As any mother or father will tell you, being a parent is hard. Being successful at it is highly dependent on the personal and material resources of parents, and the emotional, mental and physical needs of children. There is a culture of expectation around parents, especially mothers, to be “good” parents, regardless of their children’s needs or challenges. Some people find parenting very stressful, which can cause a form of psychological strain known as parenting stress. In this post, Brendan Churchill and Lyn Craig from the University of Melbourne, discuss parenting stress and what reduces it.
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The Education Equity Coalition, under the auspices of VCOSS, has recently launched the Stronger Schools campaign. This coalition comprises a range of social service, youth, and education agencies, and has collaborated to create an action plan for inclusive education. The eight components that make up the platform are designed to address holistic, comprehensive support that will support all children and young people to stay engaged in education.
For girls and young women, there are often unique challenges to school engagement. While they tend to overall be more engaged and receive better grades than boys and young men, research indicates that their wellbeing is plummeting – including reductions in physical, emotional and mental health outcomes. Recent research into supporting the ‘middle years’ finds that key components to supporting girls and young women in this age group is to increase their agency, and to treat them with respect. This includes providing accessible and reliable information on a range of tricky topics, some of which (such as sexting) were not issues for previous generations.
Today’s blog, written by Maddy Crehan (@Maddy_Crehan) at the Victorian Women’s Trust (@VicWomensTrust), highlights an innovative program that seeks to address this challenging terrain by providing teachers with lesson plans for tackling such issues as healthy relationships, creating and sustaining positive friendships, looking after mental health, and ethical consumerism. Known as Rosie in the Classroom (@RosieRespect), this educational resource kit supports best practice in the classroom, stemming from a foundation of equality and empowerment.
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The increasingly punitive welfare policies of the Coalition government have been explored from a range of angles here, but today’s post provides a framework for understanding them. Policy Whisperer Susan Maury (@SusanMaury) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand suggests that government welfare policies fit the definition for economic abuse.
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With a majority of Australians supporting an increase to the Newstart allowance (current below the poverty line), the #RaisetheRate campaign has been taken up by many in the lead-up to Federal elections. In today’s blog, Sarah Squire (@SquireSarah) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand argues that, while raising the rate is the right thing to do, it’s also important to strengthen the other policies that govern differing aspects of financial security. This is particularly so for single mothers, who are often victims of both punitive government policies and post-separation economic abuse from former partners.
Read MoreTo round out your week, in this post from the CEO blog at the Centre for Social Impact, Professor Kristy Muir reflects on power, leadership, stepping outside of ourselves and knowing when one more marshmellow is one too many.
Read MoreA new model of service delivery developed by WEstjustice in partnership with McAuley Community Services for Women is improving the financial security of family violence victim/survivors. In this post Stephanie Tonkin of WEstjustice discusses the extraordinary results being achieved through the Restoring Financial Safety project and recommendations for future policy action.
Read MoreSince Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s rejection of the 2017 Statement from the Heart, demands for a treaty process across the country have accelerated state-based moves, including in Victoria and the Northern Territory. In this piece Gaynor MacDonald argues the enthusiasm for treaties at the state and territory level is misplaced and that while local treaty action may be a symbol of goodwill, it is the very foundation of the Australian Constitution that must be changed.
Read MoreLocal governments everywhere are being challenged by the move towards better, more meaningful citizen engagement. The new Local Government Bill before the Victorian Parliament will require Councils to have a policy with specific community engagement principles, aiming to, among other things, "enable meaningful and informed engagement." Chris Eddy reflects on his experience as CEO at a local council in Melbourne's inner west.
Read MoreOver the last few weeks our inboxes have been flooded with privacy reminders, a direct response to the implementation of a new European regulation on privacy, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this piece, Gerard Brody looks at how Australia’s privacy and data protection laws stack up and finds our laws and enforcement bodies are ill-equipped to protect privacy and consumer rights in a world of “big data”.
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Recently the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen) released their annual Gender Lens on the Budget document. This comprehensive and highly collaborate effort includes analyses of how the Federal budget falls for women, identifying the winners and losers for a range of policy positions including social services, education and training, employment, health, and elimination of violence against women. It also provides an overview of how the Budget will shape the lives of women, including young women, older women, Indigenous women, migrant and refugee women, and women with disabilities. Today's post summarises the analysis authored by Sue Salthouse on budgetary impacts for women with disabilities. Her analysis indicates that the current budget is over-reliant on the NDIS to support women with disabilities, while other critical aspects such as affordable housing and a supportive welfare system are ignored. The Federal Budget papers can be accessed here.
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Recently the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen) released their annual Gender Lens on the Budget document. This comprehensive and highly collaborate effort includes analyses of how the Federal budget falls for women, identifying the winners and losers for a range of policy positions including social services, education and training, employment, health, and elimination of violence against women. It also provides an overview of how the Budget will shape the lives of women, including young women, older women, Indigenous women, migrant and refugee women, and women with disabilities. For Reconciliation Week, today's post summarises the analysis authored by Policy Whisperer Lesley Russell (@LRussellWolpe) on budgetary impacts for Indigenous women. Her analysis indicates that Indigenous women will continue to struggle under this Budget that includes continuation of the Cashless Debit Card trial and punitive measures relating to welfare income, but has no meaningful response to high levels of incarceration and the lack of effective supports for women experience domestic and family violence. The Federal Budget papers can be accessed here.
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Luke Pearson is the founder and CEO of IndigenousX, a media platform that celebrates and amplifies Australian indigenous voices. It's an online space to share knowledge, opinions and experiences of indigenous people with a wider audience, and this post was originally shared there. If you're into the goals of IndigenousX (and we are!) you can support them here.
Read MoreBias against women in academia is well-documented. Not only are female scientists underrepresented in academic institutions, particularly in higher ranks, but there are also certain studies that include only male participants, thereby producing biased knowledge. Magdalena Formanowicz, Aleksandra Cislak and Tamar Saguy have studied another form of gender bias among scientists: bias against research on gender bias. Research on gender bias is found to be funded less often and more likely to be published in journals widely considered to be less prestigious. This post was originally published the LSE Impact Blog.
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System Effects is a methodology developed by UNSW Canberra Researcher Dr. Luke Craven to explore the ‘user’ or citizen experience of complex phenomena, such as climate resilience, poor health, or job market access. The method is proving to be useful for citizen and user engagement worldwide, and Luke details it's varied applications and processes for us here.
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Since the early 2000s successive Australian governments have required single parents with school age children who are in receipt of income support payments to at a minimum engage in some form of planning to return to paid work or part-time paid work or education/training. Over time these “activation obligations” that have been placed on single parents have become more onerous. Currently the government requires parents in receipt of Parenting Payment Single to seek a minimum of 30 hours of paid work per fortnight once their youngest child turns six.
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Earlier this week the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen) released their annual Gender Lens on the Budget document. This comprehensive and highly collaborate effort includes analyses of how the Federal budget falls for women, identifying the winners and losers for a range of policy positions including social services, education and training, employment, health, and elimination of violence against women. It also provides an overview of how the Budget will shape the lives of women, including young women, older women, Indigenous women, migrant and refugee women, and women with disabilities. Today's post reproduces the analysis authored by Kathy MacDermott, member of the NFAW Social Policy Committee, on budgetary impacts of women's workforce participation. Her analysis indicates that women are increasingly susceptible to precarious employment while government protections and resources are eroded, leaving them more vulnerable to exploitation. On the plus side, funding continues for the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and the Fair Work Ombudsman. The Federal Budget papers can be accessed here.
Read MoreThe National Disability Insurance Scheme’s coordinating agency didn’t predict one factor about its participants — and hoped it would solve itself over time. That’s unlikely, say researchers Eleanor Malbon and Gemma Carey, who have been watching how outsourcing is remoulding the agency.
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Women’s lack of progression in the workplace and the gender pay gap is often blamed on women; women are told that behaving more confidently will result in workplace rewards. Today’s blog by Leonora Risse (@leonora_risse) of RMIT University reports on an Australian study that challenges this advice, and suggests that organisations would be better off valuing the characteristics that women bring, rather than expecting them to become more like men. This policy analysis piece was originally presented at the inaugural Australian Gender Economics Workshop, held in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 8 and 9 February, 2018.
Read MorePublic sector innovation (PSI) units have spread rapidly across government departments in Australia and New Zealand in recent years, and an ANZSOG-funded research project is providing the first analysis of their structures and operations. The project's first report features results from a survey of 52 PSI units and teams, conducted this year by Dr Michael McGann, Professor Jenny Lewis, and Dr Emma Blomkamp, from Melbourne University’s Policy Lab.
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If you work for a social enterprise, youth organisation, health organisation or government, you are invited to participate in the ‘NSW Social Enterprise and Well-being for Young People Workshop’ hosted by the Centre for Social Impact in partnership with Vic Health, the Foundation for Young Australians and Social Traders.
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