Women on the rise.
With International women’s day behind us, it doesn’t mean that the celebrating should end. For the last 25 years there has been an increase in the social trend of higher amounts of women moving into the work place. Since this has being going on for a number of years it may not seem that surprising, however as far as work place equality goes these numbers are encouraging that there is still a shifting dynamic in both employment rates and social prejudice. Happily, Expat International can write that across all regions of Australia, women are contributing substantially to their local economies through their participation in the labor force. The nature of this contribution has changed somewhat dramatically in the last 25 years as a result of various economic and social changes. One of the largest contributing factors have been has been the structure of the Australian economy that has allowed growth in the service industries and an increase in the availability of part time and casual roles as well as increased access to child care, allowing more women to be able to enter the workforce with the viability of balancing family life.
This isn’t to say that social changes haven’t been as large of a factor as the economy. The societal change in accepting that women are in fact just as capable has allowed for the rise of the popularly coined phrase ‘stays at home dad’s’. As of 2013 the ABS revealed that since the last decade the number of stay at home dad has doubled with numbers still on the rise.
Where does this fall in line with relocation and immigration? Well, it’s important to know the stats and numbers when relocating internationally or even nationally. For example the culture and economic situation within India, (while there have been huge steps forward)as caused the overall labor force participation rate for women to fall from 37% in 2004-2005 to 29% in 2009- 2010. Again this isn’t to say there isn’t any progress making head way when dealing with equality in India, because there is. It’s just that all over the world each country is at a different stage of modernization.
Here in Australia there has been a steady increase that can help make individuals and families alike make a decision on whether there is opportunity for employment and prosperity. With the archaic mindset of male dominated industries slowly fading away there has been a rise of professions dominated by women that show that times are indeed changing.
(Business insider, Australia)
Relating this back to migration and relocation, an important aspect of making the right decision to move is to know what you are entitled to if you have a family or are planning to have a family. For instance, in Australia, all employees are entitled to what is called parental leave. If you have worked for an employer for more then 12 months then you are entitled to parental leave. This applies for all types of employment. For more information about this you can visit the Fair works website, https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/maternity-and-parental-leave.
We are gladdened by the fact that while there still is some ways to go to make everything as equal as we can that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any movement at all. As you can see from such information as the Australian bureau of statistics that numerically there as been an increase in the amount of women participating in the work for an in a much more diverse fields than ever before.
