Barriers to equality: men's and women's attitudes to workplace entitlements in Australia

This paper examines attitudes to workplace entitlements, such as parental l eave and flexible work hours. Family friendly policies such as leave to car e for children have implications for feminist debates about sameness versus difference and the extent to which such policies will lead to greater equa lity between men and women, or alternatively, further entrench existing gen der divisions of labour: Using data from a recent national survey in Austra lia, the paper shows that while the Australian workforce is generally in fa vour of workplace entitlements, women are generally more supportive of thes e kinds of benefits than men. Surprisingly, most respondents are more suppo rtive of unpaid rather than paid parental leave. The results also show that the most important determinants of support for work entitlements are a com bination of the extent to which one needs work entitlements and employment location. The results raise issues about whether the provision of workplace entitlements will encourage greater participation by men in domestic respo nsibilities, or simply ease women's double burden of paid and unpaid work.