Integrated Policies to support Work-Life Balance and more Equal Sharing of the Care of Children and the Care of Elders by Men and Women

A Work, Family and Parenting Study that interviewed 1128 New Zealand parents found:

• 59 percent preferred both parents to be in paid work, with about half of these parents considering one parent should have a less demanding job
• 94 percent agreed that housework and childcare should be equally shared when both parents are in paid work but equal sharing of housework only occurs in a third of households where both partners had equally demanding jobs
• 69 percent of men and 60 percent of women indicated that they would prefer to have a job even if they had a reasonable living income without one
• 46 percent of households where one parent was in paid work would prefer both partners to be in paid work and 35 percent of household where both parents were in paid work would prefer only one parent to be in paid work. In other words, a substantial minority of families, however, are not achieving their preferred pattern of paid and unpaid work.

(Ministry of Social Development, 2006: 11-16)

The New Zealand picture, of a higher proportion of couples preferring both partners to work than occurs in reality, is also true in other countries.

One of the dilemmas facing families, and women in particular, is heightened by the long working hours of the fathers of young children. In New Zealand, employed fathers of dependent children work an average of 48 hours a week, in the OECD only fathers in the UK work longer average hours. An EEO Trust on-line survey, however, indicated that 80 percent of fathers would like to spend more time with their children (Callister, 2005: 14,15). For individual couples, the long working hours of fathers will tend to increase the direct costs to mothers of engaging in work as their partner will not typically be available to share elements of care such as being home for children after school.

The reasons for unmet preferences are likely to include a lack of affordable, quality childcare, insufficient flexibility in jobs and a lack of sharing of unpaid work in the home (Callister, 2005:7).

• We are now an international leader in the provision of quality early childhood education and higher subsidies are in the pipeline. Plans are underway to meeting the gaps for out-of-school care services and the needs of carers of disabled or sick family members
• Paid parental leave provisions are being re-evaluated with the intention of bringing provisions in line with enabling parents to afford to provide one to one parental care that is in line with their aspirations and with what is best for the health and development of children.
• More flexible work is a must, as many New Zealand parents aspire to work part-time when their children are young. Making flexible work a reality for men is a key priority as workplaces are less likely to see men as needing consideration for family responsibilities. The Work, Parenting and Family study, for example, found that 45 percent of women, but 39 percent of men, agreed strongly that their supervisor cared about the impact of work demands on their personal and family life (Ministry of Social Development, 2006:25). Flexible work is discussed later in this paper.
• The lower average hourly earnings of women is also likely to be a very real barrier to men and women achieving more even sharing of care responsibilities. Because men tend to earn more, family incomes tend to be higher in the short-run if women, rather than men, take on responsibilities for childcare. A review of the gender pay gap in Western Australia identified research that found that while young Australians rejected the male breadwinner and female homemaker model, their aspirations for more equal sharing of work and family were undermined by women earning lower incomes (Todd and Eveline, 2004:21).

As the baby boomers age, larger numbers of people will live with chronic illness and disability for longer periods, and the numbers of older people needing informal support will increase. There is no evidence to suggest there will be a greater care burden on the "sandwich" generation, that is people caring for children and older family members at the same time, but it is likely that more mid-life and young elderly adults will be faced with elder care responsibilities at the same time as they are in part-time or full time work (Petrie, 2006).

Nowadays, typical elder care givers are women in their mid-forties working full-time and women are five times more likely than men to retire early from work due to elder care responsibilities (Davey and Keeling, 2004). Where part-time employment options are not promising, there is also a greater risk that people with caring responsibilities will leave the workforce. The Australian Taskforce on Care Costs found that more than one in four Australian workers with caring responsibilities have already reduced their working hours due to the high cost of care, and 25% have considered leaving the workforce altogether^[1].

While some women and men willingly opt to care full-time for older or sick family members, NACEW considers that, as is the case for most parents, most carers are likely to want to stay attached to the workforce. With a shrinking workforce ahead, it will be critical that employers take cognizance of elder care as well as childcare responsibilities, and that the emerging policies for carers create enough support around families to enable family members to balance their work and their caring responsibilities.

Quality Flexible Work across all Industries and Occupations

"There's talk of family-friendly workplaces and flexible hours. But there are many jobs where, if women want to foot it with the men, they too have to, have to be seen to - work 12-hour days and be totally dedicated...Talented and committed women who don't want to burn out, and who want to have children, they get the message that they can't foot it. They're at a loss. That's the real glass ceiling. It's often written off as 'choice' but that's not good enough...We need to make it admirable for everyone to have a life as well as a job, instead of valuing the single-minded candidates for cardiac arrest because of their 'ambition'. Do we want the world to be run by people - men or women - who don't know that?"

(Kim Hill in Else, 1996:123, 124)

"I work fulltime and would rather work 30 hours a week to maintain the work/family balance. This isn't an option for me. If I change jobs or work part-time I run the risk of doing a lower-paid job and a job not utilising my skills." (EEO Trust, 2005)

Quality flexible work is the key to using the skills of the workforce more effectively and enabling parents and others with caring responsibilities to achieve work-life balance. It will also be important to encouraging the growing older population to keep contributing their skills to the New Zealand economy.

As NACEW's investigation shows, part-time work is often precarious. This is not just tough for the part-time workers who get low pay and have little in the way of security; it also represents a waste of many of these workers' skills. A growing body of evidence points to poorer skill utilisation amongst part-time workers than full-time workers. The Equal Opportunities Commission in the UK concluded from a study on part-time work that about one third to a half of part-time workers were working in jobs below their potential. The longer people are in part-time work, the lower their wages are likely to be, even if they return to full-time work. Where there is a high demand for part-time jobs, employers can also hold down wages. This particularly affects carers, who often have restricted geographical mobility, as well as hours of work.

Other studies found that both female and male part-time workers receive substantially less training than their full-time counterparts (Francesconi and Gosling, 2005). Being in part-time work entails a greater risk of not advancing within one's career, and not being able to switch back to full-time work (Drago et al, 2004).

Women are overrepresented in occupations that are part-time, female-dominated, and low paid (Francesconi and Gosling, 2005, Manning and Petrongolo, 2005, Lee, 2004, Jaumotte, 2003). In three of the top ten occupations for New Zealand women, (sales assistant, cleaners and care givers) the majority are employed part-time. Conversely, few men in male dominated occupations are employed part-time (Else and Bishop, 2003).

Thirty six percent of New Zealand women in work, work part-time, compared to the OECD average of 19 percent. Part-time workers in New Zealand also work shorter hours on average than part-time workers in most OECD countries. Despite the high proportion working part-time, only 61% of parents in the Work, Family and Parenting study had permanent part-time work available in their current job, and this was more available in women's jobs (78 percent) than men's (44 percent). (Ministry of Social Development, 2006: 29,30).

The need to work part-time propels some New Zealand women into self-employment where almost half of all women work part-time. Self-employment, however, does not necessarily mean better quality of work or better earnings. Whilst self employed women are rapidly becoming a feature of the small and medium enterprise landscape, women-owned businesses tend to use fewer resources than men's business and generate less income.

Australian research found that it was harder for women working part-time to increase their hours to full-time than for men working part-time; they attributed this to employers being more likely to regard men as "ideal workers" even when they are working reduced hours. The study also found both men and women working full-time faced a similar level of difficulty in reducing hours and that both women and men professionals and managers had more difficulty retaining their jobs on a part-time basis than other occupational categories. (Drago et al, 2004).

McPherson argues that better recognition of those who want to work part-time is key to improving productivity, as the availability of part-time work attracts mothers who would not work full-time. She cites evidence that part-time work can be successfully undertaken by senior managers and professionals and that a US study found that providing part-time work options to highly educated, high income working mothers meant around a quarter stayed in work because of the part-time option and that legislative provisions create an entitlement to work part-time in some jurisdictions. As the age at which women have children increases, there is a need for part-time work at more senior levels so they can maintain their productivity (McPherson, 2005). Walby and Olsen similarly argue that part-time work contains a legacy of historic discrimination against married women in the workforce and that the concentration of the part-time workforce in low skill, low paid and low-productivity sectors is not inevitable (Walby and Olsen, 2002: 25-41).

NACEW considers it is important to focus on quality flexible work being made reasonably available to all workers, and not just being available to women and in "women's jobs" as this is likely to reinforce the disadvantages faced by mothers and other carers. The argument for enabling more jobs to be part-time and/or flexible, is likely to gain weight as more and more services are provided on a 24/7 basis; in these environments, no one is always at work. Attracting greater participation by an ageing workforce is also likely to be enhanced by offering more flexible work and shorter hour jobs.

While there are examples of businesses who are making productivity gains from offering more flexibility to their employers, Walby and Olsen stress that business initiatives on their own will not necessarily be comprehensive and address all the issues that are evident when looking at the "whole economy" case. Within most New Zealand businesses, Equal Employment Opportunities issues and policies are not yet front of mind, despite the growing diversity of the workforce. A review of Equal Employment Opportunities in New Zealand that assessed progress since 1990 concluded that:

"for the most part, labour market outcomes for women, people with disabilities, Māori, and Pacific peoples have not improved greatly during this period ...When the New Zealand case is benchmarked against other countries and their EEO policies, it becomes clear that, on a number of indicators of EEO policy effort, New Zealand now lags behind Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom...over the past decade or so, little has happened to open up greater employment opportunities for traditionally disadvantaged groups." (Mintrom and True, 2004)

The Implementation of Pay Equity and Pathways that reduce Gender Segregation in Occupations

"One of the UK's financial institutions discovered that (its)...pay gap had arisen because women were concentrated in the lower grades, primarily the "staff" grade which covered many of those working in local offices. Over 80 per cent of those employed at this grade were women, giving rise to concerns that a high proportion of women were remaining static within the organisation while the men moved through to higher grades. This presented a business problem both because it was felt that many of the women were operating below their potential and thus depriving the company of valuable skills and expertise, and that such stasis at a single grade impeded the promotion opportunities for those below them in the organisation" (Kingsmill, 2001)

As well as considerations of fair pay, the lack of recognition of the full range of skills and responsibilities involved in many female dominated occupations is inefficient.

Where occupations are undervalued, "productive potential" tends to be constrained as a consequence of both inadequate recognition of qualifications, and limited access to training or career paths. The establishment of autonomy along with pay parity for midwives is an example of a productivity gain to society through the recognition that midwives had the skills to practice autonomously (Iversen, 2004). NACEW supports the focus on achieving pay equity in the public sector being extended to the private sector in the near future.

Achieving pay equity is a starting point, not an end point. Productivity growth can result from recognizing occupational segregation and the limited advancement pathways available in many women's jobs. There are advantages to individuals, firms and government if there is optimal use made of the skills of working age people, including making more effective use of the spend on tertiary education.

Reducing rigid occupational segregation is important to meet skill needs in the future. Manual jobs are expected to decrease and jobs needing communication skills are expected to increase. Generic skills such as literacy, numeracy, and problem solving are predicted to become more important. In addition, flatter management structures and decentralized decision-making are raising the need for workers to display judgement, leadership and initiative. The specific skills needed for particular jobs are also likely to change over time as the pace of technological change continues to increase. Taken together, these trends suggest that workers in the future will need to be more versatile, multi-skilled and constantly learning. The potential productivity gains that come from worker mobility and a learning culture within organisations has been recognised by the Workplace Productivity Working Group (2004: 78).

A second reason for addressing occupational segregation is that it is associated with skill shortages. Attracting and retaining staff becomes more difficult when a part of the workforce is deterred from entering an occupation. All of the sixteen trades and most of the ten professions, deemed as experiencing skill shortages in recent Department of Labour assessments, were male or female dominated occupations (Department of Labour, 2004). Recruitment and retention difficulties are more prevalent in female-dominated occupations, such as hairdressing and nursing, suggesting remuneration is an additional factor.

Occupational segregation has broken down in many of the traditionally male professional occupations such as law, medicine and dentistry. It is, however, still entrenched in most trades and in specialist professional areas. Less than 10 percent of the recruits to the government's flagship Modern Apprenticeship programme have been women, and the programme has not yet impacted on gender segregation within the traditional trades. Similarly, there are few men in the caring and early education professions.

A UK study found that while many employers were open to placing both women and men in non-traditional occupations, career education and work experience placements were strongly segregated by gender. Interviews with students, however, found a significant proportion of both boys and girls were open to considering non-traditional work (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2005). A UK review of women's employment and pay similarly concluded that the key to tackling the concentration of women in lower paying occupational sectors is to focus on education and influencing the aspirations and assumptions made in childhood and early adulthood (Kingsmill, 2001). The Workforce Productivity Challenge has also identified a need to strengthen links between education and training providers and employers' skill needs (The Workplace Productivity Working Group, 2004:70).

NACEW consider the time is right to pay more attention to the quality and type of qualifications women are obtaining, rather than simply the quantity of qualifications. Exposure to a broader range of job options at school appears to be important to opening doors beyond the stereotypes of gender, race and class. Teachers' expectations also impact on pupil performance; in the New Zealand context this may be an important consideration in addressing the lower achievement levels of Māori and Pacific girls at school as this, in turn, impacts on their later education, training and employment options. As women's education achievements and labour force participation rates both increase, the rationale for ensuring women maximize their use of skills, regardless of whether they take a break from employment or choose to work part-time, continues to strengthen.

Learning and training opportunities are available throughout the lifecycle

Despite the general recovery of employment in New Zealand, women are slightly more likely than men to be unemployed. Māori and Pacific women face higher levels of unemployment, compared with Pakeha women.

The continued high unemployment rates of Māori and Pacific people, and the fact that they have fallen at a much slower rate than Pakeha unemployment, points to some failure in the matching of opportunities for skill development, employment and training for sufficient Māori and Pacific women, as well as the growing group of women of other, non-European, ethnicities. Attention to retraining, as well as education and skills development for school leavers, is critical for the wellbeing of the growing next generation of children who are Māori, Pacific or other non-European ethnicity.

Retraining opportunities, currently open to people accessing income maintenance benefits, need to be opened up to include at home parents (mainly mothers) who have an earning partner, even though this group is vulnerable to poor quality employment and people in low paid, part-time work with no opportunity to lift their skills and incomes.

There are high costs to individuals and the welfare system from workers whose employment is intermittent and low paid, and there would be economic and social benefits from providing them with opportunities to revitalize their skills or retrain, and re-enter the labour force in jobs where they can be their most productive.

Importantly, being low paid also limits future returns when employers react to low wages by under capitalizing, and substituting cheap labour for capital, that is lessening capital intensity, especially at the lower end of the market (Hyman, 2006). This appears to be happening in New Zealand:

"..Capital intensity in New Zealand has not been increasing as fast as in Australia for nearly 25 years. Between 1995 and 2002, lower capital intensity explains 70 percent of the difference in output per hour worked. Whereas the cost of labour relative to capital has been rising in Australia, it has fallen by 20 percent in New Zealand between 1987 and 2002...It is to be expected that New Zealand enterprises would therefore tend to adopt less capital intensive production methods." (Hall and Scobie, 2005)

Low income, insecure work and spells out of work, are a greater risk for women who have less education and those who have time out of the workforce. Divorce has increased, and post separation financial settlements tend to provide ongoing support for children, but not former partners. Thus, lifetime income sharing, that once enabled mothers to confidently withdraw from the workforce, cannot be guaranteed. These trends also increase the fiscal risks for government of not attending to the goal of economic independence for women. Retraining opportunities are important to bolstering productivity, pay rates, and employment levels. Adult apprenticeships, especially if available on a part-time basis, may be a lever to lift the skills of precarious workers and in turn, raise their wages and reduce skill shortages.

In the New Zealand context, the concentration of less educated women amongst sole parent beneficiaries, and of Māori and Pacific women within this group also creates a danger of cementing ethnic and gender disparities within these families.

Finally, ensuring all workers have up-to-date and transferable skills will be an important protection against the risk of job insecurity and lower pay in a future where more employment opportunities are expected to be non-standard employment - part-time, temporary, casual and self employed.