If more women are to enter the workforce, fathers need greater working flexibility

Fair Go For The West: If more women are to enter the workforce fathers need greater working flexibility.

IF we want to see more females in the workforce, employers have to show greater flexibility towards working dads, an expert panel of leaders in business and education told the NAB women’s forum.

Channel Seven’s Melissa Doyle credited her father with instilling in her the values that she could achieve anything a man could do.

“I think for me as girl — coming from a bloke — listening to that, it just made me feel really good and really strong,” she said.

Melissa Doyle has joined a panel of professional women calling on increased flexibility f

Doyle credited her father with instilling in her the belief that she could do anything a man could do. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis Source: News Corp Australia

NAB business banking group executive Angela Mentis said corporate Australia needs to change the “societal bias,” of seeing the care giver as just one person.

“We still have the view that women are the primary care giver. What we need to be thinking about as a society is whether it is still right that the care giver is one person and that could either be the mother or the father,” Ms Mentis said.

Ms Mentis said changing that bias would lead to greater participation of women in the workforce and therefore a boost to the national economy.

“If we were to close the gap between female and male participation (in the workforce) we would increase GDP by 11 per cent.”

Ms Mentis was part of an expert panel speaking to 100 Western Sydney business women at a breakfast forum held at the Canterbury Leagues Club this morning as part of the Fair Go For The West campaign.