In this blog, I reflect on the role of unpaid care in my childhood. How could we better value and recognise the role of unpaid care, most often undertaken by women, in our public policy? One of the quick wins available to the government is to pay superannuation on the...
Leaving the house with a baby or small child is a feat worthy of a medal. When I first did it with my two-week-old son, I sent my husband a photograph to celebrate. In the photo, my tiny baby is in the newborn insert of the baby carrier. It’s a warm day in March, and...
In this month’s blog, I share how my childhood Christmas story was and continues to be shaped by intergenerational trauma. On Christmas Eve 1963, Alexander and May were coming home from a party with friends when the car they were travelling in...
Having been a social planner for over ten years, I am acutely aware of how historical town planning has overlooked the needs of women and mothers. In their article for The Conversation, academics Dorina Pojani, Dorothy Wardale, and Kerry Brown...
As I stood in the kitchen chopping up veggies for the soup I was making to ease my three-year-old son’s croup, I saw a figure flash past the back door. My first thought was, “oh, my husband must have come home early to take over sick child duties”. But it wasn’t my...
In this blog, I interview dads who had access to paid parental leave through their workplace. I find that they all benefited from access to leave that allowed them time to settle into their role as a new parent. In countries like Sweden, dads have access to extended...
