Working parents are being set up to fail by a system that combines soaring living costs, rigid workplace expectations and an eye-watering gap between school days and work hours, according to Georgie Dent, CEO of advocacy group The Parenthood.
Dent’s recent National Press Club address went viral after laying bare the compounding pressures on modern families. Speaking with Reged Ahmad on the Full Story podcast, she argued that raising children has become an impossible mathematical equation.
An impossible mathematical equation
The advocacy chief pointed to the mismatch between the length of the school day and a standard working day, alongside the financial strain of childcare and everyday expenses. Research cited in the discussion shows it costs nearly $37,000 a year to raise two children in Australia.
Dent described family pressures as a “policy failure” and highlighted an 814-hour parenting shortfall caused by school holidays, when parents must cover care that schools do not provide.
Policy reform as the fix
The solution, she argued, lies in policy reform rather than individual coping strategies. By reshaping workplace expectations and closing the gap between school and work hours, the system could be made to fit families rather than forcing families to fit the system.
The podcast episode unpacks how these structural pressures accumulate and what changes could ease the burden on parents across Australia.
