Keeping the balance: the experiences of lesbian parents
Margot Rawsthorne
University of Sydney
Contact Email:   m.rawsthorneedfac.usyd.edu.au

This paper will report on the findings of a study of lesbian parents in 2006. The study includes unpublished data drawn from the ABS 2001 Census and interviews with lesbian parents in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Illawarra and regional New South Wales. Like other western countries there is increasing numbers of children being conceived into lesbian families. The literature in the past has concentrated on the wellbeing of children raised in lesbian families. Very little is known about the workforce arrangements of these families. The ABS data indicates lesbian parents have a much higher workforce participation rate than other female parents in New South Wales. The paper will report on the support and barriers lesbian parents experience in balancing their parenting and work roles. Comparisons will be made with the findings of a similar study undertaken in 2005 with female parents from heterosexual partnerships. Flexibility in relation to workforce participation, household duties and social policy entitlements all appear to assist these parents maximise their work/life balance. Despite this, however, the continuing lack of legal recognition of their status as a family and the enshrining of the rights of co-parents creates an undercurrent of anxiety.

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