Wales must invest in childcare so working mothers can progress
AS A mum to a six-year-old, and with a baby on the way, I have had many a conversation with fellow parents about the astronomical cost of childcare in Wales.
If you are a parent reading this, I would hazard a guess that you have had these types of conversations too, only half-jokingly making comments about having to remortgage your house to send little Johnny to creche.
The economy and childcare are inextricably linked.
Even in 2021, childcare continues to be one of the top barriers to progression in the working world cited by women according to gender equality charity Chwarae Teg. A lack of flexible and affordable childcare is a key contributor to women’s economic inequality in Wales as it limits many women’s career options, resulting inevitably in the lower economic participation of women.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found in 2019 that the UK has the second most expensive childcare system in the world.
They discovered that childcare in the UK costs an eye-watering 35.7% of a couple’s average earnings. Turning to women specifically, Chwarae Teg reports that a full-time place for a child aged up to two staggeringly takes up more than half the take-home pay of a typical full-time working woman.
Covid has shown us that even in this day and age women remain the primary caregivers, so anyone who dares argue that childcare costs impact on women and men equally in terms of their economic progression opportunities is on thin ice.
It must pay to work, they say. Yet looking at these numbers, is it any wonder that many women drop out of the career climb after having children?
It raises the question: what is the point if the financial burden of going back to work is so unpalatable?
What we need here in Wales is a Welsh Government that is willing to take this crisis seriously, tackle it head-on and provide meaningful and sufficient investment into childcare provision.
I am not suggesting that the government has done nothing to date.
Here in Wales, we do have the “Childcare Offer” where working parents can claim funds for 30 hours a week of childcare for three to four-year-olds.
However, for many working mums this is too little, too late. As there is currently zero support with full-time childcare costs for babies to two-year-olds, many women have already been forced at this point to quit the economic progression game. The current system lets down women by failing to provide them with the desperately needed financial support to get back on to the rung of the career ladder they were already on right after maternity leave. Instead all it does is put pressure on women to start from scratch and look for a new job three years after leaving the job market, while carrying all of the confidence knocks that come with being a new mum and being out of touch with the working world. “I’m out” are the words of many women at this point.
Then there is the flexibility issue. The accepted norm is childcare provision between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday, but for many parents this is not sufficient. Not only are there shift and weekend workers, but the traditional 9-5 is slowly becoming antiquated too.
Why can’t we be the forward-thinking, progressive nation that funds childcare outside the standard accepted hours, opening up more economic opportunities to women and not limiting their career choices? Why can’t we be innovative and lead the way with challenging this norm?
We also have something called the “Flying Start” scheme in Wales, where parents can access 2.5 hours per day of childcare for children of the younger age of two. Leaving aside the meagreness of the offer (two and a half hours is barely enough time to open the laptop and get your head in the game), the system is quite literally a postcode lottery. You have to live within a disadvantaged postcode to access the support.
Three words: inadequate, unfair and inaccessible.
We aren’t the only nation in the world where access to childcare massively hinders women’s engagement with the labour market. It is indeed a global problem. But the Scandinavians are strides ahead, with high-quality, funded childcare seen as a parental right; unlike the UK, Denmark and Norway extend their free childcare policies to children under three.
As a busy, working mum with my second child due in January, I see now more than ever that the goal for Wales must be the provision of free, top-quality and full-time childcare for the children of working parents, from birth up to school age. From there, fully funded wraparound care and school holiday provision are essential.
Only then can we strive towards an equal Wales where women have the same opportunities to prosper and where businesses and public life benefit from the best talent across genders. It needs to be seen as an investment.