On International Women's Day, Australian women may well be contemplating the next big thing, the Government's planned 100% salary replacement maternity pay for 6 months.

At first glance, it may appear like the best thing since sliced bread. Look a little closer and there is a dark side.

Women fought for the right to work, not the obligation to do so for 30 years

When women fought for the right to work (and the fight for equal pay, which is largely far from over) many saw work as a choice.

The Government's new scheme may well take that choice away, in more ways than one, leaving women obliged to work.

The first factor to contemplate is Australia's run-away housing market.

In most cities, house prices seem to be aligned with the borrowing power of dual-income families. With women's income guaranteed through their period of maternity leave, banks will be even more confident to let these power couples combine both their incomes to push other couples aside in the competition to seize the limited supply of quality housing in our cities.

Once committed to a mortgage, both partners are then obliged to maintain full time employment even if the woman finds she would prefer to go part time and explore her experience of motherhood in other ways.

Talented women punished

There are many talented women in freelance and casual/contract employment who may not be eligible for the maternity pay because they don't have a wage from a company payroll. These women make a tremendous contribution to our society and we would be a lot worse off without the things they do.

With salaried women now having a fistful of cash to spend when pregnant and after giving birth, expect retailers to eliminate many low cost and budget items from their product ranges. Most retailers will set the prices of products like baby food, nappies and prams to match the capacity of salaried women to pay. A product that costs $2 to make in China may well sell for $20 in the US (where there is no mandatory maternity pay system) but the same product will be priced at $100 in Australia. The retailer knows the salaried mother's can pay, he can make an extra 400% profit and he will have little care for those other mothers who miss out. If you think this is nonsense, just reflect on Myer boss Bernie Brookes complaining that the compulsory new NDIS fees are money lost to his business: he will be talking about the new maternity payments in exactly the opposite sense, money that he feels his business is entitled to appropriate