Invest in childcare to raise economic productivity levels

As women around the world take on more child care responsibilities due to persistent gender norms, in 2020 alone, more than two million mothers were forced to leave the workforce. Many people had to quit jobs in the last 12 months, compared to 2020 and 2021, mostly due to inflexible working hours, prioritizing their partners’ careers and household chores. In 2022, women will represent only 50% of the global workforce, compared to 80% for men. Now, in a mark of the pandemic’s devastating impact on household incomes, many women have been forced to take up paid jobs, according to UNICEF, and a ‘child care crisis’ has arisen, with at times more than 35 million Fewer than five children are abandoned. without adult care. A 2021 World Bank report also raised concerns that more than 40% (about 350 million) of all children under primary school age need childcare, but do not have access to it.

While ‘maternal role incongruence’ theorists point to a conflict between motherhood and employment, and market analysts also confirm that, many female workers actually pay a ‘motherhood penalty’, which leads to a loss in wages, perceived competence and benefits. There is a sex difference of 80%. , There is also a prevailing controversy that motherhood is associated with informal work with low pay and little social protection. In the Global South, where childcare services are limited, informal employment has the highest concentration of women. A 31-country survey from the Global South found that most low-income working women care for their children while they work, with only 1% of them, and 10% of high-income working women providing childcare can avail the services. , As the factor of childcare affordability divides parents into different income groups, weakening their chances of entry into the labor market, women suffer a disproportionate share of unemployment. Even in European OECD countries, children under three in low-income households are a third less likely to participate in early childhood education and care. In almost all OECD countries, a low-wage single mother who works full-time loses two-thirds of her working earnings to childcare costs, taxes and social benefits.

However, a growing body of research suggests that access to affordable early childhood education and care may promote maternal employment. Studies in some low- and middle-income economies have shown that such initiatives have helped women increase their productivity in existing jobs/occupations or shift to more desirable work that is compatible with childcare responsibilities. Not there. In Chile, free after-school care for school-age children increased the likelihood of mothers working at least one month per year by 3.4 percentage points. In Kenya, women with free childcare vouchers found 8.5 percent more employment opportunities. However, additional barriers such as patriarchal norms and/or limited employment opportunities may reduce the effects of such services. In Uganda, childcare interventions reduced the domestic burden of the father opting for higher paying work instead of the mother. In Egypt, when childcare cost subsidies (from 25–75%) were offered, only 1.4 to 4.2% of women used them, believing that it was unacceptable for a woman to leave a child at nursery and go to work Was.

In the Indian context, despite high levels of integrated child development services, many social scientists find that day care centers run for about 3-4 hours, not according to the hours of poor working women, 94% of the economy in the informal, childcare Duration is an important aspect for their employment.

Meanwhile, a recent World Bank assessment of 95 global economies found that only 58 have laws regulating childcare measures, but none in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. Preferential tax regimes are also limited in most developing economies. Public expenditure on childcare also varies around the world; While OECD countries spend an average of just over 0.8% of GDP, that goes up to over 1.0% in France and the Nordic countries and 1.6% in Sweden and 1.7% in Iceland. However, the introduction of the Childcare Incentive Fund by the World Bank has brought it onto the global policy agenda, and is expected to generate $180 million in new funding over the next five years.

Globally, women generate approximately $45.8 trillion in annual GDP, and considering childcare facilities, this could add up to $3 trillion each year. An expanding childcare workforce could also add 43 million jobs annually to meet existing needs.

As IMF policy analysts warn that the unequal playing field between women and men carries a huge economic cost, now, as the post-pandemic world moves toward economic recovery, it must be addressed by young family makers, especially The focus should be on women, reducing their caregiving responsibilities by provision of quality, affordable and need-based childcare facilities. In India, spending on a child’s formative years will also help capitalize on its huge demographic dividend for a stronger economy.

Archana Dutta is former Director General of Doordarshan and All India Radio; and former Press Secretary to the President of India,

Updated: June 05, 2023, 12:04 AM IST