Entrenching privilege: Child-care, parenting and politics
A Father's Day Reflection
The story of Sarah Coral Hanson-Young illustrates two intersecting themes that entrench male privilege - the representation of gender in politics and the imbalance in responsibility for parenting. It is of concern that many (but not all) legislatures under-represent women, ensuring a cycle in which women's interests remain a low priority and decisions that are gendered continue to be taken. Yet so long as women carry an unequal burden of domestic and child-care responsibility this is unlikely to change appreciably.
Sarah Hanson-Young tried to make some changes. Elected to the Australian Senate in 2008 at the age of 27, she represents the State of South Australia for The Greens. Her career represents many firsts including being the youngest woman ever elected to the federal parliament. As a politician her portfolio responsibilities include childcare, education, human rights, sexuality & gender identity, status of women and youth. One might therefore expect her to be well informed on these issues.
However Senator Hanson has a two year old daughter, Kora, who she takes to work with her. Unfortunately there is a rule in the Senate that when a Division is called for a vote, no 'strangers' are allowed in the chamber. The Senate President therefore ordered Kora to be ejected, and parliamentary staff grabbed the child who had been unobtrusive to that point, screaming from her mother's arms. Kora thus became the youngest person ever to be ejected from the Australian parliament.
This incident has sparked an international debate with reactions ranging from condemnation of the Senator and calls for women to stay home with their children, to demands for family-friendly workplaces and Senate reform with questions about whether this sends a strong signal that women should not consider entering politics at all.
Technically the Senator has a case for discrimination in the workplace, however this story raises many questions in an ongoing debate about women in the workplace. Recently women politicians in the Australian parliament were actually allowed to breastfeed. Workplace rules for politicians are bound to create precedents for other workplaces, but unless we make accomodations to facilitate women fulfilling their potential in society, gendered decision making through a male lens will continue to be the dominant discourse.
The real issue is of course much broader than this - how can we ensure that legislatures adequately reflect the diversity of the population they represent, and what accomodations are necessary to create that reflection.
Link to this with: http://tiny.cc/80Zd9
You would think she was the first Senator to have kids
It never ceases to astonish me that when women enter a workplace "suddenly" children become an issue, as if the men who have been participating in that workplace never had children. It seems to me that the answer is partly "making accomodations to facilitate women fulfilling their potential in society" but it must also be somehow a matter of reshaping the cultures so that they involves men as intensely in parenting as they involve women. The problem is not only in workplace policies but also in the gendering of parenting as "women's" work.
...because public space really matters!
Elizabeth
Privilege, parenting and perhaps politics
I believe Sarah Hanson-Young has a responsibility as the mother/parent of a female child to pursue the removal of her underage child from her parent's place of work. This is not solely an issue of male privilege, although we continue to live in a world where white, heterosexual men "enjoy" many freedoms and opportunities which women and other marginalized populations do not. This is an example of an inequality only women can experience based on their gender.
It is only in the movies where men find themselves pregnant and able to experience the challenges associated with pregnancy. The challenges may be professional, physical and, in some instances, emotional. I have long believed the ability to give birth has been the greatest contributing factor to the inequality of women in our society.
Women have always been the individual in the sexual relationship who has to "deal" with an unplanned pregnancy. They are the partner who experiences the consequences of either terminating a pregnancy or selecting adoption. Until relatively recently the phrase, and label, "unwed mother" was one which women, and their children, had to endure and survive.
It is the woman who will loose time from her work/career. Women are in a lose lose situation when it comes to becoming a mother/parent. In the event the woman decides to return to work immediately after giving birth she is made to believe she is a "bad" mother who has not and will not bond with her baby. If she chooses to remain out of the work force for a period of time she is "giving in" to society's expectations of what constitutes a good mother.
Parenting and work associated with children is frequently undervalued in our society. Traditionally, the stay at home parent is usually the partner defined as the mother. This extends to the rarity of finding men choose careers as day care workers, elementary school teachers and youth workers.
We all meet parents, both male and female, who will describe the father as "babysitting" his child. How does a man babysit his own child?!
In the 21st century all work places should be family friendly. Children and, their parents, should not have to worry about breast feeding at work; who remains at home with a sick child; storm days.... Parents should not be made to worry about being a stay at home mum or dad versus continuing with their career.
This evolution begins with our governments. In Canada tax credits are available to parents who utilize day care facilities, why not make these credits available to parents who choose to remain at home with their children? In Australia the parliament needs to lead by positive example and rectify procedure which allows a 2 year old child to be removed as a "stranger".
Sarah Hanson-Young can be a catalyst and a role model for change in Australia. Women everywhere have a responsibility to themselves to acknowlege equality between the genders has not yet been achieved.
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