It should be illegal to be a stay-at-home mum.
That’s the argument being put forward by a prominent magazine columnist, who says that the double standard applied to getting welfare in Australia is akin to treating single mothers and mothers who choose to stay at home to care for their children with “kid gloves.”
“Governments of all persuasions [have been] traditionally wary to tackle the unfair tax concessions enjoyed by one-income households for fear of inciting voting fury,” Sarrah Le Marquand, the editor-in-chief of Stellar magazine argues.
But instead of receiving benefits or tax breaks for staying at home to care for their children, she reckons women should be forced to meet their “employment responsibilities” once their child is of school age.
“Only when the female half of the population is expected to hold down a job and earn money to pay the bills in the same way that men are routinely expected to do will we see things change for the better for either gender,” she writes.
Le Marquand was writing in response to a recent OECD report that found one of the biggest losses to the Australian economy came from women who chose to stay at home or work part time.
“One of the areas of greatest untapped potential in the Australian labour force is inactive and/or part-time working women, especially those with children,” the OECD said.
Australia has one of the lowest female employment participation rates among the OECD countries, Le Marquand notes.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s member states include the US, UK, Canada, and most of Europe.
“Rather than wail about the supposed liberation in a woman’s right to choose to shun paid employment, we should make it a legal requirement that all parents of children of school-age or older are gainfully employed,” the editor concludes.