Volume 2   Number 2

Email: waa@womensactionalliance.com.au

Website: www.womensactionalliance.com.au

May 2006

 

 

 

 

INTACT FAMILIES: A BETTER START TO LIFE

The Melbourne University Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research, released a report on 11 April entitled ‘Families, Incomes and Jobs’. This is the first ever statistical report of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Panel Survey, and draws on data from 20,000 people. It contains a wealth of information about households and family life; incomes and wealth; employment and unemployment; and life satisfaction and well-being.

 

Some of the findings of the report were summarised in a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Of particular note was the finding that a stable family life leads to better education, higher household wealth and often a better chance of children growing up to have a happy relationship. The report goes on to suggest that with the increasing prevalence of divorce, young people are more likely to have their education disrupted by family problems, and have more difficulty finding a partner they are happy with.

 

The stability of a household had implications for later income levels. Men who grew up in families that did not break up were found to be living in households worth 78 per cent more than men brought up by only one parent. Women brought up by both parents lived in households where the worth was double that of those households lived in by women brought up by only one parent.

 

VIEW FROM…VIC!

The report speculated that family arrangements of people while they were growing up were unlikely to affect their future life satisfaction. However, findings indicated something different. ‘Women whose parents were not together when they were 14 had lower levels of satisfaction with their own current relationships than women whose parents had stayed together,’ the authors found.

 

Education levels were also likely to be higher for both men and women who grew up with both parents. About 20 per cent obtained degrees, a far higher rate than people who grew up in other households. The same was true at the other end of the education spectrum, with far more people reaching only Year 11 having grown up in families where the parents' relationships had ended.

 

The report also highlighted time spent in paid and unpaid work.

 

While women spend an average of 21 hours a week on household duties and errands, men spend 8.7 hours a week.

 

But men spent longer on work-related activities such as commuting (32 hours a week ) than women (18 hours).

 

When both paid and unpaid work was added together, men and women were each working about 60 hours a week.

 

Further information on this report can be obtained from the Institute’s website at www.melbourneinstitute.com

Recently the Victorian media focused  on the issue of Elder Abuse, following shocking allegations regarding the sexual abuse of female patients in a nursing home by a male member of staff.

 

This brought to light similar allegations showing that this was not an isolated incident. The newly appointed Federal Minister for Aging, Hon. Santo Santoro reacted swiftly, promising to protect those in aged care facilities through better screening procedures, spot checks and mandatory reporting.

 

There is however widespread, hidden abuse of the elderly in the community, involving physical, emotional and financial mistreatment by family members. 

 

In Australia, we have many laws relating to children, but none relating to the elderly. In the USA, Elder Law is commonly practised and is the subject of study in many universities, while here, the reality of older people’s daily lives receives scant attention in the public arena. Advertising is directed to an affluent minority creating a distorted picture. The injustice of slashing the age pension by 40% on the death of a spouse is never acknowledged by politicians, academics or the media.

 

The projected numbers of older people in 30 years time is constantly raised as a huge problem, and overlooks the invaluable contributions to society by the older community, particularly through volunteering, and in assisting family members.

 

Public disregard for the older population creates a climate where abuse of the elderly becomes possible.

 

Isabel Schofield

Victorian President