Big Ideas Forum - Beyond COVID Northern Beaches Council Webinar

Image via fertilityroad.com

Last night I attended the online Big Ideas Forum Webinar through the Northern Beaches Council called Beyond COVID. It was initially an interview with Dr Norman Swan, a health journalist and physician, then went on to a panel discussion which included Lucinda Brogden AM, Chair of the National Mental Health Commission, Dr Sean Turnell, Associate Professor of Economics at Macquarie University and Greg Jones, former school principal and executive member of Community Co-op Northern Beaches. It is available to watch here.

Before I delve into it, I just want to comment on the Acknowledgement of Country that takes place at the start of these gatherings and how disappointed I always am at the irreverence and insincerity. I know it's an awkward forced protocol that many simply read off a piece of paper without actually thinking about the meaning of what they're saying, but it has become so tokenistic that it feels like an insult to even bother. I refuse to accept that in the whole of the northern beaches, the council can not find one Traditional Owner or First Nations person or group to do a genuine and heartfelt Welcome to Country - particularly NOW, with everything that is going on around the world. My guess is that there has been absolutely no attempt to connect or collaborate. If indeed there has been no progress, then the Acknowledgement itself needs to be better. It's not just something you rattle off, it's something you feel and make people feel and understand so that we can all start off on the right foot. This needs to change. It's confronting, but it needs to happen. We need to acknowledge that we are on stolen and unceded land, we need to address sovereignty, the lack of treaty and pay our respects genuinely to elders past, present and emerging. This is a significant step forward that requires honesty and truth, many are not yet ready to face.

The interview with Dr Swan, as always was informative and evidence based. If you haven't already, get acquainted with The ABC podcast he does called Coronacast. They are short 10 minute episodes released daily, covering the basic updates of what is happening around the country and around the world. 

Dr Swan explained many aspects of the Australian experience with COVID 19 and commented on why we did so well as a country. The main thing we got right was that we closed borders, particularly to China early, back in February 2020 - the first case being discovered on the 25th January. The pandemic was then managed collaboratively by government, particularly the states, business/workplaces and the community. It became a unified movement, largely communicated through social and digital media which forced people to act and the federal government to respond on an evidence based approach. This was to act strongly and intervene as early as possible. The World Health Organisation (WHO) urged immediate lockdown action, as it is impossible to make these decisions retrospectively and undo harm. Australia's early response and heeding of this advice was able to maintain COVID related deaths to just over 100, which while extremely regrettable and tragic, are comparatively good. Locking down early, closing borders and taking advantage of being islands, insisting on physical distancing and later extensive testing to identify clusters saw Australia and New Zealand become world leaders in flattening the curve and keeping numbers down. It gave us time to prepare health services and hospitals for possible case increase and slowed the spread of the virus. In comparison, the US and UK waited much longer and are bearing the tragic consequences now.

The discussion then turned to the recent increase in numbers in Victoria. Dr Swan stated that referring to COVID cases in terms of 'waves' isn't very accurate and applies more to illnesses like Influenza as there are things in place like vaccinations and herd immunity. With COVID it is more accurate to refer to spikes in cases, whereby transmission rates tend to double daily with no cure, no vaccine and still very little predictability about how the disease will impact people, taking into consideration things like co-morbidities, age, and social/economic factors. While Victoria is experiencing high numbers, Dr Swan mentioned the case in Balmain in Sydney which indicates the disease is still present in NSW and it is not yet time to relax.

He talked at length about the difference between NSW and Victoria in terms of the way health services are structured. In NSW we have Area Health Services which include the local hospitals, but also health service provision on the ground in each geographical location. This structure allows bigger areas to be covered in order for the population of that area to receive health services aside from the local hospitals. This infrastructure is not present in Victoria which seems to only have stand alone hospitals and GP/Specialist services. This impacts testing, treatment and service provision.

Locally, Dr Swan discussed the cases around Manly and Dee Why early on in the pandemic and how immediate lockdown and extensive testing was able to contain the clusters, area health and hospitals were able to oversee treatment, isolation and recovery, and this prevented community transmission. This did not work as well in Bondi where community transmission was allowed to travel a little further out. 

It is evident that social distancing has a huge impact on community transmission. Dr Swan talked about the demographic of people who contract COVID and while globally, for example in places like Italy, there was a lot of publicity around the elderly, it is a much younger demographic that can contract the disease, show few symptoms and then transmit through large gatherings and socialisation. In Italy, for example, there was the tragic circumstances around cut off ages for access to ventilators being around the age of 40 mark, when the hospitals were bombarded with extreme cases. Big social networks, which young people are more likely to have, pose the biggest threat, particularly in gatherings that take place indoors, with lots of people and over an extended period of time.

In regards to a vaccine, Dr Swan thinks this is a long way away and while there is promising research coming out of Oxford University, there are many barriers to a vaccine for a respiratory illness due to the nature of the membranes and organs involved and how they function. Usually treatment relies on activating an immune system response and then needs to be administered annually. In some cases like with SARS, vaccines were found to create a hyper immune response which can cause autoimmune disease. The good thing is that any vaccine progress coming out of the UK will likely be publicly funded and therefore widely available and shared. The opposite is happening in the US where research and funding will likely be privately conducted and therefore not shared. Finding a vaccine is condensing 10 years of research into 1. It's obviously urgent.

Discussion turned to the effectiveness of wearing masks. Dr Swan is of the opinion that masks are a good idea when there are high rates of community transmission, as is happening in Victoria. Wearing a mask is not about protecting yourself from getting infected, although that's a bonus. It's about preventing transmission of the disease to others if you are carrying it and have no symptoms or if you are indeed ill. Masks are particularly useful indoors, for example whilst shopping and on public transport. The main factors to consider are things like the quality of the mask and availability. Both issues are easily addressed, but the culture of wearing masks is a bit harder to change. 

The health implications during this pandemic are complex, particularly in relation to how each individual is likely to recover from infection and all the factors that contribute to their well-being before and after having COVID. Another matter to consider is how people have responded to healthcare generally during lockdown to minimise risk. Telehealth in Australia has been particularly effective as people have been able to consult with GPs remotely and continue any ongoing or chronic health issue management. An area of concern was the decrease in cancer screening numbers whereby people have avoided going to routine screening while in lockdown. There is some unease around people delaying testing for early detection and risking delayed diagnosis. 

The impact of the pandemic has not only been on public health but also the economy. Dr Swan mentioned that data from the 1918 influenza pandemic demonstrated that places where lockdown happened earlier were able to recover economically much quicker. It focuses on the idea that in the long run prevention is better than cure and the impact on the economy will happen either way but will have more long term consequences and will be harder to recover from if we allow people to get sick, overwhelm our health services and create more trauma.

At this point the panel joined the discussion. I was disappointed but not surprised that it consisted of four white men, including Dr Swan and the facilitator and one white woman. Until we allow diverse voices in these discussions we continue to assume that the majority of people are white and middle class. This is simply not the case and while divergent groups are often referred to as 'minorities', they are not in fact less than in number and importance but instead are marginalised as such. This is prevalent in the local area.

The panel discussion was mainly an exchange of ideas about community support, focusing on mental health and connection. There were some examples of the local community exchanging material necessities like donations of food, volunteering of time and provision of support to those impacted by lockdown. It's nice to live in a community where everyone is doing great and can help those doing a little bit less than great and then taking comfort in the ease with which we got through hardship working together. However there was no mention of people who may fall through the cracks and the reasons why, which can erase the experience of many people. 

At one point there was mention of the suffering experienced by self-funded retirees. How they have paid taxes all their lives and never needed government assistance and now suddenly their investments might be worth less and they may be embarrassed or ashamed to ask for assistance. It is important to express empathy and to consider anyone who may be impacted by this pandemic in a substantial way. We just need to truthfully define what substantial means. Not having enough money to pay rent or feed your children is very different to a decrease in wealth that does not impact your day to day survival.

Mental health was discussed extensively, particularly community connection and loneliness, but the discussion stopped short of addressing issues like individualism, capitalism, cultural diversity and wealth inequality. There is still a long way to go in facing some of these issues in this demographic.

Some talk centered on things like working from home, how this has been a necessity and many have adapted well, but for so many businesses and organisations, there needs to be a face-to-face market place and people are social animals that need human interaction. All this is true, however it shouldn't take a pandemic to provide people with flexibility and work/life balance. There was brief mention of people who benefit from the ability to work from home occasionally, but it wasn't discussed adequately. Parents/guardians of young children for example can benefit greatly from flexibility in the workplace. Current employment structures and culture can increase the exclusion of women from the workforce and public life when they have very young children and this inflexibility can also prevent men from spending quality time with their children. Many people take care of aged parents, family members with disabilities or themselves experience mental health issues that are alleviated with working from home options. It's important to maintain a functioning economy but not at the expense of a healthy and balanced society. There was no acknowledgement of front line workers who never had the option to stay home; doctors, nurses, teachers, community workers, supermarket staff, delivery drivers. Essential workers were not mentioned at all. There was also no recognition that for many, online options are still unavailable and inaccessible due to cost, access to devices and reception issues. Connectivity was a big local issue. Just ask anyone who worked from home or home schooled.

It was a valuable webinar, and I appreciate the limitations of time that don't allow every single aspect to be covered, but the panel discussion fell short. It was out of touch and outdated, particularly in the face of the global sociopolitical movements that have emerged rapidly in response to and simultaneously with the pandemic. The ideas seemed to come from very traditionalist and conservative perspectives that are no longer relevant or are only true for some people. We now have the information and technology to question the systems and structures that are only serving a small number of people and it isn't justified for those people to declare that everything is working, when it clearly isn't for many. It was a missed opportunity to address broader issues and failed to acknowledge that to come out of this pandemic relatively well is to have access to immense privilege.

All in a Day's Work

Image via Pixabay

I recently started working in a hospital. It's actually a community health center attached to a public hospital, but I have to walk through the main building each shift. There's something very comforting about a hospital. I probably don't need to articulate it. It is simply an environment that levels everything. People are being born, they are unwell, they are tending to loved ones or they are dying. People are working in service of others. On every level; whether they're performing life saving surgery, providing care and support, answering questions at the front desk, making food and coffee or emptying bins and cleaning floors. There is something really special about being a part of that workforce community. I find myself smiling the minute I walk through the doors. I feel myself being extra polite and helpful. I start up conversations with strangers in the lift all the time, AND IT'S RECIPROCATED! 

The other day at work wasn't especially significant. I work two days a week and keep as busy as I can for most of the day. The community health center provides services to children from birth to 18 years of age. There are a range of services provided through the public health system for people living in the local area, ranging from speech and hearing assessments, occupational and physiotherapy, paediatric and developmental services, mental health and child protection. I work in the administration section. There are always children around and it feels familiar, comforting and sometimes soothingly chaotic. I sometimes think about my own children when I'm at work. When I'm distracted and busy, they're out of my thoughts, which has given me a balance and freedom from the constant attention required when looking after young children, that I could feel swallowing me up before I got back into the workforce. Going back to work wasn't easy. It took seven months, more than 60 applications and only a handful of interviews, before I finally hit the jackpot. I found myself over qualified and too old for a job that was only two days a week. Those jobs tend to go to school leavers and 20 year olds that employers can underpay. The jobs I was qualified for required shift availability and flexibility on my part, and this time I was inflexible and unavailable. After a couple of decades of being completely at the mercy of employment, I finally had to put my foot down and wait for a role that was accommodating to me and my family's needs. I know it is temporary and I will someday be able to give more, but that time is not right now. 

When I'm idle at work, or it's a quiet part of the day, I think about and miss the kids. This is healthy. The resentment I used to feel about being at home all the time has melted away. Even when I knew it wasn't going to be forever and I should have been loving every minute of being with my babies, I didn't. Sometimes I fucking hated it to the point of desperation. Every mother does. How could you not? Being a stay at home parent is relentless, exhausting and isolating. Someone once suggested I should "get a real job" instead and I laughed and I laughed. He was right. A real job pays you, gives you a lunch break, unlimited toilet and coffee breaks and you get to clock off and go home at the end of the day. Being at home with little kids doesn't. 

When I hear babies crying at work or a fussy toddler, I smile and think about my kids. I'm empathetic towards the (usually) mothers who are flustered and tired, dragging their kids to the appointments and it makes me feel grateful that my mind is at rest that my kids are at a good daycare, being taken care of, having fun and learning. I wish the workers who have looked after my children were paid better, valued and appreciated more. I wish the care service industry treated its workers with more respect and recognised how vital those services are to a prosperous community. I see pregnant women or new mums at work on a regular basis and my heart remembers that feeling with nostalgia, but also a little bit of relief that it has passed. It was so hard sometimes. Rewarding, but not properly acknowledged or supported and very hard. 

I'm acutely aware that I am also surrounded by illness and death. I see patients hooked up to drips, I walk past the radiotherapy ward and walk through the floor that contains the mortuary. I see sadness on the faces of some of the people that walk past me. Expressions of worry, fear and despair. 

The one thing I have noticed a lot since starting work, is that people look you directly in the eyes at a hospital. More so than say in a shopping center or when you're walking past someone in the street. I have a habit of making eye contact. I have big eyes and I can't help it. I remember someone once saying that it was very disconcerting and it isn't something that you are supposed to do with strangers. I think I complained to him that nobody ever smiled and he told me it was because it was unusual to expect eye contact from a stranger, let alone acknowledgement with a smile. I was honestly taken aback. Why? Why was it unusual to connect with someone even momentarily? I hadn't expected to exchange numbers and become best friends, but you know, an appropriate level of recognition that we were sharing the same space was normal, I thought. I get it now. I'm older and wiser. I don't always feel like making that connection either and must appear aloof or rude sometimes too, and I don't care. Perhaps I was worried about being judged before and smiled at everyone all the time. I don't do that anymore.

But at work, in the hospital, it feels like the opportunity and the need to do that presents itself more often. And I really like it. It feels good. It's a powerful thing when we connect with others, even for a moment. I always leave work feeling great. Like I contributed something and had meaningful exchanges. It makes me a better person, and not only is it because I work in a hospital, whilst that does add to the significance, it's the power of working in the service industry. I have always worked in a service based industry. Whether it was food service, or community service, or public service. It was those jobs that allowed me to contribute something useful to others and it made me feel good. It motivated me to do good and to value moments when I was in receipt of another person's service. 

We need to put more importance on being of service to others. Not in a self-serving and self-righteous sort of way, but by understanding that altruism is healthy and necessary, that kindness is vital and crucial, and that helping each other is actually our natural state. We too often get roped into thinking that it's every person for themselves and that's the only way to get ahead because nobody would do it for you. That's utter bullshit. Everyone has at one time or another been helped. Help is readily available if we are just willing to find a source, ask for it, and receive it gracefully. Opportunities to give are everywhere and really simple. There is no need for aggrandisement. Slowing down to let someone into your lane in traffic, letting someone with less items in front of you in the supermarket queue, holding a door open, giving up your seat...too easy. When we feel strong and the opportunity presents itself, do good, and pass it on. Guaranteed, it will come back your way when you need it too. Then you start to notice those moments more and the laws of attraction kick in. Maybe it's just a slight shift in awareness, but at work it happens all the time. If I go about my day with a positive attitude, willing to help others, being mindful of the people around me and their feelings and needs, I then notice when my needs are being met. I'm bringing this attitude home to my children the three days I'm with them too. I don't have that feeling of isolation and enclosure anymore. I have more patience and I'm more willing to find the silver lining when things get tough. I still understand the massive discrepancy in society when it comes to women's roles both at home and in the workplace. That inequality is still not resolved and is far from balanced, but I feel like I have struck a balance in my own life that is allowing me to contribute to the lives of others so that they may benefit too.

Most of the time we blend in like the grey umbrellas, but when we can, we can choose to be the yellow one.

How To Avoid Career Interruption When You Have Children

 *I wrote this article for a Canadian job search site. The editor refused to publish it. His response and my retorts are below the article.

Working in one company or field, from graduation till retirement, is almost unheard of these days. For many people, their career goals, life paths and interests alter over time, leading them to change direction at least once or twice, sometimes several times, over a lifetime. Organisations and companies, in fact, the world, is dynamic too and change is inevitable. Success relies on the ability to adapt to change.

At times, choices associated with career interruption are made consciously and thoughtfully, the benefits and risks taken into consideration carefully and the pros and cons weighed up, to help make the best possible decisions to suit financial position and desire. A hybrid career can sometimes only be realised after years in the workforce, through trial and error and can benefit both individuals and companies.

However, sometimes a career can veer away from its initial route unexpectedly, which may lead to uncertainty and even hardship. The most common reasons why people may face career interruption are life events such as starting a family, developing illness or becoming incapacitated by an accident. It is interesting that having a baby can seem like an unfortunate obstacle, particularly for women in the workplace, closely related to getting sick or being injured.

While there are checks and balances in place through employment legislation to prevent discrimination against women of child bearing age who become pregnant, the reality is vastly different and many women find that they are either overlooked for positions from the onset, at the interview stage; they are disregarded when it comes to career opportunities and promotions; or they are being forced to exit the workforce through involuntary resignation and redundancy, usually when flexible work arrangements or accessible and affordable childcare are unavailable.

For women who are embarking deliberately on motherhood, this should be a time of celebration and joy, but unlike men, the fact of their biology means that they will need to juggle child bearing with their career in one way or another. Furthermore, women are not only physically responsible for gestation and birth, often the bulk of domestic labour and child care commitments will fall on them also. In fact, recent Australian census data shows that women are still highly disadvantaged when it comes to unpaid domestic labour. In Canada, the statistics show a similar trend, with women doing 50% more domestic duties than men, and men doing 37% more paid work than women.

It is possible that for some women, embarking on intentional motherhood and facing the prospect of career interruption, may be an opportunity to explore new avenues and pathways to find a better balance between work and life, and perhaps even discover new interests and life goals along the way. Having a baby might be the ideal time to allow life to take on a new direction and to pursue alternative and innovative experiences in relation to work, without ending up unemployed for an extended period.

Career interruption can thus be either avoided altogether or used to one’s own advantage, allowing women to be prepared for the changes and to gain benefits from the disruption to what may have become a stagnant employment situation. Men too should be advocating for more flexible workplaces to allow for better work/life balance, not only when embarking on parenthood, but also in the unfortunate event of illness and injury, resulting in unanticipated career interruption or unemployment.

Here are some tips to avoid career interruption all together, or use an inevitable disruption, as an opportunity to enhance paid employment.

 

• Negotiate a contract and maternity leave policy, prior to recruitment

This is one of the biggest obstacles women face, because as soon as it becomes known that they are planning to start a family, the discrimination begins. It is wise to keep personal details private at the interview stage. In most instances, it is illegal to be questioned about your plans for child bearing in an interview. This information is irrelevant to your capacity to do a job and cannot be used as grounds for discrimination. It is also important to familiarise yourself with an organisation’s maternity leave and return to work policies. Finding a balance between contract negotiation and disclosure can be tricky, however doing some research early on can be beneficial. Don’t be intimidated about asking questions and reading company material. Also, know your rights. Understand workplace legislation, equip yourself with knowledge to not only protect yourself, but to give you the tools and language to negotiate your terms. Whenever possible, join an industry union.

• Participate in further training and education 

Being temporarily away from full-time employment can be a perfect time to update skills and training through further study. There are more options to do this remotely nowadays and this activity can improve your chances of not only returning to your old position or industry, but gaining new employment in circumstances where you find yourself unemployed. Retraining can seem daunting, but brushing up on new technology and innovations, by for example improving computer skills, obtaining an industry related certificate or building on already attained qualifications, will not only keep your mind active and motivated throughout early child rearing, it will ensure you are still “in the loop” so to speak and are not drifting further away from the workforce. It may also be a chance to do a course in something completely different to your current field. Changing career paths is always an option and taking that first step will put you in a better position for when you are ready to re-enter the workforce.

• Impart industry knowledge

Sharing your expertise is also another way to maintain focus and experience, while you are on maternity leave or should you be facing redundancy. You may wish to do this through pathways such as writing or teaching within your field. Both these endeavours can be extremely flexible professions and can be performed on a part-time or casual basis, sometimes at excellent rates, and in the case of writing, may even be done from home. Finding ways to utilise your intellectual property can also help you to refine your interests and strengths and will lead you to more job satisfaction and prosperous endeavours.

• Start your own business

Finding yourself without work may be a signal that there is a better fit for you elsewhere, but it may also indicate that you are capable and prepared to forge your own way in your field of expertise. Running your own business is challenging and requires both an investment of time and finance, but if successful, the benefits are abundant. You may want to start something from scratch, or perhaps invest in an existing business or franchise, whether within your current field or in a new area of interest.

• Sound financial planning

It is always beneficial to live within your means. That is, spending according to your earnings and affordability, and ensuring that a financial safety net exists for when the unforeseen happens. This could mean setting up a high interest savings account as soon as you begin paid employment, that is only accessed in the event of an emergency. Minimising debt is another way to ensure that if career interruption occurs, you are not being burdened by superfluous financial commitments such as outstanding debts or credit cards. Participating in a high yield superannuation scheme, and one that may offer access to your money in the event of financial disruption is worth exploring early also. Having a financial safety net simply means you will have more options to explore new opportunities and avoid career interruption. It can allow you to pay for further study and childcare, while you re-establish yourself in the workforce.

• Advocate for affordable and sustainable healthcare, childcare and education

It is vital as a society that we support public services that are accessible and inexpensive. This means educating ourselves about our governments and choosing wisely when we vote. On a more practical level, we can utilise public health systems and educational institutions, including those that facilitate further and vocational study, and support the provision of community childcare services to enhance the demand for them and improve their quality and availability. When mothers are faced with the prospect of balancing family and work, it is these services that are going to determine how much support they can access to maintain employment choices and financial independence, even if their hours and income are reduced as a result of career interruption. 

**************************************************************

* The editor:

Hi Diane,
Thanks for your article. It's well-written, but the content is not there. Here's my feedback:
1) You spend 7 paragraphs introducing the topic. I'm not sure what I should take away from these 7 paragraphs. The topic is how to avoid career interruption when having children. It's mainly targeted at women, but you add a few sentences at the end of the intro for men. You also go into various tangents. Your intro should not be more than 1 paragraph or two. Women facing this issue know about the problem. They read your article looking for solutions, not for a lecture on how difficult or unfair life is.
2) You then go on with tips to avoid career interruption altogether. But the tips that you give don't make sense or are just plain obvious. i) Negotiate a contract or maternity leave policy prior to recruitment. That's not realistic for most people. ii) Training and education. After giving birth, most women struggle to just keep up with the newborn. iii) Same thing for sharing your knowledge while on maternity leave. iv) The rest of the tips are obvious. There aren't any insights.

After reading your article, although you have good grammar, I don't know what I should take away. Can you rework this article, do more research and take at least a week to think it through?
Sorry, this may sound brutal, but I'm just trying to give you my honest feedback.
Let me know your thoughts. 


* My response:

Oh dear. I’m afraid you’ve missed the point entirely and have inadvertently exposed your own male privilege and internalised gender bias. Sorry to be brutal. I don’t need a week to think on this, I thought about it over breakfast while we fed the kids.

I didn’t spend 7 paragraphs merely introducing the topic, I used those words to tease out the issues. Women are engaged and empowered by being empathised with and having their experiences validated. I used the statistics relating to domestic duties in two countries to back it up. I also included men in the scenario, to highlight how childbearing for women in the workforce is not dissimilar to a disadvantage like an illness or injury suffered by men. I also attempted to highlight how men are needed to support women to avoid career interruption, particularly when they often possess the structural power to do so, but also within their own households.

I think it is patronising and quite incorrect to suggest that women are not capable of participating in paid work, study or training whilst caring for a newborn. That is entirely the attitude of discrimination creating these barriers in the first place. Two points here. Firstly, where are their partners? Shouldn’t they be doing 50% of the work and negotiating flexibility in their own careers to make space for women to preserve theirs? That is why I mentioned them in the beginning. Not only to include men and make a comparison to their own possible career disruptions through illness/injury, but also to make them accountable. The fact is most men won’t participate equally in domestic duties and child rearing specifically because it is difficult, tedious and UNPAID work and to preserve their own careers and sanity. Secondly, this statement is blatantly untrue. I can tell you I wrote and self-published a novel with TWO newborns and a toddler and recently Senator Larissa Waters breastfed her baby whilst putting forward a motion in the Australian Federal Parliament. Google it. 

The other tips I mentioned such as maintaining financial independence and having a monetary safety net are not obvious to women, within a patriarchal system that largely expects them to abandon their careers and financial independence, instead becoming dependent on their partners (often male/husbands – but not always), when they have children. That is the central point of the whole topic. It is impossible to find 800-1000 words describing ways in which women can preserve their careers, outside the tips I have given, within an inherently sexist system, which you have very clearly demonstrated. This is yours, many men’s and society’s views:

• Women are solely responsible for looking after newborns and can barely cope, so can’t retrain, work part-time or work from home 
• Women already know to have a financial safety net, that’s why they get married and let the man work so they can stay home and do the housework and look after the baby
  

I could have written a three-word article to help women avoid career interruption: don’t have kids!

You also suggest that it is unrealistic to negotiate maternity leave. Rubbish. This is exactly the type of empowerment women need and the kind of resistance men need to stop creating in relation to career interruption. It is absolutely realistic, in fact necessary, for both men and women to start demanding flexible workplaces in regard to family/life/work balance. It is not only a woman’s obligation to surrender her financial independence and her career aspirations to build a family, it should be everybody’s responsibility to participate in child rearing equally. Including society in general, which is why I mentioned how we should educate ourselves about our governments and the structural systems they maintain that for the most part, disadvantage women. The most progressive nations in the world already do this. They provide free or at least affordable childcare, they have school drop off/pick up compatible work hours and don’t depend on the false economy of working 9am-5pm, focusing instead on productivity not hours sitting at your desk, and they encourage equality in parenting by both men and women.

I anticipated that you may not be brave enough to include a feminist perspective on your website. You said you didn’t want me to write fluff, but I think that is exactly what you wanted. Not an article that actually empowers women by validating and articulating their lived experiences and provides them with tools to empower them to maintain an intellectual and financial pursuit whilst raising children, and demanding that there is someone to pick up the slack when they surrender some of the burdens associated with child rearing. By not using articles like this, you are simply alienating 50% of your market. Don’t underestimate women’s, especially mother’s, capacity to engage with an academic level, politically rich article. Who knows, it may take your site to the next level. I know how women think and feel. I am a woman who writes for and about women. And not women with internalised misogyny and a sad case of Stockholm Syndrome. Google it.

I’m not surprised you didn’t take anything away from this article. I didn’t write it for you. I wrote it for your female readers. This is how I write. It won’t change. If you don’t think it’s a good fit for your site, we can terminate the relationship here.

PS – I wrote this response in between clearing the breakfast dishes, changing one nappy, wiping one bum, brushing four sets of teeth including my own, putting on three sets of fairy wings and preparing morning tea for three children under four. Women can multi-task, we just need to start getting paid for it!

 Thanks for your article. It's well-written, but the content is not there. Here's my feedback:

1) You spend 7 paragraphs introducing the topic. I'm not sure what I should take away from these 7 paragraphs. The topic is how to avoid career interruption when having children. It's mainly targeted at women, but you add a few sentences at the end of the intro for men. You also go into various tangents. Your intro should not be more than 1 paragraph or two. Women facing this issue know about the problem. They read your article looking for solutions, not for a lecture on how difficult or unfair life is.

2) You then go on with tips to avoid career interruption altogether. But the tips that you give don't make sense or are just plain obvious. i) Negotiate a contract or maternity leave policy prior to recruitment. That's not realistic for most people. ii) Training and education. After giving birth, most women struggle to just keep up with the newborn. iii) Same thing for sharing your knowledge while on maternity leave. iv) The rest of the tips are obvious. There aren't any insights.
* Editor:

I won't be publishing your article, but I will still pay you for it. I didn't appreciate your reply and the assumptions that you made. You talk about discrimination, but do you realize that I probably suffered more discrimination than you, as a visible minority? The feedback I gave you was as an editor of a site for over 10 years. And I am a father and took one year off as paternity leave. I know how hard it is to raise kids. Maybe you and some women can do it as well as advance your career, but it is a real struggle. My suggestions were from real life experience. When a new baby is born, the parents want to spend time with them, not think about career. There's more to life than career. Btw, my wife is a lawyer and is an accomplished woman who worked hard her whole life. Even she struggled. I'm glad you can do all that you claim, but I regret to inform you can most people can't live up to your standards...you should really reconsider how you deal with people.

 
* My final word:

It's not about living up to standards. It's about removing obstacles to allow people to struggle less. With all yours and your wife's experiences, I'm baffled you don't agree that we should have more balance. Of course people want to spend time with their children, but not at the expense of their lives and careers outside parenthood. And it's often mothers who are expected to give up more. 

It's interesting that you interpret my assertive response as aggressive. Very telling too. 

  It seems you are entitled to be brutal in your criticism and I am not. I suggest asking your wife and other women in your life to read the article and see what they think about it.

I won't be publishing your article, but I will still pay you for it. I didn't appreciate your reply and the assumptions that you made. You talk about discrimination, but do you realize that I probably suffered more discrimination than you, as a visible minority? The feedback I gave you was as an editor of a site for over 10 years. And I am a father and took one year off as paternity leave. I know how hard it is to raise kids. Maybe you and some women can do it as well as advance your career, but it is a real struggle. My suggestions were from real life experience. When a new baby is born, the parents want to spend time with them, not think about career. There's more to life than career. Btw, my wife is a lawyer and is an accomplished woman who worked hard her whole life. Even she struggled. I'm glad you can do all that you claim, but I regret to inform you can most people can't live up to your standards.
Hi Diane,

Thanks for your article. It's well-written, but the content is not there. Here's my feedback:

1) You spend 7 paragraphs introducing the topic. I'm not sure what I should take away from these 7 paragraphs. The topic is how to avoid career interruption when having children. It's mainly targeted at women, but you add a few sentences at the end of the intro for men. You also go into various tangents. Your intro should not be more than 1 paragraph or two. Women facing this issue know about the problem. They read your article looking for solutions, not for a lecture on how difficult or unfair life is.

2) You then go on with tips to avoid career interruption altogether. But the tips that you give don't make sense or are just plain obvious. i) Negotiate a contract or maternity leave policy prior to recruitment. That's not realistic for most people. ii) Training and education. After giving birth, most women struggle to just keep up with the newborn. iii) Same thing for sharing your knowledge while on maternity leave. iv) The rest of the tips are obvious. There aren't any insights.