The government should have used the jobs summit to pave the way for a more generous paid parental leave scheme to support female entrepreneurs and get more women into technology start-ups, says Rachel Yang, a partner at venture capital firm Giant Leap.
Ms Yang said women could be discouraged from moving into start-ups as employees or founders by what they saw as a lack of financial stability. Stronger government support through increasing paid parental leave to 26 weeks and making childcare cheaper would counter that, making the start-up sector a less risky career choice for women.
“The government has missed an opportunity to improve the paid parental leave scheme in its immediate initiatives,” she said. “Currently, our government-funded scheme is the second worst in the developed world, so why wouldn’t we try to catch up and do more to help close the gender pay gap?”
While increasing Commonwealth-funded paid parental leave from 18 to 26 weeks and bringing forward childcare subsidies gained support from unions, some independent MPs and advocacy groups such as The Parenthood at last week’s Jobs and Skills Summit, they were not one of the 36 immediate initiatives agreed to at the event.
“Start-ups are often so small that financially it’s challenging to actually support longer maternity and parental leave policies because there’s a financial burden,” Ms Yang said, adding that some start-ups run with just enough funding to operate for a year.
Continue reading: https://www.afr.com/technology/the-jobs-summit-s-missed-opportunities-to-get-more-women-into-tech-20220902-p5bey5
Ms Yang said women could be discouraged from moving into start-ups as employees or founders by what they saw as a lack of financial stability. Stronger government support through increasing paid parental leave to 26 weeks and making childcare cheaper would counter that, making the start-up sector a less risky career choice for women.
“The government has missed an opportunity to improve the paid parental leave scheme in its immediate initiatives,” she said. “Currently, our government-funded scheme is the second worst in the developed world, so why wouldn’t we try to catch up and do more to help close the gender pay gap?”
While increasing Commonwealth-funded paid parental leave from 18 to 26 weeks and bringing forward childcare subsidies gained support from unions, some independent MPs and advocacy groups such as The Parenthood at last week’s Jobs and Skills Summit, they were not one of the 36 immediate initiatives agreed to at the event.
“Start-ups are often so small that financially it’s challenging to actually support longer maternity and parental leave policies because there’s a financial burden,” Ms Yang said, adding that some start-ups run with just enough funding to operate for a year.
Continue reading: https://www.afr.com/technology/the-jobs-summit-s-missed-opportunities-to-get-more-women-into-tech-20220902-p5bey5
