Well, Christmas is coming but is the goose getting fat? It may be decidedly thin for a few families this Christmas, and this is why we must all push harder for more opportunities for working mums and dads.
A recent survey I read from the UK press this week talks about recent research carried out which cites that millions of mothers are being forced to return to work because families are finding it harder than ever to live off one salary. Apparently the soaring cost of living means two-thirds of parents need two incomes. I imagine there is a similar story happening here in Australia. That combined with the collapse of the main provider of Child Care in Australia must be of huge concern to working parents, which again is another enormous reason for all of us to be pushing ‘work from home’, part-time, and school hour opportunities. Rest assured, Virtual Angels will be lobbying as hard as we can!
Since the credit crunch kicked in last August, families have been under pressure from rising energy prices, cost of living increases and mass redundancies and unemployment.
In the UK, about 47 per cent of people now need both partners to work in order to maintain their lifestyle, according to life insurer Scottish Widows and among households with children, the figure rises to 61 per cent suggesting that more than four million mums have had to go back to work after having a baby to provide their family with a comfortable life. I just think it’s such a shame that women (and some men) don’t have an alternative – this is the reason why Virtual Angels exists. I am sure if we dig around we can come up with very similar numbers here, closer to home and I will try and track these down.
Richard Jones, protection market director at Scottish Widows, said: “The reliance on two incomes is the only way to maintain a decent standard of living for many families.”
The research also found that families with children had higher levels of debt than households without children. Family campaigners have called on the Government to do more to help women who want to stay at home and I believe we must start making similar noises here in Australia.
Recent figures show the number of stay-at-home mothers has fallen 25 per cent in the past 15 years. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if mother’s had some alternatives besides back to work full-time.
“Motherhood has never been harder than it is today,” said Dani Zur, of UKfamily.co.uk. “Parents today are burning out trying to fit in all the demands of modern life”
Suzanne and I at Virtual Angels are deeply motivated to trying to re-address this burning issue and will continue to push for what we sincerely believe is so important right now – flexible job opportunities for working families!!
Speak to you again soon,
Caroline @ Virtual Angels
