
- 1,893 full time
- 151 part-time
Education and Training
- 6,758 full time
- 2,837 part-time
Engineering
- 4,541 full time
- 17 part-time
Healthcare and Medical
- 11,466 full time
- 4,881 part-time
IT
- 6,352 full time
- 61 part-time
Legal
- 2,377 full time
- 136 part-time
Marketing and Communications
- 2,468 full time
- 247 part-time
Science and Technology
- 758 full time
- 37 part-time
Wow, thank goodness we have IWD to help raise awareness of gender equality in the workplace.
Then there’s childcare
So, we’ve established the ratio to full-time versus part-time is colossally imbalanced.
If a woman decides (by choice or necessity) to return to work full-time, let’s make access to childcare as difficult as possible because why not?
According to an article published by The Guardian in October last year, “Childcare fees are rising faster than inflation.”
The childcare industry relies on “a mix of providers and is poorly subsidised”, with “more than half of childcare centres run by private, for-profit providers, while a third are private not-for-profits, and 15% are government-run.”
Women’s Agenda also published an article revealing that “Childcare fees in Australia are among the highest in the world,” with parents paying 16% of their household income to fees, compared to the OECD average of 9%.
To add to the childcare party we’ve kicked off, The Guardian also stated, “Staff turnover is high due to poor pay.”
And we won’t even get started on the barrage of illnesses that parents have to deal with when sending their kids to daycare, which require them to take time off work to manage.
Happy IWD
If it comes across a little bitter, well, it’s because I am.
I’m a double-degree university-educated mum currently studying for a master’s degree. I work part-time (and am trying to secure more), and I feel disheartened by my career prospects over the next few years.
I want to have more children but do not know how how to afford it.
I love working, but for me and so many women, career progression and early motherhood are two aspects of our lives that are in constant combat.
I feel guilty for wanting to work more, but at the same time, I feel like the choice is already made for me.
So, forgive me for not posting a picture on my social media today, parading my biggest “Girl Boss” smile.
I don’t want to attend your morning tea or listen to your lecture.
If you’re in a decision-making position and have some power (even a tiny bit) to change the stats above, I’ll take that over a stale cupcake any day.
That Girl from Sydney 