International Women's Day is celebrated all over the globe on March 8. In its 101st year, it is an opportunity to cacknowledge how far we have come, champion debate and policy changes to achieve greater gender equity and dare to dream about where we might go in the future.
Its the future that holds alluring promise, when you consider the ground already covered in achieving rights for women to vote, to access education and health care and to hold a real expectation that they may rise to whatever heights they can with determination, hard work and perseverence.
I am of course referring to women in the developed world, countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US. For women in developing countries it is an entirely different story and the subject of a whole other blog.
So yes we have made great progress, however the statistics, anecdotal stories and evidence gathered by organisations such as UN Women shows us we still have some hard work ahead of us to achieve gender equity.
These are my ideas about the world I'd like to see my two boys go to work in, the changes I believe need to be made to achieve social change that will foster and promote a values adjustment towards gender equity.
* Workplaces will embrace flexibility for men and women to be better able to balance child raising and their careers. To prevent the mass exodus of talented men and women starting their own businesses and taking career breaks, large companies will move to an output based culture rather than a clock-in, clock-out mentality.
* Workplaces will provide educational opportunities for men and women to prepare themselves and skill-up for the demands of juggling career demands and that of a family. Time management, delegation skills, communication workshops, mentoring opportunities will arm men and women with the tools needed for shared parenting whilst balancing the demands of their working life. Rather than fitting family in around work, these educational programs will aim to strike a better balance and allow productive worktime to fit in around quality family time.
* Workplaces will dedicate space for children before and after school hours. Whether its to grab a quick breakfast, finish some homework, get in some extra study before an exam or chill out whilst waiting for Mum or Dad to finish that report with an immovable deadline. The best workplaces will include qualified child care workers and other specialists to assist the children with their needs and value add with self esteem programs, bully awareness workshops and the like.
* Government will provide ample, reasonably priced child care based on strategic research that identifies the actual need for child care places based on geography and demographics rather than a broad brush approach. The child care will include increased placements for under 2 year olds, before and after school care, vacation care and a nanny service for getting children to their before and after school activities as well as providing care for weekends and week nights.
* School children will be educated in social values classes about the equal division of domestic labour, of transparency and fairness in employment and recruitment, about the options for shared parenting whilst balancing a career and how to build strong networks in professional life.
* Government will fund return to work training for those parents (men and women) who choose to take a career break whilst they raise their family. This training can be completed during the child raising years or when all the children reach primary school age. The training will be offered in flexible delivery modes including full time, part time and online and will include University, TAFE and other vocational operators across a broad range of industry sectors for roles from entry level to executive.
Big dreams? Perhaps.. it wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of living in a fantasy world!
But if we don't dream big, we will achieve small - or not at all.
In the words of Walt Disney “If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing started with a dream and a mouse."
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