A WPR APPROACH TO POLICY MAKING FOR GENDER ISSUES
What’s the problem represented to be?
In her discourse on addressing social problems through government policy, writes about how policies are put in place using only one representation of the problem. An example she cites is the problem of high infant mortality rate of Aboriginal children. The Australian government’s investigation drew the conclusion that their nomadic lifestyle was the reason for the problem. Therefore the solution was for them to settle in one place. The assumptions are many; one, that being nomadic is a problem, that two, settlements will give them a better life, and possibly the most damaging assumption of all – there are no other causes for this problem. The repercussions of such assumptions are far reaching. Any policy making that arises from these assumptions will adversely impact those populations that do not agree with this assessment. In fact, Bacchi posits that the government could have viewed the problem from another representation. Why could healthcare not become accessible to the nomads? By changing the representation of the problem, policy making also changes.
This approach, also called WPR, can be applied to policy making for any number of social issues. In this paper, I shall demonstrate how the WPR approach can help change policy making in gender issues with particular emphasis on the problem of the working mother.
The WPR approach
5 questions for policy making:
1. What is the problem?
2. What are the assumptions underlying in the representation of this problem?
3. What is the effect of the representation that is being used?
4. What would be the change in responses if the problem was represented differently?
5. Can the problem representation be challenged? If yes, how, where and why?
Gender Issues and Policy Making
The role of women in the modern consciousness has been limited to domesticity – the running of the household, the bearing and nurturing of children and being the companion to a man. Over the last century and a half, this concept has been challenged and has led to contention in almost every social sphere. Today, women’s empowerment movements have defined what empowerment means (Appendix 1). To bring about empowerment, social laws and governmental policies have been written and rewritten to address the issues, but again, the problems have always had only one type of representation.
For example, I have seen that mothers who work outside the home face extreme situations where they have to choose between success in careers and successful home life. Most women stop working. Being a mother is the problem. Workplace policies are therefore built to allow more maternity leave, employers provide childcare facilities , but at the end of it all the basic cultural assumption remains the same. Women are given the opportunity to work, but their primary responsibility is to the family. In fact, by looking at the problem as “Why are fathers not involved more in parenting?” the perspective will shift significantly. I shall now use WPR approach to this problem to illustrate how policy making can change.
The working mother problem
What is the problem? Work-life conflict for working mothers. In Australia, as in other countries , women make the greater contribution to unpaid care and household work when compared to men. This leads to greater work-life interference for mothers and women caregivers who also work outside the home.
What are the assumptions underlying in the representation of this problem? A woman is the primary care giver, which is her societal role . Men cannot get involved in childcare or any care giving activity to the extent women can. Men cannot afford to take time away from work like women can; men are naturally more ambitious. A review by the Australian government revealed that 27% of men reported discrimination against them for taking parental leave.
What is the effect of the representation that is being used? Government policies are created to provide more parental leave , the Right to Request flexibility, arrangement for good quality childcare – all of these are created for parents yet are availed more by women than by men, even in the case of women who are not single mothers. Men continue to work longer hours in office, 48+ hours a week, while more women opt for whichever flexibility options are available to them.
What would be the change in responses if the problem was represented differently? If the problem is represented as “Allowing fathers to get more involved in parenting”, it takes on a different outlook. It is not that men are not able caregivers they need to be able to view it as a natural role as opposed to conflicting with their careers. Employers will be able to create policies that do not hamper a man’s career growth because he chose to take several months off in parental leave to take care of his children. Men will be given greater opportunities to work from home, work lesser hours and more flexibly if it becomes imperative that they have to be equally involved in parenting. It will become “OK” for a man to come to work later because he is dropping off his preschooler.
Can the problem representation be challenged? If yes, how, where and why? Women should not be facing work-life issues because they are mothers. The role of the father is equally important and a father is also a child’s natural care giver . Children are not negatively impacted if the mother works full time and the father takes care of them.
Conclusion
The WPR approach shows that by changing the problem statement there will be overall better outcomes for the problem of work-life interference for working parents. I hope to have successfully demonstrated how the WPR approach can be applied to policy making in gender issues.
References
Australian Human Rights Commission, 2014. Supporting Working Parents: Pregnancy and Return to Work National Review - Report. [Online] Available at: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/publications/supporting-working-parents-pregnancy-and-return-work[Accessed 19 April 2016].
Bacchi, C., 2010. Foucault, Policy and Rule: Challenging the Problem-Solving Paradigm. FREIA Paper Series, January.
Crown, C. & Gupta, G. R. K. Z., 2003. Promises to Keep: Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. [Online] Available at: http://www.princeton.edu/rpds/seminars/pdfs/grown_promises_to_keep.pdf[Accessed 19 April 2016].
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2000. Factors Associated With Fathers' Caregiving Activities and Sensitivity With Young Children. Journal of Family Psychology, 14(2), pp. 200-219.
Skinner, N. & Chapman, J., 2013. Work-life balance and family friendly policies. [Online] Available at: https://journal.anzsog.edu.au/publications/10/EvidenceBase2013Issue4.pdf[Accessed 19 April 2016].
Skinner, N. & Pocock, B., 2014. The Persistent Challenge: Living, Working and Caring in Australia in 2014. [Online] Available at: http://www.unisa.edu.au/documents/eass/cwl/publications/awali_2014_national_report_final.pdf[Accessed 19 April 2016].
Appendix 1
