Reducing inequality throughout entire life cycles
THERE are about 6.5 million children in South Africa under the age of six. Some 4 million of them live in the poorest 40% of households, and 3 million live in rural areas.
This means that the majority of children are born into contexts that make it difficult for them to realise their potential.
On their journey towards quality jobs, most of South Africa’s young people have the odds stacked against them, starting as early as their first years of their lives.
A report released by the Inclusive Society Institute titled “Understanding Youth Inequality” shows that young people’s future chances often begin to emerge in very early childhood, setting in motion a range of inequities that tend to widen as children move through school and into the workforce.
Race, geography and gender, all of which are outside of young people’s control, continue to constrain the possibilities available to them in profound ways.
Last year, 8.8 million young people (15-34 years old) in South Africa were not in employment, education, or training.
Early childhood development services – including nutrition, early learning, health care and social services – have the potential to improve children’s development and future chances, increasing primary school enrolment, improving academic performance and reducing school dropout rates.
In the critical first 1 000 days of a child’s life, infants and caregivers are expected to receive early childhood development services at home from community health workers.
If universal access to early learning translated into better basic education outcomes and a fully literate working-age population, some researchers suggest the country’s GDP could be expected to grow by a quarter.
But investing in early-childhood development goes far beyond a return on investment, presenting an opportunity to radically shift intergenerational inequality in South Africa.
This is not only because it unlocks the developmental potential of children, but also because it means supporting quality jobs in the community and social services sector, where women are heavily represented.
Community, social, and personal services is the only sector that added jobs for young people from the first quarter of 2017 to the second quarter last year, most of which (mort than 60%) went to women.
Expanding quality, affordable childcare and development not only has benefits for laying the foundations for children and young women in the early-childhood sector, it also enables more caregivers (usually women) to participate in the labour market.
Given that care-giving responsibilities can often delimit young women’s labour participation, this is essential to unlocking their economic potential and alleviating gender inequality in the labour market.
Unlocking the early childhood development sector has the potential to reduce inequality, not only among children, but throughout the entire life cycle too, as well as alter the trajectory of future generations.