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We are a not-for-profit organisation advocating for parents.
We believe that the system underpinning working and parenting is not fit for purpose.
Parents are not supported to care for their own children. Combining working and caring for children is next to impossible. Parents and children are overstretched and overwhelmed.
Our policy position is simple
01
Increase paid parental leave to at least 12 months (with a component reserved for fathers).
02
Expand the Child Care Subsidy to include financial support for parents, grandparents and nannies to undertake care.
03
Restrict funding of for-profit childcare providers and bolster support for not-for-profit and community-run providers.
04
Change workplace laws and workplace culture to limit excessive working hours and provide more flexibility in working arrangements.
Our Champions
Lael Stone
Lael Stone. Lael is an author, educator and TedX speaker.
Lael says: "Alannah and Virginia...are opening up conversations around unpaid care work and supporting the family unit. I think these are important conversations to be had, especially if we want to prioritise attachment, connection and support for parents...I really believe that if we started supporting the family unit right from the beginning, then we would see far less issues further down the line."
Steve Biddulph
Steve Biddulph, psychologist and world-renowned parent educator and author of 'Raising Boys' and 'Raising Girls'.
"I am so pleased you are doing this. The culture of everyone - mums and dads - having to return to work before they are ready, or is good for their kids, is so predominant...individual parents feel immense pressure, social and financial to go with the flow. Everywhere I go, I meet parents who....felt encouraged by my writing, and the research picture - to trust their own intuitions, and stay home longer. They are always incredibly pleased they did."
Robin Barker
Robin Barker, bestselling author of 'Baby Love'.
Visit the Resources Hub for Robin's take on the incompatibility of child care for children under three.
![I cringe to think about this now. But before I had kids, I remember thinking to myself, “There is really no discrimination against women in my industry [professional services] or at least in this workplace. I get paid the same as my male counterparts, I get access to the same opportunities at work, we seem to have largely moved past this particular issue.”
When I became a mother, I realised that this was true only so long as I behaved like a man. Once I was visibly pregnant, took parental leave, worked part-time, needed to take sick days to care for my kids - it became obvious that the systemic discrimination was alive and well. It wasn’t personal. But the feminism that had worked so well for me, allowing me to obtain a world-class education and participate fully in the paid workforce, started to fail me when I became a mother and could no longer easily participate in a model that expects full-time, physical presence in an office in a paid work capacity in order to achieve “success” in life.
@virginia_tapscott discusses the history, the importance of and the drawbacks of “career feminism” in All Mothers Work and how it was never meant to be the end game, but a necessary step on the way to the true liberation of all women. One in which all of our contributions are recognised and supported.
There are 6 days left to become a Kickstarter backer and get a signed copy of this fabulous, incredibly important book. Link to Kickstarter campaign in bio.
— Alannah (co-founder, Parents Work Collective)](https://scontent-sea5-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/521775046_17977680182893555_1449691069148018020_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiRkVFRC5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=alLJNuA0KDwQ7kNvwFVD9Cl&_nc_oc=AdlKgP86RaeqiYR2VHphQQSuZLwEjlVBspP1FM0I_EZanHR1g7iHMSPSgDTU5-9TPWY&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sea5-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=nPGKDHetsGVRypbI_Ek9gg&oh=00_Aff-kQFNyQLYunrBRzD69h5Jl7fFuf_S9a5kpx6ToKaNGw&oe=6904EEB8)
