A Pregnant Pause: Paid Maternity Leave in Australia

Abstract

It is more than 50 years since the International Labour Organisation recommended paid maternity leave for working women, yet Australia still lacks such legislation. This paper provides a context for the current debate about paid maternity leave in Australia. We argue that a discernible shift in locating the responsibility for paid maternity leave from the public arena to enterprise bargaining and further to the confidential domain of company policy has occurred in Australia. This shift is not improving the position of women in the workforce. The data presented demonstrates the limits of enterprise bargaining for equitably providing paid maternity leave. We also question the efficacy of a reliance on business case strategies. We suggest that to overcome this pregnant pause in the provision of paid maternity leave for Australian working women a broader-based approach is required. In this model, regulation strategies, both legal and industrial, play a part alongside business case strategies.