FFS Friday - Simple

Hi beautiful people. It's Friday!

At the moment there's a bit fuss here in Western Australia about the prices of fruit and veggies going up because there aren't any backpackers here to help with the harvest and do the fruit and veggie picking.

Farmers use backpackers because they can pay them low wages and offer conditions which the backpackers accept but most others wouldn't. 

I think there's an easy solution, but the farmers won't like it. Pay people decent money and make the conditions and hours favourable so that people can do the job.

It seems obvious to me. School mums and stay at home mums would be perfect. I'm sure there are plenty of parents like me who'd love to work but can't because of their child care commitments.

So hire a nanny and make the working hours 9am to 2pm. Mums can either bring their kids with them or come to work after they've dropped the kids at school.

Easy. The produce would be picked, they'd have plenty of willing workers and everyone would be happy.

It seems to me like a lot of industries could do the same thing. After I had Chai I would have loved to go back to work but I wasn't willing to have Chai in day care all day. If my work had on site child care I would have gone back to work. Instead I had two years maternity leave and then took a voluntary redundancy.

Even now I'd love to work but it's just not possible. So many other parents are in the same situation as I am. So many employers are complaining that they can't get staff. 

Instead of expecting the employee to conform to the employers requirements, why don't the employers create an environment that allows people to work whilst also caring for their children?

Mums are great employees. They're brilliant at time management, they get things done quickly and efficiently, they can do at least three things at one, they don't have time to waste sitting around doing nothing, they're used to mess and chaos, they just want to get their work done and go home.

Instead of valuing parenthood we victimise it. We make stay at home mothers feel inferior, we criticise them when they prioritise their children and we don't value them at all. 

The mums who go to work are criticised for not putting their families first. Either way women can't win. 

Even in a tough job market there are plenty of jobs that businesses struggle to fill, so why not change things up a bit so that it's easier for people to work?

One day society will realise how amazing and valuable women are and the world will be a better place.

I'm trying to raise my boys to respect and value women. I want them to know that women are kick ass, amazing beings who are capable of anything, but I also want them to treat women with gentleness and respect. 

I have no idea if I'm getting it right but I'm trying my best, hopefully I'm successful.