Glass Hurdles

If we want to exploit all the skills in the labour market then we have to address the gender gap. Women now make up close to 60 per cent of graduates each year-these women join firms and generally track alongside their male counterparts until they have children.

Then the drop-off begins. Women and men enter the employment market at the beginning of their careers in equal numbers. Then, once they have children, the level of participation by women falls off a cliff and does not return to parity with men until the end of their careers.

One of the biggest hurdles women face when returning to work is flexibility. Childcare duties mean that most women can't work the way that they used to before they children and often they don't want to.

That results in a 12 per cent gap in the employment participation rate between working age men and women. The flow on effects of this show up in every area of life from career satisfaction to superannuation balances where at retirement women have on average one third of the amount of super that men have.

Women-and particularly mothers-face many hurdles in the workplace. Some are visible and are harder to spot.

The first hurdle is that, when women ask for flexible work arrangements, their managers hear that they want to work part-time. We have to pull the two words apart: working flexibly is not the same as working part-time. The latter is about working less than five-days a week, generally in the office. The former covers a vast array of working arrangements that could include, but is not limited to, part-time.

"We need to get rid of the stigma that goes with being a part-time working mother. Part-timers miss out on career opportunities because they are not seen as committed to their career."

Some examples of flexible working include: working full-time but not always from the office; job-sharing; working a full week in three or four days, and; working full-time but outside of traditional hours. My point is that lots of employees'-women and men-want a full-time role, but they want a measure of flexibility that goes with it.

Secondly we need to get rid of the stigma that goes with being a part-time working mother. Part-timers miss out on career opportunities because they are not seen as committed to their career.

Meaningful work, as in work where you can be expected to progress your career, is generally allocated to people that work full-time. Once a mother puts up her hand to work part-time, there can be a subconscious bias that she does not want to be promoted or challenged.

Finally, work is structured to suit workers without significant caring duties. The impromptu opportunities to network after work, for example, are only open to those that don't have to dash out the door to pick up children at 5pm.

Some organisations are now recognising that the burden of proof needs to shift so that all roles should first be considered as being flexible unless it can be shown that that they cannot be flexible. ANZ and Telstra have taken the lead in this but expect more organisations to follow.

We are just at the beginning of a new era where work becomes more flexible. Companies that embrace it and increase female participation will reap the benefits of a more diverse workforce.

Kate Mills is the CEO and founder of Professionalmums.net, an online platform that matches professional women with flexible work opportunities. She is passionate about gender diversity and welcomes a conversation with your organisation.