Women earning more, but have the stress to match

Women are working more than ever, with earnings growth outstripping that of men in recent years.

Alex Hill and Anne Finch at home in Perth with 13-month-old twins Henry, left, and Felix. Picture: Colin Murty

Women are working more than ever, with earnings growth outstripping that of men in recent years.

But increased workforce participation and status has not been without consequences for some, evidenced by a sharp increase in childcare costs and the number of women who claim they struggle with the stress of balancing work and family life.

According to the latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, women’s employment hit 71 per cent in 2017 — the highest rate since the survey began in 2001 — with 39 per cent full-time.

Meanwhile, the average salary of full-time female workers rose 24 per cent over the period, while men’s salaries increased 21 per cent. The proportion of couples in which the male and female partner contributed equally to household income has also increased, from 21 per cent to 23 per cent.

But women continue to spend significantly more time on housework and caring for children. Even in couples with similar earnings, women dedicated on average 14 hours a week more than their male partner to unpaid duties.

HILDA co-author Inga Lass said combining paid employment with raising children was now the norm among Australian parents, giving rise to “work-family conflict” that describes situations where “the demands of work and the family role are incompatible so that participation in one role is made more difficult by participating in the other”.

“The conflict between work and family life can flow in both ­directions: work demands can ­interfere with the family role … and family demands can interfere with the work role,” Dr Lass said.

Family pressures - percentage of men and women

“Work-family conflict may have consequences for the wellbeing of individuals and their family members, as well as for their work performance.”

Anne Finch loves her twin sons Henry and Felix, but she also loves her job and felt compelled to return to work as a dietician when they were 11 months old.

“It’s nice to be able to miss them,” said the 33-year-old mother who works for the West Australian Cancer Council three days a week. Even the punishing cost of childcare — $130 per child per day, or potentially more than $1500 a fortnight — did not deter her from going back to work part-time.

“My career is an important part of my identity, and regaining that has been really good for me,” she says. “The energy you get from the other parts of your life you bring back to the family. It’s been really positive for me and the family.”

What she hadn’t realised was that sharing child duties would also suit her husband, Alex Hill, who has adjusted his own work schedule as a software developer to four days a week.

“It’s so good and I think we have a better understanding of what the other one has been going through in the last year,” Ms Finch said.

“He knows what it’s like to be home with the twins all day, and I know what it’s like to be away from them all day.”

She says it is easier for women going back into a female-dominated workplace than men like her husband going part-time. “I get a lot of sympathy and understanding from the women I work with, a sense of community that perhaps Alex doesn’t get. There’s not many men in his industry who take time off for parenting.”

The high cost of childcare hit home because of a income-related delay in receiving the childcare subsidy. But when it comes it will halve their fees. “It costs us $130 per child per day, so they’re with Alex one day and grandparents one day.”

While previously work-family conflict was an issue that largely affected men, it is now impacting on women. Since 2001, average work-family conflict scores — garnered from a questionnaire asking parents whether they miss family activities due to work or whether work-related pressure makes family time less enjoyable — have slightly fallen for fathers, while those of mothers have increased. After accounting for worker and job characteristics, fathers now have significantly lower work- family conflict than mothers.

Sasha Wicker, who runs fashion boutique Poppy Lane in Melbourne’s inner west, juggles up to 60 hours work a week with raising daughters Grace, 8 and Stevie, 3. Her husband, Paul, works similar long hours in a family business.

It can be stressful at times, with Ms Wicker likening it to a game of Jenga. “You can only take so many pieces out of the tower before it falls over, and we all know what happens when the tower topples over,” she said. “But I don’t get stressed as much now as when I worked for someone else. There is a certain amount of flexibility when you have your own business and we share the family responsibilities equally. To be honest, the thing that suffers the most is quality time with my husband.”

The survey also highlighted the impact of rising childcare costs. Since 2002, the median weekly spending for formal childcare for a preschooler increased 145 per cent to $153 a child. This was due to the increased uptake of childcare services and rising hourly rates. Survey respondents indicated rising concerns about costs and availability.