Celebrate Women

What do I want for women - as we celebrate #iwd2023?

I want women to have equal support and opportunity for a career and a family - like men do.

Yes - there are a few women who invest in their career while their partner looks after the family, but this is a small minority.

The story most commonly goes like this:

- Both he / she / they progress their careers in their 20's, and are comparative in career progress and earnings.

- The decision to have children becomes more urgent as women enter into their 30's. Biology has real restrictions for women!

- When the baby is born, mum takes maternity leave on average for 9 months (currently 5% of paid primary parental leave is taken by Australian fathers, and 95% by mothers!)

- When she looks to return to work, the cost of childcare is extremely high. In Sydney, it costs $167 per day!

- The emotional cost of the "daily juggle" - managing a job with young children in childcare is even higher. It's exhausting!

- Having been the newborn primary carer, the mother still feels "primarily responsible". The child "wants mummy" more - especially when he wakes up at 1am and 4am.

- She also does 65% of the housework and 72% of the daily chores (such as cooking, laundry, groceries).

Add all this together, and it's no wonder many women feel like they are failing at home and at work, and decide to "step back" in their career. They work part-time, or take "an easier role". At this point, there is so much stress, it works for the whole family. It's a good short-term fix.

Except, that it's rarely short-term.

Another child may be added into the mix. The demands increase as the kids get older. Mum is now the "CHO" - Chief Household Officer. There is no succession plan.

At work, her career has lost momentum - she is no longer in the "promotion pool". She loses her confidence, and stops thinking of it as a career, but what she does for money.

Her earning capacity is significantly reduced (further increasing the gender pay gap).

She now supports her partner's career dreams, and inadvertently her children's (she now works to afford a good school).

In the meantime, men continue their career trajectory without any pause. They get promoted. They receive challenging assignments. They get pay increases. They develop to their career potential.

Men have a career and family. They have both.

I know this is not everyone's story, but it is the most common story. The statistics prove it.

There are many things to fix. Support for families. More affordable childcare. Changing of traditional role stereotypes. There needs to be a conscious conversation, and strategies so men and women can have both.

David and I have navigated this IRL. It was really hard, but it's possible. We have both been family care-giver and career lead. We each have grown from both.

My daughters (and all the other daughters out there) deserve both. Let's make that real.