Facilitating fertility and paid work: contemporary family-friendly policy initiatives and their social impacts in Australasia.

• Author: James, Joanne
• Position: Report

Abstract

This paper focuses on contemporary public perceptions of the challenges of combining paid work and raising a family, set against the backdrop of concerns about low fertility, structural population ageing and the composition of the future labour force. Australasian policy makers have responded to these issues with various initiatives aimed at assisting people who are raising families and engaging in paid work. The New Zealand Working for Families package, the Australian Family Tax Benefit package, and the two countries' parental leave and women-focused policies are compared, with a focus on cross-national similarities and differences. The most significant difference between the two nations is the lack of a paid parental leave scheme in Australia, but the family-friendly policies are similar in perpetuating tensions between ensuring both present and future labour supply. The policies are aimed at providing incentives to be in paid work when parents have children, but tend to reinforce the notion of work and family as separate spheres, and potentially contribute to social divisions between parents and non-parents by providing cash benefits to families with children. This analysis suggests that Australasian societies may be on the cusp of a more collective articulation of people's obligations to one another and the nation, including the collective consequences of personal lifestyle decisions such as choosing not to have children.

INTRODUCTION

Raising a family and participating in paid work are increasingly recognised as competing demands by many parents in contemporary Western societies (Families Commission 2008; House Standing Committee on Family and Human Services 2006; OECD 2002; OECD 2004). The financial costs of having children, the rising general costs of living, the common physical separation of the spheres of home and employment, and the gendered nature of childrearing and "breadwinning" are issues that many parents juggle on an everyday basis. These issues also frequently form the basis of the decisions by growing numbers of people in OECD nations to delay having children or remain childless. Voluntarily childless people, especially women, commonly experience social criticism for choosing not to be parents, but this negative reaction is often balanced by the increased choices available to them because their employment and non-work activities are not organised around children (Cameron 1997; Maher and Saugeres 2007; Park 2002). The greater career, education, travel and leisure opportunities available in the globalised contemporary world are increasingly being weighed by young men and women against the perceived benefits and burdens associated with parenthood.

Australasian statistics reveal similarities in the social landscapes of New Zealand and Australia as a result of the competing pressures and choices faced by young adults. The numbers of voluntarily childless people in both nations are rising, and total fertility is below levels needed for population replacement, particularly in Australia, where fertility has become an explicit concern for government (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008b; Boddington and Didham 2008; Callister and Didham 2007). Women's participation in both national workforces has increased, yet Australasian labour forces are steadily ageing (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1999; Statistics New Zealand 2008a). Australasian governments have responded to these issues with a variety of social policies aimed at the problems faced by people struggling to combine family and career, and at potential deficits in labour supply. In Australia, policy has also recently begun to address sub-replacement fertility.

Besides the historical close relationship between New Zealand and Australia, comparison of Australasian family-friendly policies is particularly relevant in a period where the countries are effectively competing for population and labour force (Hugo 2004:37). The 1973 Trans-Tasman Agreement allows New Zealand and Australian citizens to live and work in either country without negotiating the immigration channels required by other foreign nationals. The direction of current migration flows indicates that Australia is perceived more favourably by citizens of both nations at present, as a large number of New Zealanders are crossing the Tasman in relation to a much smaller number of Australians moving to New Zealand. (2) The trend to migrate to Australia has been exhaustively covered by the New Zealand media, which commonly represent Australia's larger economy as offering greater opportunities for employment and financial prosperity. In this context, the family-friendly policy initiatives of both countries are likely to be one of many factors that will influence the migration decisions of people who are comparing the benefits offered by each country.

This paper compares current family-friendly (3) policies in New Zealand and Australia against the backdrop of media and social research that reflects public perceptions of the challenges of combining work and family. Two sets of policies that are roughly comparable--New Zealand's Working for Families package, parental leave policy and Action Plan for New Zealand Women, and Australia's Family Tax Benefit package, parental leave policy and 2008 Women's Budget Statement--are analysed with a focus on the collective social outcomes these policies are directed at achieving. Although the most significant difference between the family-friendly policies of the two nations is the lack of a paid parental leave scheme in Australia, both policy sets attempt to reconcile present and future labour force requirements by encouraging women's participation in paid work, while recognising the importance of women's "reproductive labour" (Maher 2007:169) and its collective benefits. These policy strategies tend to reinforce the notion of work and family as separate spheres, and potentially contribute to tensions between parents and non-parents by providing cash benefits to families with children. The policies also focus on the family unit rather than gendered roles of mother, father, woman or man, while at the same time having gendered implications.

FAMILY AND WORK IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALASIA

Public Perceptions

Contemporary media representations of issues of work and family indicate widespread public concern about the challenges of combining parenting and paid work. Voluntary childlessness (4) is a lifestyle choice that has received increased attention in this context as a new trend that has emerged in response to the stresses faced by parents. Media representations of the experiences of parents and non-parents are largely consistent with themes that have emerged in social research. Relatively few people delay having children or decide not to have children on the basis of not liking them; instead, factors such as career, relationships, finances and lifestyle tend to inform decision making, as well as a common recognition of the potential emotional and financial burdens involved in raising a family (Cameron 1997; Gillespie 2003; Letherby 1994; Letherby 2002; Lunneborg 1999; Maher and Saugeres 2007; Morell 1994). The freedoms that are characteristic of the lives of voluntarily childless people also tend to be what many parents most struggle to achieve. Gray et al. (2008:2) suggest that Australia's "low fertility rate is not due to a lack of wanting children", but rather the influence of contemporary financial and work-related pressures on the fertility decisions of Australian couples. Parents commonly see work and family as to some extent incompatible, and as separate spheres of life with no natural crossover (Maher 2007; OECD 2002; OECD 2004; Probert et al. 2000).

Fertility, Population and Labour Force

Public perceptions of what it means to be a mother, father, parent or non-parent in Australasia have implications for the present social context, as well as for the future. People who perceive it to be difficult to manage the demands of both parenting and career may opt out of either one in favour of concentrating on the other. People withdrawing from paid work to raise children potentially contributes to lower family incomes, a shortfall in the contemporary labour force and the absence of a working-parent role model in some children's lives. Conversely, people deciding not to parent, or postponing parenting, potentially contributes to a decline in fertility rates that has repercussions for the level and structure of the national population and the "financial sustainability of social protection systems" (OECD 2004:10). Although Maher (2007:161) suggests women are most affected by such issues, given that they inevitably "carry the main burden of combining caring and paid employment", it is clear that fathers who, for instance, work long hours to support their families, also experience a burden in combining parenting and employment. In these terms, the key issue is differences in patterns of paid and unpaid work undertaken by mothers and fathers, especially when children are young, and the discrepancy in financial rewards between them.

Australasia is already affected by issues of labour supply and population ageing, and there are cross-national similarities in fertility levels and population and labour-force projections. Despite small overall increases in fertility in New Zealand and Australia over the last decade, both nations experience sub-replacement fertility (Statistics New Zealand 2007). This is perhaps not surprising given that recent census data reveal similar high employment rates for women in the main childbearing age bracket of 20-40 years. Between 60 and 75% of New Zealand women in this age bracket were employed in 2006, as were 60 to 70% of Australian women (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008a; Callister and Didham 2007). New Zealand has high fertility in relation to female employment levels, and in comparison to many other developed...