Working mums 'should demand nannies, housekeepers as subsidies'

Melbourne, Dec 4 (ANI): Working mums should demand nannies and housekeepers to be included in their salary packages, if they wish to succeed in their professional life, an Australian journalist has suggested.

The publishing queen, Ita Buttrose, said that if Australia adopted more of a nanny culture, it would help women stay in work, continue to climb the corporate ladder and snare the chief executive's role.

"I am a great believer in packages that include some support for the mother, whether it is a nanny or a housekeeper or whatever," News.com.au quoted her as saying.

"You might not get the shares, or you might not get the car, but you balance one out against the other. Of course companies can do it."

"Women who want to continue their careers and have families should ask for that package from their employer and the workplace needs to think about how they are going to offer it."

Buttrose, 69, who herself employed a nanny for her young children while she founded the magazine Cleo, spoke to The Sunday Mail to promote the first Australian Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry poll to recognize the challenges faced by Australia's 700,000 female entrepreneurs.

According to Buttrose, businesses are mad not to have more women in decision-making roles and therefore she has urged them to pay for nannies to ensure that their female staff does not fall off the career ladder.

"Having a nanny made my life infinitely easier and certainly having someone in my home caring for my son was much better than me dropping him into day care," she said.

"It means there is always someone with the child and if the child is sick and there's an important meeting, you can still get there."

"If you occasionally have to work back late your child is not going to starve."

She also asserted that Australia had been sidetracked by getting women on boards and should be concentrating on the more powerful CEO role.

"We got diverted with the boardroom argument."

"Don't forget running the business, being the CEO, is really the big role women should aim for ...It is the CEO that drives change in the business," she added. (ANI)