My views are from the understanding that these are mostly women who have historically performed the lion’s share of unpaid labor (raising children etc.), worked historically in lower-paid feminised industries and are actively discriminated against by current employers due to their age. That’s lower lifetime earnings and super. They are being forced into volunteer work in exchange for payments that are about 40% below the poverty line.
This may be an extreme subset and I am certain there a women that love the community involvement and purpose.
My critique of mutual obligations goes further but this particular case stands out.
Most of what I’ve seen of people in that age group are using it as an early retirement scheme. I saw a lot of discussion in one of the groups I was in with that cohort actively choosing to leave jobs so they could retire with a combination of welfare payments and using a portion of their Super.
Age/gender discrimination is definitely a problem, but allowing a couple of days of volunteer work instead of having to look for work (and a payment that is higher than younger unemployed people receive) seems a reasonable compromise to bridge the gap until aged pension age.
My views are from the understanding that these are mostly women who have historically performed the lion’s share of unpaid labor (raising children etc.), worked historically in lower-paid feminised industries and are actively discriminated against by current employers due to their age. That’s lower lifetime earnings and super. They are being forced into volunteer work in exchange for payments that are about 40% below the poverty line.
This may be an extreme subset and I am certain there a women that love the community involvement and purpose.
My critique of mutual obligations goes further but this particular case stands out.
Most of what I’ve seen of people in that age group are using it as an early retirement scheme. I saw a lot of discussion in one of the groups I was in with that cohort actively choosing to leave jobs so they could retire with a combination of welfare payments and using a portion of their Super.
Age/gender discrimination is definitely a problem, but allowing a couple of days of volunteer work instead of having to look for work (and a payment that is higher than younger unemployed people receive) seems a reasonable compromise to bridge the gap until aged pension age.