Page 2118 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 August 2014
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We need to have a new mentality towards children and towards the work parents do at home. Children are not just a private good; they are a public good as well. Mothers who are in the workforce are working full time on our present and our future at the same time.
Babies are a normal part of women’s lives. It is completely normal for women to bear children. There is an unspoken pressure put on women: if you want a promotion or to get on in your workplace then you had better plan your pregnancies very carefully, or even better, think hard about putting it off into the never-never. The Sex Discrimination Commissioner has highlighted one case of a woman being told it was either the baby or the job, so she aborted the baby and subsequently lost her job anyway. I cannot imagine her pain.
Mothering is really misrepresented in our society. We must stop looking down on mothers and put them up in the place where they belong—revered as some of the strongest, most hard-working and most selfless people we have in our society.
Being a mum is not just some kind of personal fulfilment. Being a mum for many is a daily struggle, and yet for others it is full of joy. But as far as the broader community is concerned, it is our future. We must give women both the courage and the backup to be able to stand up to pregnancy discrimination when it occurs, and also to encourage women that they are doing great work and selfless acts from which we all benefit.
One great submission to the Productivity Commission’s ongoing inquiry into child care calculated that if a woman has one child she gives, on average, 50 years productive life to our future economy. If she has two children, that figure then becomes 100 years of productivity. If a mum has four children, she puts 200 years of productivity into the future economy, and so on. To achieve all that we need to, we need to be comfortable with a little chaos. Parents must be supported in it and our culture must support mums from day one of pregnancy onwards.
I would like to start by changing the culture here today. I would like to say—although she is not in the chamber, she may be listening in her office—to Ms Burch: I value the years you put into raising your kids. You gave it all you had, and I salute you. To Mrs Dunne: well done. You have grown children. You have given yourself over to the task of raising five, and I want to say that you have done an amazing job. To Ms Gallagher, who has had children whilst working here in the Assembly: good on you for your courage and for the midnights that no-one sees when you work for the benefit of our future and your children.
To Mr Gentleman: you have raised a part of our future too. I am sure you had times of stress over this work, and times of tension. I really honour you. To Ms Berry: I am thankful for your beautiful children and what they will do in the future. To Ms Lawder, Mr Hanson, Mr Smyth, Mr Doszpot, Mr Corbell, Ms Porter; and to the newest dads in this place, Mr Coe and Mr Wall: you are just seeing what parents do, what mums do, and how much we have sacrificed for a new generation, and I applaud you.
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