Female PM – Do kids put women out of the game?

In the 20 years that I have been heading up WNA women have made headway in so many areas and in others there’s so much work to be done. Not sure if you caught the content of a recent survey of head hunters in the UK, it suggests that taking even a few months’ career break for the sake of children can harm a woman’s prospects of winning a top executive job. Read the rest…

Contributed by Lynette Palmen .   Lynette Palmen AM is the Founder and Managing Director or Women's Network Australia. She started WNA 20 years ago to offer support, inspiration and services that would inspire women to succeed in their career and business endeavours. WNA is now the Nation's premier networking organisation for business and professional women. T: 1800 052 476.

Lynette Palmen has written 44 article(s) for us.

Visit http://womensnetwork.com.au

Do We Really Have To PUSH Women On To Boards?

When I first arrived in this country several years ago, I struggled to find anyone who would hire me in a senior management capacity. I found this puzzling since I have two degrees, two professional designations and very solid work experience with recognised international brands. The MAIN reason I was given by organisations was that I “lacked Australian work experience”. I found this reason to be puzzling. 

We live in a world where there are few global trading boundaries. Every business is susceptible to the threat of losing customers to internet-based businesses (which in many cases sell the same products for less) and we need to think outside of the square to compete and maintain market share. Read the rest…

What lack of childcare places? Government’s take is that you are just imagining it

Whilst women are continually finding it a struggle to secure childcare places, it seems, according to the Government, they are simply imagining there is an issue. Not sure if you read about it, but late last week the Rudd Government broke its 2007 election promise to build 260 new childcare centres. Apparently the reason behind this is the findings of a recent report they commissioned showing there were 65,780 long day care vacancies every day so there was no need to deliver the pledge. Read the rest…

Imitation book lacks two vital ingredients

Recently, whilst shopping in K-Mart, I was a bit surprised to see one of the oldest and well known national women’s magazine’s name appearing on the cover of a book titled ‘Just Four Ingredients’. Now I might be wrong but didn’t the concept and idea of cooking with 4 Ingredients originally belong to bestselling authors from Qld’s Sunshine Coast, Rachael Bermingham and Kim McCosker? It’s also the concept behind their new TV cooking program currently showing on the LifeStyle Channel. Read the rest…

Babes are likely to be out of the budget

This week-end the Government will receive the Productivity Commission’s recommendations on Maternity Leave. It appears that after all the carry-on about this idea it’s not going to even get a look-in as part of the May Budget.

It seems the Nation is not in an economic position to implement it – well the Government had heaps of time to think about accommodating this one before giving away $12 billion of the surplus to many people who don’t actually need it. Maternity Leave payments would have achieved the same outcome – women spending money in retail outlets in preparation for the birth of their baby. It’s not rocket science. And in anycase wasn’t the Government funding for the recommendations of the Commission going to be mostly funded by a revamp of the current Baby Bonus package?  Read the rest…

Stimulus a no-go for many women

I have received hundreds of emails agreeing with my lack of enthusiasm for the Government’s proposed stimulus package. The consensus of opinion is that one off bonuses are not the way to go, but rather a combination of infrastructure projects, tax cuts and one off payments going only to those crippled by the economic fallout. In other words, much stricter means testing. There’s a definite trend unfolding and this is that we’ve had it with Governments who can only see as far as the next election.

You don’t need to be an economist to know that sinking money into infrastructure will create jobs and bring life back to many of the regional areas currently hurting. I know I want a Government who’s willing to take responsibility for the next 20 – 30 years, not just the next 3 months.  Any bonuses handed out by Governments should only be given to those in most need.  I just find it hard to comprehend that many of the people I know will, at the minimum, each receive at least $950 – whilst on any given Saturday evening dining out in the city they will pass homeless people sleeping in the streets.  Read the rest…

Stimulus needs a re-think

How insignificant the economic woes of the Nation become when one considers the tragedy that’s unfolding in Victoria. Today you would be hard pressed to find anyone anywhere in the country complaining about their loss of employment or weeping over the hit they’ve taken on their investment or superannuation funds. It’s a sobering time for all of us and we should take the opportunity to work through what we truly value and the things we hold close to our hearts.

In life the best laid plans often come undone and none of us are ever privy to what’s around the corner, even for the Nation. In saying this, I hope the Federal Government has the vision to revisit the use of the country’s current surplus through their $42 billion stimulus package. Can’t we drop it back by $5 – 10 billion and, as of today, make the Nation’s top spending priority caring and supporting Australians who, over the last 48 hours, have found themselves displaced, homeless or mourning the loss of loved ones? I know where I would rather see any bonus I am entitled to channelled. How do you feel?

Money – What do women really think?

Who won’t be glad to see this year tick over? The never ending financial doom and gloom portrayed by the media is enough to put anyone off having fun. For many business owners life is proving to be very tough and if the pundits have it right not much is going to improve in the next year. But I encourage you to also see the brighter side of things.

There’s a multitude of positive aspects that aren’t getting the air play they deserve. Like petrol prices! They’re currently sitting at prices like we haven’t seen for years and what about interest rates? They make the idea of jumping back into the property market extremely attractive. But make sure you have employment stability before doing so. And first home buyers – our children have never had it so good currently being able to access up to $21,000 to purchase their first home.

But on another note, we can’t forget those worst hit by all of this mess – those who are close to retirement. They’re wearing the brunt of the financial crisis with their superannuation savings disappearing overnight and with no luxury of time to recover lost gains, many have now become the new poor. Read the rest…

Paid Leave – Competitive

Just as we’re finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel in regards to taxpayer-funded Paid Parental Leave let’s hope the issue doesn’t end up in the too hard basket, conveniently moved to the side as yet another casualty of the current economic crisis.

The final round of the public hearings of the Productivity Commission’s report are taking place over the next week with the finalised report due to the Government in February 2009.

One would hope that common sense will prevail. The Federal Government is currently talking up an education revolution, but it doesn’t seem much point does it to be educating the population only to lose a significant group of talented women when the reach child bearing age. You can’t fix one problem without the other, it takes education and retention to maintain a competitive labour market.

Lynette Palmen AM, Founder and Managing Director, Women’s Network Australia speaks to for and about women’s issues. www.womensnetwork.com.au

If the world could vote

I came across this site today http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com/ which was set up by three guys in Iceland.  When I just visited it a few minutes ago over 712,000 people from across 200 countries had already cast their vote.  Many feel the President of the United States is the most powerful position in the world so who is it that would have the backing of the global community? Check out the results and vote if you feel inclined.