This paper illustrates how the work of feminist theorists Valerie Walkerdine, Helen Lucey and June Melody, Beverly Skeggs, and Nancy Fraser were used together to examine the lived effects of Australian government Mutual Obligations policies. As "active" welfare policies, Mutual Obligations construct particular relations between…

This paper is based on a 1991 research study that examined non-English speaking background (NESB) women in Victoria, Australia. The women had past or current experience of paid work or were intending to participate in paid work, and they were taking or intending to take literacy and basic education courses. Some of the relationships between the…

Examines family policy from an international vantage point outside the particular context of United States family policy and reveals how women involved in parenting and a career, and their children, fare in the international economic arena. The pros and cons of the state serving as a support system are illustrated. (GR)

Two key periods in the history of Australian child care policies are examined and speculative comparisons with British policies are made. During World War II, perceptions of the need for organized child care in Australia were tied almost exclusively to the war-related need for women's labor. During 1942, the question of child care for children of…

This background paper was commissioned to survey the condition of child care in Australia. The first three sections give statistical data on the current patterns of care arrangements and the factors contributing to a demand for expanded and more flexible child care services, i.e., family composition, income, and work arrangements. The next section…

The report on women with non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB) in the Australian labor force was prepared to review the experience and needs of this population in recent years and to examine the various available sources of information. The first section reviews the standard statistical sources and their research methodologies. The second and…

This paper examines the relationship between Australian women's participation in paid work in the public market and the child-rearing component of their unpaid, non-market work, and the role of public policy in regulating the relationship. The study presents a historical overview of the period between 1939 and 1950. Critical concepts and the ideas…

This report discusses trends in the way Australian families are forming and re-forming, factors determining families' access to income, and proposals regarding reform of the income transfer system. The current shape of families in Australia is described in terms of a shift to marriage at a later age; leaving-home behavior of young people; the…

Supplemented with 20 tables of data, this discussion focuses on the changing environment of Australian families and society. Specifically offered are descriptions of child care arrangements, a rationale for children's services, and policy suggestions. With respect to child care arrangements, it is noted that the family environment has been altered…

In view of recent Australian government policy favoring multiculturalism, a research study was undertaken to investigate the effect of literacy, bilingualism, and adult education and training on non-English speaking background (NESB) women in Australian society. NESB women have been identified as a migrant group with both special needs and…

An Australian study of 40,000 women found that the age at which young women have children is related to broader patterns of social inequality and to the disadvantagement of young rural women. Of particular concern is the increasing polarization between better-educated young women who defer motherhood and less-educated women who have children at a…

This book proposes a new, multidisciplinary theory for explaining and predicting current and future patterns of women's choice between employment and family work. Chapters 1 and 2 present main tenets of preference theory and explain the need for the theory. Chapters 3 through 8 elaborate four principal tenets of preference theory. Chapter 3…

Most of the research on women and vocational education and training (VET) in Australia and elsewhere that was published in 1987-1998 may be characterized as follows: (1) it was undertaken to inform or support policy decisions and is therefore framed by political and ideological agendas; (2) it is piecemeal; (3) it tends to consider women as…

Until the 1970s, social norms dictated that women provided care for their families and men were employed for pay. The rapid increase in paid work for women has resulted in an untenable model of work and care in which all employees are assumed to be unencumbered with family responsibilities and women who care for their families are dismissed as…

Recent research on Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system and women in small business was synthesized to identify ways of making VET more responsive to the needs of women in small business. Special attention was paid to the following topics: key issues affecting public policy (globalization, economic development, industry…