International Women’s Day: celebrating women carers and highlighting the role employers can play to support their women employees who are also carers.
© Danielle Robertson Consulting Pty Ltd t/as DR Care Solutions
In celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD, 8 March 2022), I’d like to acknowledge the work of women carers and highlight the role employers can play in supporting their women employees who are also carers.
Unpaid care has, on the whole, been undertaken by women and, up until the late 20th century, this saw fewer women participating in paid work.
Thanks to pioneering women, like my late mother Dena Blackman[1], things have changed. There are now almost equal numbers of women and men participating in the Australian workforce[2].
Despite this emancipation, women continue to carrying the load when it comes to care. Currently, 12.3% of all women in Australia identify as a carer, and women represent seven out of 10 primary carers[3].
The peak age for a female carer is 55, while the peak age for male carers is 75[3].
The problem with this picture is that 55 is the peak age for anyone’s career. Yet at this age the majority of women find themselves transitioning from child rearing to caring for relatives or friends.
In their 30s and 40s, these women have juggled their work and child rearing roles, and on entering their 50s are ready to position themselves for those top jobs at executive and board level. Yet the brakes are applied on receiving the phone call, or after the family conference, that someone close to them is not doing well and needs their help.
So while we have 50/50 status in the workforce, less that 20% of CEOs are women[4].
If we are to change that percentage of women in leadership, employers need to pitch in and give their talented women the opportunity to hit the big time roles by offering paid care as part of their employee benefits.
We’ll never see these women at leadership level if employers simply offer project, part-time or casual roles while these women go through their ‘caring stage of life’. These women need to be working full-time and they need employer support to pay for professional carers to help reduce their carer load.
In making such support available, employers help endorse the notion that it is acceptable, and in most cases preferable, to outsource the care of loved ones by retaining professional carers. There should be no guilt attached to outsourcing care. It is invariably best for all parties; reducing untold anxiety and depression.
So to the women out there - when that next employee satisfaction survey lands in your inbox or during your next annual professional development interview, suggest to your employer that they offer subsidised professional care to help those colleagues who are struggling to keep their career on track due to their care load.
You’d be surprised to know how many employers out there are now providing this employee benefit!
DR Care Solutions provides a Corporate Care Concierge Service[5] to employers who see the benefit of providing professional care support to their valued employees.
This service sets up care support for those valued employees who simply do not have the time to provide regular care and do not know where to start with arranging professional care for their loved ones.
If you would like this service introduced to your employer, or if you would like to introduce it in your workplace for your employees, please don’t hesitate to call me, Danielle Robertson, for an initial discussion on how to set up this type of care support in your workplace.
[1] Vale Dena Blackman
[2] Australian Government: Australia's Gender Equality Scorecard
[3] Australian Bureau of Statistics: Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings
[4] Australian Government Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) 2020-2021 Data Snapshot
[5] DR Care Solutions' Corporate Care Concierge Service