Joiner Flourishing Pathway Blog Thirteen - Motherhood Impediments - Career, Money, & Education

In this blog we explore JFP Principle 13 – There remain significant structural impediments to undertaking maternal work and until understood and acknowledged by governments, and fundamental supports provided, such as wages, superannuation, and educational support, maternal work will continue to be difficult to undertake, undermining the wellbeing of families. 

In JFP Blog 3 Mothers and Fathers I controversially suggest after reviewing the research that the best case scenario for infants is that their mothers are supported to undertake the full-time nurturing role of their children for at least the first 18 months of their lives, and thereafter an attachment figure until the child is three. I’m devoting two blogs to discussing the structural impediments that arise from this suggestion. This one will address career, money, and education, and JFP Blog 14 Motherhood Impediments - Psychological Issues will as the title suggests address the psychological issues.

Career

One of the most obvious issues arising from mothers taking time out of the paid workforce is the loss of career and possible problems associated with re-entering the workforce. There is the worry that a woman may not stay in touch with developments in her area of employment leaving her less competitive when returning to work. Many also worry about how to explain their absence from the paid workforce to a potential employer, as saying ‘I chose to spend three years (for example) raising my children’ is often not accepted as a credible explanation.

But is this really a loss of career or just a perception of loss? The following is only anecdotal but I have now met four men who took 3 – 7 years out of the workforce to parent full-time, each of whom said they did not consider their time away from paid work as a loss of career or problematic and simply applied for positions and resumed paid work after an absence.

However, it must be acknowledged that many women are ‘forced’ back to work in teaching and nursing professions for instance, when unable to negotiate extensions to their maternity leave, as de-registration may result.

There are four things that could alleviate these problems. Firstly, governments could increase maternity leave and legislate to require employers to extend their maternity leave entitlements. Secondly, they could encourage employers to keep women up to date with changes occurring in their area of employment while on maternity leave, so there is no skill loss. Thirdly, they could incentivise employers to streamline re-employment processes. Precisely the same ideas would be required if fathers (partners) were to take the second eighteen months of their child’s life from work.

Fourthly, the attributes developed while undertaking maternal work need to be recognised. Hansen and Hansen (2015) outline a lists of skills that employers look for, such as; analytical/research skills; computer/technical literacy; flexibility/adaptability/managing multiple priorities; interpersonal abilities; leadership/management skills; multicultural sensitivity/awareness; planning/organising; problem-solving/reasoning/creativity; and team work (pp. 1-3). If we cross-check these skills with maternal work, we can see that many, if not all these competencies are enhanced while undertaking the primary caring role of an infant. General management skills are undoubtedly fostered when we reorganise our lives along with another’s 24 hours a day and spend a great deal of time researching how to manage our infants. Psychological skills are improved when learning to navigate, negotiate, listen, and respond to another’s unspoken interactions. Financial skills are honed when accompanied by reductions in income. Social skills are expanded as we grow/learn/engage in close psychological negotiations with our babies, join playgroups, nursing mother groups, early learning groups etcetera.

The personal growth and development maternal work fosters has not been appreciated or valued to any degree. It is one of the great failures of feminism. The growth trajectory that takes place when women shift to being full-time mother’s ought to be viewed positively by employers, and could be spruiked in government funded campaigns.

Wages

Until maternal work is paid, taking time out of the workforce results in a loss of income, or for those with maternity leave a few months’ pay before contemplating whether to return to work or become financially dependent. In a world where most women have previously enjoyed monetary independence prior to giving birth, it is often confronting being faced with the loss of income and thus becoming financially dependent. It can also be confronting for men/partner to have to share what has previously been theirs alone – their income.

Australians have much lower parental leave entitlements than those in many European countries, but greater than those in the USA, for instance. In the USA an absence of a fully funded nationally provided healthcare system, or nationally paid parental leave, coupled with lower wage structures, mean parents are even less able to afford to take time out of the workforce after childbirth. This is particularly so for sole parent families (Crittenden 2001; Lerner 2010; Warren & Tyagi 2004). Yet, according to Warren and Tyagi (2004), poverty is not necessarily averted when families earn two incomes. In The Two Income Trap, they explain how the costs associated with earning a second income, often result in families being little better off financially than those on single incomes. Warren and Tyagi’s research into bankruptcies showed most were middle class and from two income families (2004, p. 7). This, they say, suggests financial structures of society do not support families whether they have one or two incomes, and I agree. Society has been set around both financial structures and a male work/life agenda (Manne 2008), rather than the building blocks of society – a healthy next generation and the need for flourishing families to raise them. There is thus a moral imperative for governments to adequately resource full-time nurturing until the child is of an age where they can self-regulate and manage time away from their primary attachment figure.

It can also be argued that current childcare subsidies in Australia, unfairly financially disadvantage families who elect to provide care for their own children – the first step may be to pay parents the equivalent of childcare subsidies to raise their children. There is good reason to have a redistribution of financial goods incentivising mothers (or partners/grandparents) to nurture full-time during this critical period. All costs associated with the provision of such a wage, would, I suggest, be recouped in the long-term, as fewer mental health and other ameliorative services would be required.

Superannuation

Another problem associated with taking time out of paid employment is obviously the long-term financial disadvantage associated with the interruption to superannuation payments. Hartnell reported in a 2016 ABC news story that ‘Australian women retire with just over half the amount of super as men, and one in three women retire with no super at all’ (30 Apr 2016). This is not a situation that ought to continue.

Therefore, government policy ought to ensure women are not financially disadvantaged in their later years by either directly providing superannuation payments or negotiating with employers to continue to provide such payments while on maternity leave. Critics may say that financial systems could not afford such a cost, however, it is instructive to remember that similar arguments were put forward in Australia in the 1970s when it was suggested that all employees ought to be paid superannuation. It was claimed that making such payments would see the collapse of many businesses. Such a measure has not proven disastrous for business, industry, or government.

Education

Another impediment to undertaking maternal work, are the feelings of inadequacy that come with the role. Mothers are thrown into a new 24 hour a day position without training, information, or respite. Thus, throwing feelings of incompetence into the no income, status, or respect quagmire.

Infant neuroscientific research, which I’ve outlined in previous blogs, is deemed important enough to be regularly taught to students studying psychological based subjects at university, so it seems almost indefensible that there is no mechanism to disseminate such information to those who need it the most, parents. It’s perplexing when Australia, like other Western countries, demand that teachers undertake specific long-term training to teach children while parents, children’s first and most important teachers, are not provided any training. Yet evidence shows parents getting it wrong has potentially greater deleterious effects on the infant’s future life than inadequate formal education.

While there are a variety of parenting classes in Australia which we know improve attachment outcomes (Joiner 2022), they are offered infrequently and on an ad hoc basis, usually reserved for parents deemed ‘at risk’. It seems ludicrous that governments do not provide free universal education to parents, informing them of the latest neuroscience on how to care for their infant’s emotional, social, and behavioural wellbeing, particularly when antenatal classes are routinely available. This is despite thirty or so years of confirmation, that the zero to three-year age group is when the greatest amount of foundational brain development and learning takes place.

Parents are their children’s principal teachers, yet in many ways they are treated as though they are simply child-minding by governments and are left un-resourced. The answer is an easy one – universal nurturing classes which cover the first 1000 days.

We can’t ignore the well documented psychological impact on mothers when moving from a place of work with collegiality, comradery, respect, knowledge, and status to a place of isolation with none of these. Is it any wonder we experience shock, uncertain periods, and frequent bouts of post-natal depression when we take on maternal work. This sudden change of circumstance is explored in the flowing blog, JFP Blog 14.

Bibliography

Crittenden, A 2001, The price of motherhood: Why the most important job in the world is still the least valued, Henry Holt & Co, New York.

Hansen, RS & Hansen, K 2015, 'What do employers really want? Top skills and values employers seek from job-seekers', Quintessential Careers, pp. 1-12, <http://www.quintcareers.com/job_skills_values.html>.

Hartnell, L 30 Apr 2016, 'Superannuation: 1 in 3 women retire with nothing, senate report finds', ABC online News, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-29/one-in-three-women-retire-with-no-super/7370302>.

Joiner, G 2022, The Foundations of Flourishing and Our Responsibility to Infants: An ethical and evidence-based case to challenge the societal acceptance of childcare., Ethics International Press Ltd, UK.

Lerner, S 2010, The war on moms: On life in a family-unfriendly nation, Wiley, US.

Manne, A 2008, 'Love & Money: the family and the free market', Quarterly Essay, no. 28, pp. 1-90.

Warren, E & Tyagi, AW 2004, The two income trap: Why middle-class parents are going broke, Basic Books, New York.