(^56) | marieclaire.com.au
“WORKING IN
RADIO IS EASY
- IT’S TWICE AS
HARD AT HOME”
MICHAEL “WIPPA” WIPFLI
RADIO PRESENTER, FATHER OF TED, 4, AND JACK, 3“When you’ve just had a kid, you’re living in a haze a lot of the
time. It’s exhausting, and a sensitive time. Postnatal depression can
slip in easily when people are so tired – my wife Lisa had it after
Jack. A lot of mums think they should be able to do everything
themselves, and if they’re not getting it all right, then they’re failing.
Luckily, we came to terms with that very quickly and thought,
‘Well, why wouldn’t we get somebody that knows a hell of a lot
more than us to help out?’ The saying that ‘It takes a village to raise
a child’ is 100 per cent true. I took off a week after the boys were
born. I’m lucky in this job that the on-air role was three hours and
then I could get home by 9:30am and help out for the rest of the
day, so Lisa could get the sleep required. Working in radio is easy
compared to looking after kids – it’s twice as hard at home.”75%
OF DADS
WANT
TO TAKE
ADDITIONAL
LEAVE
Harriet was six months, Walker quit his job
and Chun returned to full-time work at her
start-up. “We switched and I’ve been a full-
time dad since,” he says. “I definitely receive
more of the positive comments, whereas
Christina going back to work apparently
reflects less well on her.”
Walker represents a tiny minority. Most
dads’ working lives remain unchanged after a
baby, according to new research by the Austra-
lian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS). In fact,
the number of dads accessing flexible work
arrangements has barely changed – even in a
time where equality for women at work has
been a hot topic. “While fathers today may be
more involved in childcare, especially [on]
weekends, the hours they spend in employ-
ment remains the same after children,” AIFS
director Anne Hollonds says. Meanwhile, it
can take years for mums to return to their
pre-kids employment hours – and many never
recoup their full earning
potential. Hollonds identi-
fies the lack of parental
leave for dads as a key
barrier for couples who
would otherwise share
family duties more equally.
Men want to be more
involved in the lives of
their children. In 2014,
three in four dads sur-
veyed said they would have
liked to take additional
leave, with money the rea-
son over half didn’t. This matches global
research that indicates paid leave for fathers
is critical to redistribute caring between men
and women. Sweden is a case in point, where
men now take 25 per cent of all paid parental
leave. A decade ago, their government began
an “equality-promoting” PPL policy, in which
working parents are offered 480 days of paren-
tal leave per child, which can be shared
between mums and dads, but with each parent
entitled to at least three months on a use-it-
or-lose-it basis.
Australia doesn’t have a nationally legis-
lated approach to encourage ‘shared care’ but
Walsh hopes we’re on the cusp of change. “Pa-
rental leave equality is now on many employ-
ers’ radars and this could mean we’re about to
see a significant leap forward,” she explains.
Recently, Baker McKenzie, QBE, De-
loitte, Spotify, Medibank and L’Oréal have all
announced changes to their PPL policies,
aimed at making leave more accessible, gener-
ous and inclusive for parents – not just mums.
A year after becoming a dad, Tom was
promoted to partner at his law firm. Before
their second child was born, he used his se-
niority to insist on extended leave. “It’s far
from perfect, but I hope because of my exam-
ple, other men and women in the firm know it’s
acceptable for dads to take parental leave too.”