I Introduction

A Background

All member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including Australia, guarantee some form of paid parental leave to new parents. These policies differ substantially in the duration of leave provided, amount of benefits, job protection and eligibility. This monograph critically examines paid parental leave in Australia compared with the global framework and the position within select similar OECD member countries. The substantial disparity in parental leave policies between Australia and these OECD member countries raises questions about the effect of Australian policies on gender inequality in the workforce, women's workforce participation and child and parental health. The support of new parents is particularly important in Australia as a country facing the problem of the aging population.

A recent survey in Australia reported that three out of four women returning from work following parental leave spend at least four months at home with their child. Parental leave policies serve as a mechanism for providing new parents, especially women, a leave of absence from work. These leave policies aid new parents in preparing for childbirth, recovering from childbirth and adapting to caring for their child. The goal of these policies is to assist parents to balance competing financial and family responsibilities without having to resign one or the other. Professor Brough and her team established in a seminal qualitative research interviewing 81 parents in Australia and New Zealand that current employment transition is perceived as ‘premature and as having adverse personal consequences (e.g., personal health, child attachment and breast-feeding) and organisational consequences (e.g., diminished job commitment and increased turnover intentions).’ Additional research demonstrated synergy in perceived organisational support and ‘dynamic processes of self-efficacy to regulate work and life in facilitating work–family enrichment’. Which means that working parents who are allowed sufficient time for parenting can also be happy and productive employees.

This monograph recognises that parental leave is available to a number of carers; however, the Australian Bureau of Statistics identified that ‘95% of all primary carers leave is taken by mothers.’ For this reason, the focus of this monograph is on mothers. As a rule, the adoptive parents have the same entitlements as biological parents, therefore the discussion of parental leave entitlements will progress without making a distinction between adoptive and biological parents.