What we found
- Career progression, young children, ageing parents and perimenopause all land at once.
- Companies have gotten better at parental leave for year 1. Nobody has built anything for years 2 through 18.
- Perimenopause feels shameful, so women don't talk about it, meaning nothing gets done.
Everything comes crashing at the same time.
Career progression, young children, ageing parents and perimenopause, which can start as early as 35, all landing at once while workplaces still treat presence as productivity.
Companies have gotten better at parental leave for year 1. Nobody has built anything for years 2 through 18.
Both parents working 8+ hours through the school years, 12 weeks of holidays with no coverage, return-to-office mandates that make the juggle worse.
The government talks about "getting women back in the workforce"...
...without any structural support to stop them burning out once they're there.
The system simply isn't designed for this reality and it shows.
Perimenopause feels shameful so women don't talk about it, meaning nothing gets done.
Peri is another spanner that most companies don't acknowledge, taking the form of brain fog, anxiety and hormonal shifts that need medication.
Throw in endo, chronic illness, elder care and divorce, and the system struggles with anyone whose life doesn't fit neatly into your typical 9-to-5.
Source: The Aussie Corporate community poll, data as at September 2026. Spotted an error? Correct something.
