I've gotta stop reading the Sydney Morning Herald... or at, the very least, LOML has to stop sending me such thought-provoking articles. Monday it was the
redhead thing, yesterday it was the
women working part-time thing. Goodbye 'light hearted, easy on the eye' post, heeeeellllo 'WTF?' post.
The article proposes that because more Australian women work part-time, we lag behind the rest of the world in terms of equality on the domestic front. In Denmark (darn those pesky Scandanavian cousins that seem to get everything right!) the women mainly work full-time and both partners share the bulk of domestic responsibility. Here in Australia, with many of us working part-time, we're left picking up the domestic slack as well as beavering away at our working responsibilities. So, they conclude that the less a woman is at work in her job, the more likely she is to be scrubbing the floors or looking after children at home.
Cough. I'm just not sure how working full-time is going to help mothers improve this work-life balance. What did I miss? I work part-time (4 days per week, Wednesdays at home) so I can spend more time with my children. So, if working part-time means I'm 'working harder' at that, then I'm very happy indeed. And hats off to mothers who take the 'no-time' approach and focus on their home and raising their children. I think the researchers who made some of these conclusions seem to have forgotten that 'childcare' is actually what's involved when you have children. Caring for children is kinda why we had them!! How can going out to work full-time possibly give you more of that sort of quality of life?
Contrary to popular opinion, the self-cleaning house is still a few years away. So doing the chores is part of the 'life' in work / life balance whether we like it or not. It's the same amount of work involved whether we work full, part or no-time. And (just quietly as I may get shot for saying this) at my place the reason the woman does the bulk of the housework is because the woman demands the bulk of the standards.
So, how can women working full-time give us more time to spend with our children and enhance our lives exactly? Comparing Australia with other countries and then assuming that work sits outside of cultural differences doesn't help anyone. Why not suggest that everyone starts working part-time instead? Because it there's one thing I agree with the research findings about, it's that both the men and women of Australia could do with a bit of a re-think on the hours they devote to their bosses!
What are your thoughts about all of this? How do you manage work and home - part-time or full-time? Or have you chosen to stop working to focus on home? Did your partner ever consider doing the same? Are you happy with your work /life balance? Will I ever stop asking questions?
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