Australia is at a much-needed turning point in work, care and family policy. Australian women, families and communities are struggling to manage the complex demands of work and care.
Rapid social and demographic change, alongside new workplace, labour market trends and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, requires a policy revamp that will allow all Australians to work, care and be cared for.
In seven chapters authored by leading scholars in the field, At a Turning Point: Work, care and family policies in Australia provides a comprehensive account of key policy areas that shape the experience of work and care across the life course. These include reproductive wellbeing, paid parental leave, early childhood education and care, flexible work, elder and disability care, and equitable systems of tax and transfer payments.
At a Turning Point argues that a new social contract that puts gender equality, economic security and the well-being of carers and those they care for at the centre of policy design is essential to national productivity and prosperity.
It is the foundation of a good society.
Recenzijos
This is an excellent and much needed book on the subject of work, care and family policies in Australia.
Russell D. Lansbury, Labour and Industry 2024, 13
Preface by Marian Baird, Elizabeth Hill and Sydney Colussi
Chapter 1: The Australian policy context: Opportunities for a new social and
gender contract by Elizabeth Hill and Marian Baird
Chapter
2. Reproductive policies: An expanding approach to work and care by
Sydney Colussi, Elizabeth Hill and Marian Baird
Chapter
3. Parental leave policy: Time to grow by Marian Baird and Gillian
Whitehouse
Chapter
4. Early childhood education and care: Policy renewal for strong
foundations by Elizabeth Hill, Elizabeth Adamson and Deborah Brennan
Chapter
5. Flexible work policy: Building good flex across the life course
by Rae Cooper, Frances Flanagan and Meraiah Foley
Chapter
6. Informal care policy: Needs of older people and people with
disability or chronic illness by Myra Hamilton, Sara Charlesworth and Fiona
Macdonald
Chapter
7. Tax and welfare policy: Removing embedded gender inequalities in
work and care by Miranda Stewart
Contributors
Index
Professor Marian Baird AO is an international leader in research on industrial relations, women, work and care across the life course. She is Australias leading scholar on parental leave, working with governments, unions and employers for several decades on supporting women at this critical stage of their reproductive lives. In March 2023 Marian was appointed as a member of the Fair Work Commission Expert Panel and will sit on the Annual Wage Review Panel. Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill is a leading researcher on the future of women, work and care in Australia and the Asian region and has a strong history of research leadership in this field. She is founder and co-convenor of the Australian Work and Family Policy Roundtable and Deputy Director of the Gender Equality in Working Life (GEWL) Research Initiative at the University of Sydney. Elizabeth has extensive research experience on womens working lives, including as Chief Investigator of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Womens Working Futures Project. Sydney Colussi is an early career scholar in the fields of socio-legal and policy studies at the forefront of research in the area of gender, work and reproductive health. She is co-convenor of The Body@Work Project and member of the Women, Work and Policy Research Group and Work + Family Policy Roundtable. Sydney is a regular commentator on public and workplace policies for reproductive wellbeing.
