New roles address changing face of population

Not so long ago in a previous century, women were relegated to second-class status in the workplace and, somewhat more subliminally, in the family. But those days are long gone, as an exclusive report in today’s edition of The Sunday Telegraph shows.

In half a million households around Australia today, women are the major breadwinner.

The news, while welcomed, is stunning and goes a long way to changing the demographic face of our population. Where once, women were expected to be the exclusive homemakers of family life, they are now encouraged to be the primary income-earner in many cases. And indeed, as our report shows, they are willing and able to take on that burdensome role.

Of course, this means that more men are running the domestic businesses, and businesses they are, that keep our country afloat, which is a good thing.

Australia is a country that is continually changing and evolving in a way that will benefit future generations. But the statistics illuminate the ongoing problems in child care and the oft-debated issues of paid maternity and paternity leave.

While many companies have introduced provisions for paid maternity and paternity leave, Australia is still about 10 years away from introducing a mandatory system in which all women who decide to have children are paid while taking a brief respite from the workplace to care for newborn children, according to the director of the Equal Opportunity and Women in the Workplace agency, Anna McPhee.

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We live in an era in which women and men have delayed having children while focusing on a career and, as a result, Australia has a perilously declining birth rate.

Not so long ago, the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, encouraged families to have three children, one for the mother, one for the father and one for the country.

Such encouragement comes with obligations. The Government must ensure that companies provide enough good-quality childcare places and that they are able to pay mothers and fathers who need to take leave while caring for a new baby.

Children are the future; they are future employees and taxpayers.

But children are expensive, and reversing a declining birth rate comes with mutual obligations.

Governments and companies have a duty to provide.

Mothers have a special place in all our hearts and, given that we celebrate mums today, The Sunday Telegraph thought it would be more than appropriate to extend our wishes to all mothers, but specifically to a handful of Australian mums who have been doing it tough in recent weeks.

When taking time to reflect on the meaning and joys of motherhood today, spare a thought for Carolyn Martin, the devoted mum of five-year-old burns survivor and car crash victim, Sophie Delezio. And take time to say a prayer of thanks on behalf of the mothers of Tasmanian miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb.

These three women typify motherly love in that their resilience and strength of character saw them refuse to give up on their children, no matter what age or circumstance. So, to mums everywhere, here’s wishing you all a happy and special Mother’s Day.