I have written previously about how important I think it is for me to look after myself so I am then better equipped to look after my family. My well being is an important factor in the smooth running and general happiness of the home.

But can you measure well being? Australian Unity in conjunction with Deakin University since 2001 have been publishing the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index.

The index defines wellbeing as being different to happiness:

“Happiness can come and go in a moment, whereas wellbeing is a more stable state of being well, feeling satisfied and contented.

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index is based on average levels of satisfaction with various aspects of personal and national life. Satisfaction is expressed as a percentage score, where 0% is completely dissatisfied and 100% is completely satisfied. So a survey score of 76.5% on personal wellbeing means Australians, on average, feel 76.5% satisfied with their life.”

I like the idea that in the current economic rationalist focus, that there is an index that looks at quality of life in social terms other than pure economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Measures of how ‘well’ we are doing as a nation have conventionally been based on economic considerations such as Gross Domestic Product, employment rates and housing prices. However, in an era when Australians are richer than ever, more than one million adults and 100,000 young people are experiencing depression every year. The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index investigates additional factors impacting on our lives, filling the void not covered by economic considerations and producing a complete view of Australians’ wellbeing.”

The collated information outputs a National Wellbeing Index for Australia and in the most current survey (Oct 2007) saw the index at its highest level yet recorded at 63.72. I will be keen to see how the Wellbeing Index moves in the next survey in light of the ever growing economic uncertainty.

From a mother’s perspective (and a nerdy love of stats perspective) there were a few areas of the Index that stood out to me:

Females have a higher sense of valuation and contributions than males. This may be due to the fact that females are more socially embedded.

People who live with children have a higher sense that their life contributes to the wellbeing of others.

Female wellbeing does not significantly differ between full-time employed and full-time home care.

Females experience the intensity of both happy and sad events more strongly than males. This represents a pattern of enhanced emotional responsiveness for females.

The last point makes me laugh - it has always been that way in my house and now I know that at least this is the norm.

If you go to the Australian Unity website you can click on the banner there and assess your own well being.

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Last week in the lead up to International Women’s Day (March 8), I looked at some current article’s surrounding the issue of women “having it all“. The discussion both online and in the real world for me was amazing. To listen to other women’s experiences and views on this issue was refreshing and invigorating. I think there was some general agreement that as women we can now make a choice as to what we want to make of our lives.

And how much more fortunate are we here in Australia, to have this choice than our counterparts in other parts of the world. The following stats made for quite sobering reading:

Women in Sub-Saharan Africa are more than 1.5 times as likely as men to contract HIV.

Millions of women in America have difficulty understanding practical health information.

More than 10,000 girls a day will get married before they turn 15.

More than 60% of the 110 million children out of school are girls.

One in three women and girls in the developing world live on less than $2 a day.

This information comes from World Education, which is a non government organization that aims to improve the lives of the poor through economic and social development programs. World Education has a specific Girls and Women’s Education Initiative which includes a number of different programs all with the aim to empower girls and women in the developing world through education. Education is critical in turning the above stats around as:

“Educated girls and women are less vulnerable to HIV infection, human trafficking and other forms of exploitation, are more likely to marry later, raise fewer children who are more likely to go to school, and make important contributions to family income.”

International Women’s Day is a celebration for women of past achievements, current progress and about future possibilities. For me it is also a time to reflect on those girls and women who have yet to attain a safe, independent and poverty free existence. Education is the key in ensuring that sustained change is made for these women.

Enjoy International Women’s Day where ever you may be.

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I have seen the best seller “The Dangerous Book for Boys” in the book shops and must admit that I haven’t really taken much notice of it. It was with surprise that I read that there was also two like books on sale for girls. Peggy Orenstein writes about these books in “Girls Will Be girls” which was published in the New York Times on Feb 10 this year.

The above mentioned books are are two advice manuals aimed at girls, “The Dangerous Book for Girls” and “The Girls’ Book: How to be the Best at Everything.” and Orenstein in her article comments that both books encourage

“for girls to have it both ways: to be able to paint their nails and break them too;”.

She then follows this with:

For decades now, girls have been told that “you can do anything.” “How to Be the Best at Everything,” originally published in England, might as well add “. . in heels and lipstick.”

Now I have not read either of these books, but found that Prenstein’s critique of them drew me back to the core issue of women “having it all”.

In July 2002, a leading Australian journalist, Virginia Haussegger wrote an opinion piece in the Melbourne broadsheet, The Age titled “The sins of our feminist mothers.” Haussegger in her piece wrote about her pain of having a career and then trying late in life to have a baby and being unable to do. She expressed her anger at believing in what she felt was the myth of “having it all” as sold to her by her “feminist mothers.”

At this stage of my life, I had two children and was still getting the paper delivered daily and I eagerly watched the fall out of this article. I couldn’t wait to get the paper in the morning and head to the opinion section and see what was being said next. This was a very public forum on the issue that Orenstein is also tackling in her article in the New York Times.

The Virginia Haussegger opinion piece had tapped in to a very raw nerve amongst Australian women and it moved from just the opinion pages of the paper. “Meet Virginia, the women many love to loathe.” was one headline that came from this discussion.

For me I read this with interest and it made me think about what I had thought was possible prior to actually having children. Having my first child at 26, I had thoughts of wanting to “have it all” and I went into motherhood with a large dose of naivety. I was going to take 3 months off from my responsible job and head back to work. What was I thinking???? I did go back after 9 months, with a view to do my time and get home full time again as soon as I could. Having children is such a personal thing, that I don’t think you can ever really prepare yourself for how you may feel. I surprised myself with the ease and how happy I was to abandon my career.

But in reading the responses of the “they said “, “she said” fall out from Haussegger opinion piece, I did not think much about the future predicament of upcoming young women, I had only two sons at the time and it didn’t really enter my thoughts. Reading the piece form Orenstein in the New York Times has made me re-think this issue with a different focus. What will I tell my daughter? Will I tell her that she can have it all?

But what is having it all? I spent some time with a very smart and articulate woman yesterday, who suggested to me that the “all” is likely to be very different for each woman. What makes her “all” is operating her own successful business in a way that allows her still to have time to enjoy her beautiful children. My “all” for some years has been about being immersed in home life, but my “all” is now changing as my family grows up.

I am not sure what I will say to my daughter yet, when it comes time to talk to her about the choices she can make. I am glad though, that there have been many brave women before me that have made it possible that she does have a choice, regardless of how difficult the decisions might be to make.

I also wonder in the end if it will be my actions, not my words that will tell my daughter the most. I have chosen to be out of the paid workforce for last seven years now (but who knows where I will be in another seven!). As Possum is only four, I at least have time to plan what I will say to her on these issues.

Is this an issue that you have had to start dealing with yet? I would love to hear how you approached it.

NB. If you had trouble accessing the New York Times article, you may need to register (free and very quick) to see it properly.

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