tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/child-care-14112/articlesChild care – The Conversation2024-02-14T05:02:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2234532024-02-14T05:02:42Z2024-02-14T05:02:42ZIf the ABS guts Australia’s time use survey, women’s work will count for little<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575536/original/file-20240214-16-co4vkx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=277%2C206%2C1907%2C1019&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/01AC26F86E989B2FCA2573F5001528F1/$File/41500%20tus%202006%20diary.pdf">ABS</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Childcare is probably Australia’s <a href="https://www.pwc.com.au/australia-in-transition/publications/understanding-the-unpaid-economy-mar17.pdf">largest industry</a>, most of it unpaid.</p>
<p>We know this because of Australian Bureau of Statistics <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/how-australians-use-their-time/latest-release">time use surveys</a>. Since 1992 these surveys have recorded what thousands of Australians say they do with their time in <a href="https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/0/20B53461F3AA25F2CA25722500049576/$File/41530_1992.pdf">diaries kept for 48 hours</a>.</p>
<p>But if the Bureau of Statistics proceeds with its current plans for <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/about/our-organisation/corporate-reporting/abs-corporate-plan/2023-24/forward-work-program">scaling down</a> the survey we soon won’t be able to tell.</p>
<p>Australia has not only <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_270-1">led the world</a> in recording time use, but also in recording <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24635763/">simultaneous activities</a> – what Australians do when they multitask. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/CA25687100069892CA256889001D5545/$File/41530_1997.pdf">1997</a> the survey found that whereas the average time spent on childcare as a main activity was about two hours per day, the average when simultaneous activities were taken into account was closer to seven hours per day. Among the simultaneous activities were preparing meals and washing clothes.</p>
<p>In 2013 the scheduled five-yearly update was shelved to make budget savings. It wasn’t revived until 2020-21, but amidst the chaos of COVID, physical diaries were replaced with <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/how-australians-use-their-time/latest-release">online diaries</a> without an expectation they be completed in real time.</p>
<h2>Online, without context</h2>
<p>Now the bureau wants to keep it that way. It has told a meeting of stakeholders it plans to conduct the survey each year instead of once every five years, but online rather than via diaries in order to make it less tiring for respondents. It would be cheaper too.</p>
<p>It also wants to exclude simultaneous activities. </p>
<p>This means we will no longer get a good read on the total amount of childcare and other domestic activities we are doing. Our surveys will also no longer be <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/9710775/KS-GQ-19-003-EN-N.pdf/ee48c0bd-7287-411a-86b6-fb0f6d5068cc?t=1554468617000">directly comparable</a> to those of other countries.</p>
<p>Missing as well would be contextual information such as who else is present, location, mode of transport, and use of mobile phones and other devices.</p>
<p>Time-use expert <a href="https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/797835-lyn-craig">Lyn Craig</a> of the University of Melbourne says that without the contextual data the bureau proposes to leave out we won’t be able to capture the full dimensions of care work, including whether the breakdown by gender is changing.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/hass/mbittman">Michael Bittman</a>, who was seconded to the ABS for the first national time use survey and has chaired United Nations committees on time-use methodology, says the proposed changes will “take Australia from being a leader to a laggard”.</p>
<h2>Lighter than the world’s lightest</h2>
<p>The International Labour Organisation has designed a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---stat/documents/publication/wcms_635909.pdf">light</a> one-day time use survey that will take just 15 minutes to complete, intended for poor countries.</p>
<p>What Australia’s bureau is proposing looks as if it will take even less time, making it one of the poorest time use surveys on the planet.</p>
<p>The survey needn’t be annual, as year-on-year changes are usually small. A substantial survey conducted once every five years would be much better.</p>
<p>Where the bureau thinks a survey is important, it invests in solutions, including face-to-face surveys if necessary. That’s what it does with Australia’s six-yearly <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/finance/household-expenditure-survey-australia-summary-results/latest-release">Household Expenditure Survey</a>, the one used to determine what Australians spend their money on, which forms an input to the consumer price index.</p>
<h2>It’s a question of priorities</h2>
<p>That expenditure survey has a two week diary which requires far more work on the part of the respondent than the time use survey, including access to mortgage documents and piles of bills.</p>
<p>If the bureau remains committed to doing the time use survey online, it should do it in a way consistent with the best practice in the rest of the world. </p>
<p>International researchers are developing an <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-017-1569-5">electronic light diary</a> that collects information about secondary activities and contexts. It has been <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0081175019884591">approved for use</a> in nine countries.</p>
<p>Those who specialise in time-use research say the bureau’s current plan is destined to fail. There’s a good deal of women’s unpaid work it won’t capture.</p>
<p>In 1988 New Zealand economist Marilyn Waring wrote a famous book called <a href="https://marilynwaring.com/publications/counting-for-nothing.asp">Counting for Nothing</a> about how women and the environment were invisible in policymaking.</p>
<p>If the bureau proceeds as planned, it will take us back toward those days.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-decade-after-the-arrival-of-the-smartphone-were-about-to-find-out-how-we-use-our-time-107195">A decade after the arrival of the smartphone, we're about to find out how we use our time</a>
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<p><em>Correction: this article previously said the ABS conducts its Household Expenditure Survey face-to-face. Recent household expenditure surveys have been conducted using a computer-assisted interview questionnaire in the first instance and face-to-face interviews where needed to improve response rates.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223453/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Smith is a member of the ABS Time Use Expert Reference Group. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marian Sawer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Bureau of Statistics is considering scaling back the scope of Australia’s time-use survey in a way that will make it difficult to tell how much time we spend caring for children.Julie P. Smith, Honorary Associate Professor, Australian National UniversityMarian Sawer, Emeritus Professor, School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2202072024-02-06T21:56:31Z2024-02-06T21:56:31ZThe motherhood pay gap: Why women’s earnings decline after having children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572551/original/file-20240131-19-fg2aeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=760%2C416%2C7407%2C5003&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The birth of children results in large earnings losses that are not equally distributed within heterosexual couples.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Inequalities between men and women persist in many areas, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/4ead40c7-en">women still earning less than men on average</a>. An even more striking difference is the “motherhood pay gap” that happens when women have children. Also known as the “family gap” or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180010">child penalties</a>, women’s earnings plummet after the birth of a child, while men’s barely budge.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.12.1.137">Many studies</a> have investigated the causes of gender inequalities and concluded that women have been unable to catch up to the earnings level of men in part <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/684851">because of parenting responsibilities</a>. </p>
<p>Why does this happen? Children have a negative effect on women’s productivity in the labour market by substantially reducing their <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/human-capital">human capital</a>, which translates into a significant <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/260293">decrease in their earnings</a>. </p>
<p>After the birth of children, mothers tend to turn towards part-time jobs, roles with flexible working hours or positions that offer work conditions more favourable to family life — all of which tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/23.5.543">pay lower wages</a>.</p>
<p>Employers, in return, may see part-time employees as less committed and productive, especially when relying on <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/heuristics">heuristics</a> — mental shortcuts for solving problems — to judge worker quality, as opposed to actual information about their performance. This can result in <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2911397">fewer bonuses and promotions</a> for these employees. </p>
<h2>The effects of parenthood</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180010">Evidence from Denmark</a>, one of the most egalitarian countries in the world, points to a long-term child penalty of around 20 per cent in earnings. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2023-015">Our research</a> reveals a similar situation in Canada. We used data from Statistics Canada’s Longitudinal and International Study of Adults coupled with historical administrative records from 1982 to 2018. </p>
<p>We compared what happened to men’s and women’s earnings after the birth of their first child for Canadians who had their first child between 1987 and 2009. Using an event study methodology, we followed individuals’ employment income over a period of five years before the birth of the child to 10 years after.</p>
<p>We observed large and persistent negative effects of parenthood for mothers, but not fathers. Mothers’ earnings decrease by 49 per cent the year of birth, with a penalty of 34.3 per cent 10 years after. Fathers’ earnings appear largely unaffected.</p>
<h2>Unequal effects of children</h2>
<p>The birth of children results in large earnings losses that are not equally distributed within heterosexual couples. Fathers stay on the same earnings track, while women experience penalties that persist over the years. This is especially true for <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2023-015">mothers of multiple children or those with a lower education level</a>. </p>
<p>This impoverishment triggered by the birth of a child can have significant economic impacts <a href="https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/13576">should the couple separate</a>. In Canada, nearly <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/3910005101-eng">one-third of marriages</a> end in divorce. </p>
<p>Women are typically <a href="https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.50">financially disadvantaged</a> following a separation. This disadvantage may be attributable to pre-separation factors, such as the unequal division of labour during the marriage and lower earnings for women, but also to women’s prolonged absences from the labour force due to family responsibilities.</p>
<h2>Equal pay for equal work</h2>
<p>In this context, it’s crucial to ask ourselves if there are measures that could eliminate, or at least reduce, the economic impact associated with family responsibilities on mothers’ earnings and employment. </p>
<p>We investigated the role of family policies, since they were in part designed to encourage maternal employment and promote more equal sharing of parenting responsibilities between partners. </p>
<p>Specifically, we focused on the extension of parental leaves in Canada and the introduction of <a href="https://www.mfa.gouv.qc.ca/en/services-de-garde/programme-contribution-reduite/Pages/index.aspx">reduced contribution child-care services for families in Québec</a>. We found suggestive evidence that these policies can help reduce child penalties. </p>
<p>“Equal pay for equal work” policies, such as the federal government’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/human-rights/overview-pay-equity-act.html">Pay Equity Act</a>, also have the potential to make a substantial difference. These policies can raise the fairness and attractiveness of the labour market for women and reduce the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20160995">potentially negative impact of experience-based pay</a> for mothers. </p>
<h2>More benefits down the line</h2>
<p>In addition to having a positive effect on the economic situation of women, encouraging employment for mothers could help eliminate the stigma around the division of labour within couples by exposing children to a more symmetrical model of remunerated and unpaid work. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018760167">recent study</a> using data from 29 countries showed that employed mothers were more likely to transmit egalitarian values to their children both at work and at home. Girls with employed mothers ended up working more themselves: they worked more hours, were better paid and held supervisory positions more often than girls with stay-at-home mothers. </p>
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<img alt="A toddler sits on the lap of a women, presumably her mother, in front of a desk. She is smiling and touching a laptop while her mother smiles down at her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Employed mothers are more likely to transmit egalitarian values to their children both at work and at home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>The result was not observed in boys. However, boys who grew up with employed mothers were more involved in family and domestic responsibilities as adults than men whose mothers were not in the labour market. The girls also spent less time doing household chores. </p>
<p>Working mothers appear to have an intergenerational impact favouring gender equality, both within the family and in the labour market.</p>
<p>We all know raising children is time-consuming. Children, of course, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/675070">benefit from this parental time investment</a>. But bringing up children is also costly. Our research quantified one kind of cost: the lower earnings trajectory. Knowing how these costs are shared among the two parents is key to enable better decision making, for policymakers, but ultimately, for parents, future parents and their children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Connolly received funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture and CIRANO. The analysis in this article was conducted at the Quebec Inter-university Centre for Social Statistics, which is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Statistics Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé and Québec universities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Haeck received funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture and CIRANO. The analysis in this article was conducted at the Quebec Inter-university Centre for Social Statistics, which is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Statistics Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé and Québec universities.</span></em></p>New research shows that women’s earnings are negatively impacted by having children, while men’s aren’t. The effects can be long-lasting and contribute to the gender pay gap.Marie Connolly, Professor of Economics, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Catherine Haeck, Full Professor, Economics Department, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2220452024-02-04T13:33:40Z2024-02-04T13:33:40Z3 lessons from MP Karina Gould’s parental leave that could help all Canadian families<p>Federal cabinet minister Karina Gould, leader of the government in the House of Commons, has made Canadian history three times: as the youngest female federal cabinet minister, the first <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/karina-gould-baby-oliver-1.4569111">to give birth while holding office</a> and the first to take parental leave. Her approach to parental leave could well translate into her most enduring legacy.</p>
<p>Like all MPs, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/karina-gould-maternity-leave-cabinet-1.4528668">Gould wasn’t eligible for parental leave when her first child was born in 2018</a>. Four weeks later, she resumed work in her constituency of Burlington, Ont. After another five weeks, she returned to the House of Commons with her infant in tow. </p>
<p>Gould has just given birth to her second child. This time, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-the-second-time-around-karina-goulds-maternity-plans-are-much/">she’s doing things differently</a>. She’s taking six months off, thanks to 2019 legislation that provides MP parents of newborns up to 12 months with paid parental leave benefits.</p>
<p>On the surface, Gould’s parental leave plan resembles that of many Canadians. Yet there are key differences, and they offer three lessons on how parental leave could be redesigned for each and every Canadian parent. </p>
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<h2>Lesson 1: Boost eligibility</h2>
<p>Not all Canadians are eligible for parental leave. Almost one-third of all Canadian mothers (outside of Québec, <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/october-2020/redesign-parental-leave-system-to-enhance-gender-equality/">which has a more inclusive program</a>) <a href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/cpp.2020-091">do not receive paid maternity or parental benefits</a>. This is due to many factors, including restrictive <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/reports/maternity-parental.html">eligibility criteria of 600 employment hours in the year before a child’s birth</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/payroll/payroll-deductions-contributions/special-payments/elected-appointed-officials.html">MPs do not pay into Employment Insurance (EI)</a> and so were, until 2019, ineligible for parental leave benefits. Yet the government found a policy path for them. </p>
<p>It’s time to rethink eligibility criteria so that more Canadians can benefit from parental leave benefits. </p>
<h2>Lesson 2: Better wage top-ups</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/MAS/mas-e.pdf">MPs receive 92 per cent of their salaries while on leave</a>. Similar salary top-ups exist in the public sector and some private companies. For most Canadians, however, parental leave is low-paid: only 33 to 55 per cent of wages, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/benefit-amount.html">with a ceiling of $401 to $668 weekly and $63,200 annually</a>.</p>
<p>Out of 36 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada has the <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2023/ei-parental-benefits/">lowest wage replacement rates</a> for parental leave. </p>
<p>This has implications for how many Canadian fathers take their parental leave entitlements. In 2020-21, <a href="https://www.leavenetwork.org/fileadmin/user_upload/k_leavenetwork/annual_reviews/2023/Canada2023.pdf">23.5 per cent of eligible fathers</a> took parental leave. In Québec, which has a 70-75 per cent wage replacement rate, that number was 85.6 per cent. It’s time to make leaves affordable for all parents.</p>
<h2>Lesson 3: More flexibility</h2>
<p>Finally, there are lessons about flexibility and choice, and what they mean in a post-pandemic world, where remote work has changed how people balance family life and paid work.</p>
<p>For Gould, this means taking a short post-partum leave and then combining parental leave with some remote work. As she told Canadians, she plans to <a href="https://twitter.com/karinagould/status/1744377173425717510">“take on her MP work remotely, voting and participating in caucus and cabinet meetings, though on a reduced schedule.</a>” </p>
<p>Admittedly, an MP’s job, with its unique pressures, requires a flexible parental leave system. Yet many other jobs have distinct demands.</p>
<p>The problem with Canada’s current system is that leaves must be taken as consecutive weeks in the first 12 to 18 months after a child’s birth.</p>
<p>There are other ways to do parental leave. <a href="https://www.leavenetwork.org/fileadmin/user_upload/k_leavenetwork/annual_reviews/2023/Sweden2023.pdf">In Sweden</a>, for example, leaves can be taken in one or several blocks of time, in days rather than weeks, on a full or part-time basis, and across several years. </p>
<p>There are risks to flexible leave, however, that are <a href="https://www.gendereconomy.org/the-future-of-work/">well-documented in research</a> on flexible work and gender inequalities. Some employers might not respect the boundaries of parents on leave. These boundaries are critical because parents need time to care for their infants, who demand and deserve that dedicated care.</p>
<p>But there are precedents to build on, such as Ontario’s “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ontarios-right-to-disconnect-policy-takes-effect-today-heres-what/">right to disconnect</a>” policy and EI’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/working-while-claim.html">Working While on Claim</a> option. </p>
<h2>Shining a spotlight</h2>
<p>Gould’s parental leave matters not only to her family. It should matter to all Canadians, because it shines a spotlight on the federal government’s long overdue promise to <a href="https://2019.liberal.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/292/2019/09/Backgrounder-More-time-and-money-to-help-families-raise-their-kids.pdf">rethink and redesign parental leave policy</a>. </p>
<p>There have been important changes, including a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/ei-improvements/parent-sharing.html">parental sharing benefit</a> for fathers and second parents and benefits for parents of <a href="https://www.hrinfodesk.com/preview.asp?article=50100&title=New%20adoption%20Employment%20Insurance%20(EI)%20benefit">adopted children</a>. <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2022/parental-leave-needs-an-overhaul/">It’s time to do more</a> for more Canadians. </p>
<p>A rethinking of parental leave should begin with clarifying what parental leave is.</p>
<p>Currently, a paid leave to care for an infant combines parental benefits, which are lodged within EI as employment benefits, and the right to take job-protected leave, which is part of provincial/territorial/federal employment standards. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/improved-employment-policies-can-encourage-fathers-to-be-more-involved-at-home-218337">Improved employment policies can encourage fathers to be more involved at home</a>
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<p>But parental leave is more than an employment policy — it’s also a care policy. Despite what the EI website states, a leave to care for an infant is not about being “<a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-maternity-parental.html">away from work.</a>” Care work is, in fact, actual work. </p>
<p>Parental leave also needs to be integrated with other care policies, especially early learning and child-care policies. Again, there are models to emulate, such as <a href="https://www.government.se/articles/2023/07/every-child-in-sweden-has-the-right-to-a-safe-secure-and-bright-future/">Sweden</a> and other <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctv2gjwv97">Nordic</a> countries. There, children have a human right and entitlement to be cared for.</p>
<p>And there is an explicit policy aim that for every child, there will be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-04-2019-0063">no gap</a> between the end of well-paid parental leave and the beginning of early learning and child care.</p>
<h2>Recognizing the value of care</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic had major impacts on how <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11-631-x2024001-eng.htm">some Canadians</a>, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/hybrid-sittings-are-here-to-stay-as-house-passes-sweeping-rule-changes-1.6443326">including MPs</a>, can now do some of their paid work in the office or at home. The pandemic also illuminated the socioeconomic value of care and <a href="https://thecareeconomy.ca/">the care economy</a>. </p>
<p>Gould understands this. As the former minister of families, children and social development, she worked with <a href="https://childcarenow.ca/2022/03/28/media-release-child-care-advocates-celebrate-the-signing-of-thirteen-canada-wide-early-learning-and-child-care-agreements/">child-care advocates</a> and experts to shepherd the creation of Canada’s first national child-care program. </p>
<p>When she returns from her parental leave, she will be well-placed to advocate for more inclusive integrated care policies. In fact, it may be long overdue to create a federal minister of care.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Doucet receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Karina Gould’s parental leave is similar to that of many Canadians. Yet there are key differences, and they offer lessons on how parental leave could be redesigned to help more Canadian parents.Andrea Doucet, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Gender, Work, and Care, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2214442024-01-25T16:08:01Z2024-01-25T16:08:01ZIn most provinces, 4-year-olds aren’t at school — but it’s an economically smart way to create child-care spaces<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/in-most-provinces-4-year-olds-arent-at-school-but-its-an-economically-smart-way-to-create-child-care-spaces" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Economists have been increasingly vocal on the fiscal rationale for strategic investments in the early years. </p>
<p>But how to invest wisely? </p>
<p>In 2024, the question is urgent as provinces and territories look to the second half of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/early-learning-child-care-agreement/agreements-provinces-territories.html">Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreements (CWELCC)</a> signed in 2021 with a promise of $10-a-day child care, and many <a href="https://childcarepolicy.net/the-story-coming-from-the-cselcc-survey-i-dont-think-were-going-to-make-itnot-even-close">scramble to meet the exploding demand</a> for space. </p>
<p>Yet $10-a-day day child care <a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/new-study-shows-few-low-income-families-benefiting-from-10-daycare-in-b-c-1.6691486">remains a pipe dream for many families</a>. </p>
<p>One leading <a href="https://www.deloitte.com/gh/en/about/people/profiles.3b68a259.html">Canadian economist, Craig Alexander</a>,<br>
<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-public-schools-can-address-canadas-child-care-deserts/">has presented a strong argument for</a> leaning on <a href="http://mwmccain.ca/reports/2023/12/04/seven-benefits-building-down-public-education-younger-children/">the neighbourhood public school in the push to expand early learning</a>. </p>
<h2>Free programs for four-year-olds</h2>
<p>As an early childhood researcher, I waded into this conversation in 2023 by presenting <a href="https://theconversation.com/childrens-early-learning-belongs-in-neighbourhood-schools-209826">international evidence for linking early education with the public school system</a>. </p>
<p>Four-year-olds <a href="https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/kindergarten">in Ontario</a>, <a href="https://www.ednet.ns.ca/pre-primary">Nova Scotia</a> and <a href="https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/junior-kindergartenkindergarten">the Northwest Territories</a> are students in their neighbourhood schools, enjoying play-based programs with their peers, free of charge. </p>
<p>Many four-year-olds in the rest of Canada — or at least their parents and caregivers — are searching for child-care spaces. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/child-care-ontario-funding-1.7083821#">While Ontario</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/education-department-community-conversations-child-care-1.7014070#:%7E:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20day%2Dcare,lengthy%20wait%2Dlists%20for%20spaces.">Nova Scotia and</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yellowknife-parents-desperate-for-child-care-1.6767899">the Northwest Territories</a> face challenges with expanding child-care spaces, one thing they’ve gotten right is taking four-year-olds out of the equation by providing them free all-day, school-based programs. </p>
<p>When four- and five-year-old children are provided with a full day of schooling, it can free space in child care for younger children, while <a href="https://ecereport.ca/en/workforce-report/">strengthening the early years work force through</a> more stable and lucrative employment in neighbourhood schools.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Video about Nova Scotia’s school-based pre-primary program.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Evidence for financial return</h2>
<p>In 2010, <em>The Early Years Study 3</em> <a href="https://earlyyearsstudy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/EYS3.pdf">profiled a growing economic argument for investments in the early years</a> and identified how this reaps a healthy financial return for governments. </p>
<p>Since then, many Canadian economists continue to provide evidence for this: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>In 2012, <a href="https://cffp.recherche.usherbrooke.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/cr_2012-02_impact_of_quebecs_universal_low_fee.pdf">Pierre Fortin</a> and colleagues provided empirical evidence for this financial return. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/home/sites/default/files/2023-10/child_care_in_new_brunswick_-_the_social_economic_impacts_-_nov_2015.pdf">In 2015, Elizabeth Dhuey joined this argument</a> for the socio-economic rationale of strategic investments in the early years. </p></li>
<li><p>Post-COVID-19, Jim Stanford identified that <a href="https://centreforfuturework.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ELCC-Report-Formatted-FINAL-FINAL.pdf">investing in the early years was imperative to rebuilding the country’s economy</a>. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-may-22-2020-1.5580159/without-more-support-for-child-care-economic-recovery-will-be-slow-says-expert-1.5581464">Armine Yalnizyan coined the phrase “she-covery”</a> in referencing the importance of child care as countries embark on post-COVID-19 economic recovery.</p></li>
<li><p>And, Gordon Cleveland’s 2021 economic analysis of <a href="https://www.etfo.ca/getmedia/05d5d7d5-4253-48ca-92d5-6b0b7e261792/210204_ExecSummaryDrGordon.pdf">Ontario’s use of public schools for four-year-olds</a> authored for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario concluded school-based four-year-old programs are much more cost-efficient than non-school based programs, and that these bring better educational outcomes for children. </p></li>
</ul>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Video about the Northwest Territories kindergarten program.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>International evidence for school progrmas</h2>
<p>Alexander’s 2023 research on this issue follows his 2017 Canada Conference Board study on the <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/product/ready-for-life-a-socio-economic-analysis-of-early-childhood-education-and-care/">long-term positive economic impact of quality early learning across lifespans</a> and a 2012 TD economics literature review he co-authored about <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/childcareon/pages/234/attachments/original/1371740525/di1112_EarlyChildhoodEducation.pdf?1371740525">the widespread and long-lasting benefits of early childhood education</a>.</p>
<p>His rationale for expanding <a href="http://mwmccain.ca/reports/2023/12/04/seven-benefits-building-down-public-education-younger-children">early learning through schools</a> centres around seven core arguments:</p>
<p><strong>1. Schools are in every neighbourhood, helping <a href="https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2023/05/not-done-yet%20%281%29.pdf">eliminate childcare deserts</a>.</strong> By relying on existing infrastructure and space, especially in rural areas where excess capacity exists, early learning can expand quickly at little cost to governments and at great convenience to children and families. </p>
<p><strong>2. Schools deliver programs that can maximize inclusivity and diversity, boosting the impact of ELCC expansion.</strong> Alexander notes the exceptionally high enrolment of all children in free and accessible public school programs. In schools, expertise and resources exist to accommodate diverse learners through specialist educators, counsellors, psychologists and therapists. </p>
<p><strong>3. School programs can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/25216031">provide a continuum</a> of high-quality learning.</strong> Schools have a mandate and monitoring systems in place, to ensure quality education, strong outcomes, streamlined curriculum and smooth transitions. </p>
<p><strong>4. Schools attract and retain top-quality early childhood educators and lift market competition for ECEs, which can increase compensation in the sector broadly.</strong> The stability of schools, unionized staff, higher salaries and benefits — plus better working conditions — offer <a href="https://ecereport.ca/media/uploads/wr-downloads/canadas_children_need_a_professional_early_childhood_education_workforce.pdf">early child educators not only more stable employment but career advancement</a> opportunities and professional support.</p>
<p><strong>5. Schools have economies of scale due to being part of the public sector.</strong> Most early learning centres have limited purchasing power. Neighbourhood schools are better positioned to negotiate deals through purchasing quantity that motivates efficiencies, lowers expenses and maximizes resources for programs.</p>
<p><strong>6. Schools have strong governance and political accountability for outcomes.</strong>
Schools excel at program accountability and monitoring, public reporting and close scrutiny. Their data collection for program assessment is easier than surveys of licensed care providers: for example, early years centres are monitored by ministry inspectors who visit periodically to ensure adherence to the regulations.
School governance structures and resources are well-established.</p>
<p><strong>7. Schools eliminate the risk of market-based supply disruptions (like sudden closures due to low profit margins, sick staff or damaged infrastructure like a burst pipe); they reduce the risk of politically triggered supply disruptions</strong> (like if governments decide to de-fund public child-care and early education). Schools are less precarious, allowing families a greater sense of stability and children greater continuity of care. </p>
<p>Alexander’s work validates the growing movement by governments relying on the neighbourhood school for children’s early learning. </p>
<p>It reflects <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-doesnt-canada-let-schools-provide-child-care-188419">existing international practice in European countries such as Spain</a>, and emerging <a href="https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/news/2023/12/labour-reportedly-planning-fund-new-nurseries-primary-schools#">practice in countries like England</a>. </p>
<p>It addresses the need for child-care spaces by embracing quality and <a href="https://theconversation.com/child-care-or-education-words-matter-in-how-we-envision-living-well-with-children-198034">viewing early learning as early education, economically wise</a> and educationally sound. </p>
<p>Schools can do this better — something the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-to-look-for-in-a-high-quality-pre-primary-or-junior-kindergarten-program-189060">province of Nova Scotia is demonstrating with their new</a> school-based pre-primary program.</p>
<h2>Alarms sounding for agreements</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, alarms are sounding for the CWELCC agreements. While much has been achieved, much more is needed as many <a href="https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2023/10/measuring-matters-FINAL-October%2027%202023.pdf">centres are at capacity and unable to expand further</a>. </p>
<p>Availing of capacity in neighbourhood schools, especially in rural areas where classrooms sit empty, offers an opportunity for rapid expansion. </p>
<p>Craig Alexander’s advice is timely and informed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221444/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Philpott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It makes good economic sense to lean on the neighbourhood public school in the push to expand early learning.David Philpott, Professor, Special Education, Memorial University of NewfoundlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2183372023-12-10T14:30:54Z2023-12-10T14:30:54ZImproved employment policies can encourage fathers to be more involved at home<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564397/original/file-20231207-15-xwseva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C4131%2C3083&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Too few Canadian fathers take parental leave. That's because parental leave is framed as an employment policy rather than as care/work policy that promotes greater sharing of both paid and unpaid care work between parents. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/improved-employment-policies-can-encourage-fathers-to-be-more-involved-at-home" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>While the COVID-19 pandemic had many detrimental <a href="https://theconversation.com/income-inequality-and-covid-19-we-are-in-the-same-storm-but-not-in-the-same-boat-173400">socio-economic</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-not-the-great-equalizer-race-matters-133867">health</a> impacts, one silver lining has been the influence of remote work on men’s involvement in unpaid work at home. </p>
<p>Since the first pandemic lockdowns in 2020, between 25 and 40 per cent of the Canadian labour force has shifted to <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2022008/article/00001-eng.htm">working remotely</a>. Evidence suggests <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2021010/article/00001-eng.htm">remote and hybrid work arrangements are here to stay</a>; 80 per cent of those who work remotely want to continue working at least several days per week at home. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2023.2271646">Our research</a> finds that Canadian fathers who worked remotely during the pandemic reported higher levels of involvement in household work and child care. Remote work and other flexible work policies may play a crucial role in encouraging a more equitable distribution of household and care work within families.</p>
<p>Remote work isn’t the only policy pathway that facilitates men’s involvement at home. Our research finds that fathers who have previously taken parental leave report sharing a wider set of household work and child-care tasks with their partners.</p>
<p>But there is a catch: access to these policies is limited in ways that diminish their full potential. Part of the problem stems from the way parental leave and remote work policies are structured.</p>
<p>They are framed as employment policies, rather than as care/work policies that can promote greater sharing of both paid and unpaid care work between parents. This framing limits access to both sets of policies.</p>
<h2>Parental leave in Canada</h2>
<p>While Canada is regarded as a country with generous parental leave provisions, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/canada-us-maternity-leave-policy-differences">especially when compared to the United States</a>, its parental leave policies can be exclusionary. </p>
<p>Outside of Québec, parental leave programs have low wage replacement rates and restrictive eligibility criteria. Paternity leave is both low-paid (five to eight weeks at a 33 to 55 per cent wage-replacement rate) and contingent on mothers (or birthing parents) also taking leave rather than being designed as an individual entitlement. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-one-province-got-80-per-cent-of-fathers-to-take-paternity-leave-118737">How one province got 80 per cent of fathers to take paternity leave</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27081267">These differences</a> exclude many low-income parents from receiving <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-091">parental leave benefits</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, top-up wages are highly uneven throughout Canada. Some employers don’t enhance the wage replacement rates for parental leave (70 to 75 per cent in Québec and 33 to 55 per cent in the rest of Canada). </p>
<p>Others, especially those in federally regulated industries, the public sector and large private sector companies, top-up wage replacement rates to as high as 93 per cent. In many contexts, however, top-ups are limited solely to mothers, which disincentivizes fathers from taking parental leave.</p>
<h2>Flexible work arrangements in Canada</h2>
<p>Flexible work arrangements have a less complex policy architecture than parental leave policies, but they share its drawback of uneven access. Aside from those who are self-employed, the decision-making power for remote work lies with employers.</p>
<p>As of December 2017, employees in all federally regulated sectors in Canada can <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/portfolio/labour/programs/labour-standards/flexible-work-arrangements.html#h2.3">request a flexible work arrangement under the Canada Labour Code</a> after six months of continuous employment.</p>
<p>However, managers maintain the right to refuse requests for flexible work arrangements if they believe their use will be detrimental to the quality or quantity of an employee’s work. This results in different standards being applied to different employees and means that access depends on managers’ opinions about remote work and its effect on productivity.</p>
<p>While there is no <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/business/remote-work-effects.html">clear-cut evidence</a> that working remotely hinders productivity, stereotypes of remote workers as unambitious persist <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12015">and prevent men</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-2036-7">and women</a> alike from gaining access.</p>
<h2>Who benefits from these policies?</h2>
<p>Constraints around policy access and eligibility mean parental leave and remote work are set up to benefit those who already enjoy socio-economic privileges, such as those who receive hefty wage top-ups and those in high-ranking positions who don’t need to worry about managerial biases. </p>
<p>To ensure more people benefit from parental leave and flexible work policies, our study suggests they must provide greater support for more people’s work and care lives.</p>
<p>In terms of flexible work arrangements, the right to remote work should acknowledge the diverse caregiving needs and responsibilities of all individuals, including fathers. One step in this direction would be to frame flexible work policies as a human right available to all workers, <a href="https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/Connect/Rotman-MAG/Issues/2023/Spring-2023/Spring-2023-Feature-Articles/Spring_23_Equality">regardless of parental or gender status</a>, to mitigate the stigma associated with working remotely and encourage widespread use.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A baby in a mint-green sleeper sits in her father's lap while he reads her a book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564384/original/file-20231207-21-zdsr71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5000%2C3323&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564384/original/file-20231207-21-zdsr71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564384/original/file-20231207-21-zdsr71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564384/original/file-20231207-21-zdsr71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564384/original/file-20231207-21-zdsr71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564384/original/file-20231207-21-zdsr71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564384/original/file-20231207-21-zdsr71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remote work privileges should take into account the caregiving obligations of everyone, including fathers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When it comes to parental leave, the evidence is clear: from 2019 to 2020, <a href="https://www.leavenetwork.org/fileadmin/user_upload/k_leavenetwork/annual_reviews/2023/Canada2023.pdf">only 23.5 per cent of recent fathers</a> living outside of Québec took (or intended to take) parental or paternity leave, compared to 85.6 percent of fathers in Québec. If the rest of Canada adopted Québec’s more inclusive policy framework, we could narrow the gendered gap in parental leave access.</p>
<p>While the COVID-19 pandemic created extraordinary uncertainty and unpredictability in employment, it also introduced new ways of thinking about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12315">paid and unpaid work</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-077">how to support people’s work and care lives</a>. </p>
<p>If more Canadians are to harness the benefits of parental leave and remote work, we need to design employment and care policies in ways that recognize individuals of all gender identities as not just workers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-091">but as caregivers and care receivers</a> throughout their lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim de Laat receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alyssa K Gerhardt receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Doucet receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>If more Canadian fathers are to harness the benefits of parental leave and remote work, we need to design employment and care policies in ways that recognize every family’s unique needs.Kim de Laat, Sociologist and Assistant Professor at the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, University of WaterlooAlyssa K Gerhardt, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie UniversityAndrea Doucet, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Gender, Work, and Care, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2185152023-11-26T19:20:37Z2023-11-26T19:20:37ZA major new childcare report glosses over the issues educators face at work and why they leave<p>The Productivity Commission has just released a <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/childhood/draft">major report</a> as part of its inquiry into early childhood education and care. </p>
<p>The draft <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-productivity-commission-wants-all-australian-kids-to-have-access-to-3-days-of-early-learning-and-care-a-week-218247">recommendation</a> that all children under five should have access to three days a week of “high quality” early education is grabbing headlines. </p>
<p>But if this is going to happen, we need a workforce to provide it. And in its report, the commission glossed over educator burnout and their working conditions. This is what makes it so difficult to retain staff.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/rogers-abs.html">Our research</a> shows why this needs to change. </p>
<h2>What does the Productivity Commission say?</h2>
<p>The interim report (the final report is due in June 2024) repeatedly noted how early childhood education and care is important to children and <a href="https://www.theparenthood.org.au/choiceless">families’ wellbeing</a>. If families cannot access high-quality services, <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/cheaper-childcare-pays-for-itself-20201011-p563xj">parents cannot work</a> and children do not get the education and development opportunities they need to thrive. </p>
<p>The report does note “workforce challenges” and issues with pay and conditions – noting some staff were leaving for “lower stress” jobs. It also noted these this has been a “major concern” for the sector for “many years”.</p>
<p>But it does not specifically address educators’ wellbeing. </p>
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<h2>Vacancies at ‘record highs’</h2>
<p>Early childhood educators are passionate about their jobs and well trained, but they are leaving the sector <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2022/05/31/ecec-job-advertisements-have-doubled-since-covid-19-illustrating-the-depth-of-staffing-crisis/">in droves</a>. </p>
<p>The commission’s report notes vacancies for early childhood education and care positions are at “record highs and vacancy rates are above those of the wider workforce”. It suggests the sector has more than 5,000 vacancies Australia wide. </p>
<p>This figure does not consider the early learning services that have closed, reduced their capacity or simply stopped advertising because of low staff.</p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://theconversation.com/early-educators-around-the-world-feel-burnt-out-and-devalued-heres-how-we-can-help-202513">previous research</a> showed educators around the world (including Australia) are at risk of <a href="https://blog.une.edu.au/hasse/2021/12/07/early-childhood-educator-staff-welfare-tales-of-burnout-and-hope/">burning out</a>. This is due to inadequate support from their workplaces, a focus on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1365480216651519">collecting administrative data</a> over interacting with children, low pay and <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/smile-and-wave-ladies-the-attempts-to-silence-grace-tame-mirrors-the-plight-of-early-childhood-educators/">low status</a>.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003352129-12/new-ways-working-new-opportunities-wendy-boyd-marg-rogers-margaret-sims">new study</a> looked at the experiences of Australian educators at the height of COVID lockdowns, to understand the new pressures on the workforce and the ways they adapted. This involved online interviews with <a href="http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/rogers-abs.html">six educational leaders</a> from different service types in regional and rural NSW. </p>
<p>During COVID early childhood educators kept working but <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/09/02/love-your-educators-make-them-a-priority-for-the-vaccine-the-parenthood-says/">were not prioritised for vaccinations</a>, despite constant contact with parents in high-risk jobs. New requirements from health authorities were constant and services often had to work out-of-hours to implement them at little notice. </p>
<p>As one interviewee told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>No wonder we are burnt out when even our weekends and annual leave are interrupted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Extra duties included deep cleaning, further administrative reporting, extra communication with parents and constant adjustment to staffing. But there was no extra funding to go with this work. As one interviewee told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We had this good group of casuals […] They didn’t have work, so there were […] some emotional times with staff […] because we couldn’t employ them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the same time, childrens’ and families’ needs increased, with the stress of the pandemic and waves of lockdowns. Another interviewee spoke of the emotional demands they faced: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[staff] were stressed - they were concerned about themselves, [and] their family. I had older staff, […] Indigenous staff [and was] trying to support […] and care for them.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/early-educators-around-the-world-feel-burnt-out-and-devalued-heres-how-we-can-help-202513">Early educators around the world feel burnt out and devalued. Here's how we can help</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Things have not necessarily improved</h2>
<p>The pandemic has thankfully eased, but despite being essential workers, educators do not have the recognition and support <a href="https://www.iier.org.au/iier32/sims-abs.html">they deserve</a>. Their work continues to demand a lot for <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-chaos-has-shed-light-on-many-issues-in-the-australian-childcare-sector-here-are-4-of-them-174404">low status and little pay</a>. </p>
<p>For example, the median wages of qualified teachers who work in the early learning system are about 20% lower than those of primary school teachers.</p>
<p>They continue to work in <a href="https://educationhq.com/news/managerialism-has-taken-over-in-early-childhood-education-109737/">highly regulated systems</a>, with burdensome administrative processes for <a href="https://www.iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view/1447/532">quality assurance</a>. This work includes assessment, rating, quality assurance plans, programming and safety documentation. </p>
<p>This can necessitate <a href="https://blog.aare.edu.au/time-money-exhaustion-why-early-childhood-educators-will-join-the-great-resignation/">unpaid hours</a>. And the <a href="https://theconversation.com/early-childhood-educators-are-slaves-to-the-demands-of-box-ticking-regulations-167283">emphasis</a> on documentation and data collection reduces educators’ <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/10/25/bound-for-burnout-early-childhood-educators-are-swimming-against-a-gendered-micromanaged-tide/">time with children</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1836583">job satisfaction</a>. </p>
<p>Other stressors have also replaced <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-96977-6_4">COVID requirements</a>. This includes the impact of climate change (which also means keeping children safe and healthy in very hot, smoky or rainy weather), cost-of-living pressures and a housing crisis. These issues affect educators and the families and children they support.</p>
<h2>We need to do 4 things</h2>
<p>The Productivity Commission has a huge job to do in examining early education and care. But it has not yet adequately grappled with the causes of educator burnout and attrition. </p>
<p>To attract and retain the workforce required for the sector, we need to do four things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>fund <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=16626">wellbeing programs</a>, including, peer support, mentoring programs, coaching and counselling for early childhood educators </p></li>
<li><p>provide incentives for educators to work in “<a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/mitchell-institute/early-learning/childcare-deserts-oases-how-accessible-is-childcare-in-australia">childcare deserts</a>”, where services are scarce (this includes regional, rural and remote areas and poorer metropolitan suburbs)</p></li>
<li><p>overhaul administrative burdens </p></li>
<li><p>make early learning <a href="https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/make-affordable-childcare-part-of-the-education-system-20220502-p5ahwl">part of the education system</a> to improve educators’ pay, status and conditions.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Until system-wide issues are addressed and governments prioritise educator wellbeing, we are not going to get the workforce we need to educate and care for young children in Australia. </p>
<p><em>Professor Margaret Sims (Macquarie University) and Associate Professor Wendy Boyd (Southern Cross University) were co-researchers in this study.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marg Rogers receives funding from the Commonwealth-funded Manna Institute, which is building place-based mental health research capacity in regional, rural, and remote Australia.</span></em></p>Early childhood educators are passionate but they are leaving the sector in droves.Marg Rogers, Senior Lecturer, Early Childhood Education; Post Doctoral Fellow, Manna Institute, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2182472023-11-23T11:30:09Z2023-11-23T11:30:09ZThe Productivity Commission wants all Australian kids to have access to 3 days of early learning and care a week<p>A major new report is recommending bold changes to Australia’s early childhood sector. On Thursday night, the Productivity Commission released an <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/childhood/draft">interim report</a> from its <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/childhood#draft">inquiry</a> into early childhood education and care.</p>
<p>The report recommends every Australian child aged under five years gets access to three days a week of “high-quality” early learning and care. This entitlement could occur in a range of settings such as centre-based day care, family day care and preschool. </p>
<p>Currently there is no national guarantee, only a mix of entitlements to preschool for three- and four-year-olds, which varies depending on the state.</p>
<p>The report also recommends lower-income families receive a 100% <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/child-care-subsidy">child care subsidy</a> for these three days and some work or study requirements are removed. This means families earning less than A$80,000 would get up to 30 hours of free childcare for children aged under five years.</p>
<p>The recommendations would result in a huge overhaul of the sector and require large increases in the supply of early education places and government funding. </p>
<h2>Why do we have this report?</h2>
<p>The inquiry was set up in February this year, following a <a href="https://www.alp.org.au/policies/cheaper-child-care">Labor election promise</a> to conduct a comprehensive review of the sector with the aim of paying 90% of fees for all families covered by the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/child-care-subsidy">Child Care Subsidy</a>. </p>
<p>The report is one of several federal government-commissioned inquiries into early education and care. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is currently looking at <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/inquiries-and-consultations/childcare-inquiry-2023">the early learning market</a> and Australia’s children’s education and care regulator is looking at <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/interview-sky-news-sunday-agenda-0">safety</a> in the sector. </p>
<p>The Productivity Commission review has a broader scope than the other reviews and is examining issues such as cost, quality, workforce and access to early learning and care.</p>
<p>The sector already provides services to more than <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/early-childhood/resources/june-quarter-2023-data-tables">1.4 million children</a> every year and receives about A$13 billion in government funding. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-childcare-is-costly-but-nowhere-near-as-costly-as-recent-reports-suggest-heres-why-215259">Yes, childcare is costly, but nowhere near as costly as recent reports suggest – here's why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What are the key findings?</h2>
<p>The interim report found Australia’s early learning and care system can be complex and costly, with patchy provision in some areas and not enough support for vulnerable groups.</p>
<p>To meet these challenges, the Productivity Commission recommends the federal government takes a more active role in ensuring up to 30 hours or three days a week of quality early childhood education and care is available to all children up to five years.</p>
<p>This would be the first time there is an explicit policy aim in Australia for an entitlement like this.</p>
<p>The report highlighted that those who are likely to benefit most from childcare services - those experiencing disadvantage – are also less likely to attend. To increase participation, the report recommends “relaxing” the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/activity-level-and-subsidised-care-for-child-care-subsidy?context=41186">activity test</a> and increasing subsidies for low income families.</p>
<p>At the moment, many families need to undertake a certain amount of work, study or volunteering (“activity”) to be eligible for the child care subsidy.</p>
<p>As Associate Commissioner Deborah Brennan said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A child’s entitlement to at least three days of [early childhood education and care] a week should not depend on how much their parents work.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-1-million-australians-have-no-access-to-childcare-in-their-area-179557">More than 1 million Australians have no access to childcare in their area</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fees and subsidies</h2>
<p>A key point is the amount of subsidy different families should receive.</p>
<p>Currently, families earning between $80,000 and $530,000 receive up to 90% in subsidies. The subsidy decreases by 1% for each $5,000 they earn above $80,000. The subsidy is paid directly to early childhood services and they pass it on to families as a fee reduction. </p>
<p>In response to Labor’s request to investigate a 90% universal subsidy, Productivity Commission modelling suggests this would would increase the child care subsidy payments by about $4.1 billion annually, or 33%. The biggest beneficiaries would be high-income families, because their subsidy would increase the most. </p>
<p>But the report goes a step further. For families on incomes up to $80,000 it recommends increasing the subsidy to 100% of the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/type-child-care-you-use-can-affect-child-care-subsidy?context=41186">top subsidy rate</a> for 30 hours a week.</p>
<p>This would make up to 30 hours of childcare effectively free for about 30% of all families with children aged under five. The estimated cost of this policy, along with the relaxing of the activity test, is an additional $2.5 billion a year, or 20%.</p>
<p>The commission believes these changes would remove barriers for lower-income families and encourage more children experiencing disadvantage to benefit from high-quality early learning. </p>
<p>As the report says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Affordability should not be a barrier to […] access.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The commission will explore further recommendations in their final report for subsidy rates to families not covered by the 100% subsidy recommendation. </p>
<p><iframe id="Scxct" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Scxct/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Expansive reform</h2>
<p>The commission’s proposal would introduce an entitlement to early education and care like reforms already underway in other countries. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/why-australia-should-look-to-quebec-s-5-a-day-daycare-20230702-p5dl3q.html">Quebec in Canada</a> already has an entitlement to childcare at $10 a day regardless of income. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/upcoming-changes-to-childcare-support/">United Kingdom</a> is expanding childcare entitlements to 30 hours per week for many working families with children aged over nine months.</p>
<p>The commission highlights such an expansion “will require careful sequencing and implementation”.</p>
<p>To do this, it is proposing more government involvement in locations where families struggle to find appropriate education and care. At the moment, the government subsidises those who create the demand for early childhood services (parents and families). Meanwhile, supply is created by a mix of for-profit and not-for-profit providers opening centres to respond to this need.</p>
<p>This is different to our school system, where governments fund schools directly, there is greater government service provision and schools are not allowed to be for-profit.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>When viewed this way, the Productivity Commission has not recommended a major overhaul of the current approach. Instead, it will explore the most effective government interventions where the current model is not working properly. This means there is still a lot of detail that needs to be worked out.</p>
<p>But the reform agenda is undeniably big and geared towards directing the most support to those children from disadvantaged backgrounds. </p>
<p>The commission will hold public hearings next year with a final report due to the government on June 30 2024.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Hurley works for the Mitchell Institute who receive funding from Minderoo Foundation to undertake research into early childhood education and care.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Tham works for the Mitchell Institute who receive funding from Minderoo Foundation to undertake research into early childhood education and care.</span></em></p>Australia is set to embark on bold changes to early childhood education if a new report is anything to go by.Peter Hurley, Director, Mitchell Institute, Victoria UniversityMelissa Tham, Research fellow, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2162802023-11-17T17:50:32Z2023-11-17T17:50:32ZMore young people in the UK are living with parents and grandparents – here’s what you need to know if you’re considering it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559411/original/file-20231114-15-hk4hwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/affectionate-muslim-grandmother-granddaughter-embracing-during-2223608311">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a recent court case in Pavia, northern Italy, the judge <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/italian-woman-court-evict-adult-sons-b1116436.html">sided</a> with the complainant, a 75-year-old woman, and ordered her adult two sons to move out of her home. The woman’s case was a last-ditch attempt to get the men to find what one journalist termed, somewhat elliptically, “more autonomous living arrangements”. </p>
<p>Italy has long had a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40004818">culture of multigenerational living</a>. As news reports have rightly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/26/italian-woman-forced-to-court-to-evict-her-two-sons-aged-40-and-42">noted</a>, however, the cost of living crisis and the jobs market combined have resulted in more and more young professionals living with their parents for longer. </p>
<p>Whether out of preference or by necessity, more and more young adults <a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/23643630.back-future-multi-generational-living/">in the UK</a> too are living with parents and grandparents. Multigenerational households are <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/articles/familiesinenglandandwales/census2021">the fastest-growing household type</a> in England and Wales. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-so-hard-to-be-young-in-britain-right-now-213002">Why it’s so hard to be young in Britain right now</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/four-environmental-red-flags-to-watch-out-for-when-buying-your-new-home-215763">Four environmental red flags to watch out for when buying your new home</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-create-an-oral-history-with-your-grandparents-dont-delay-and-come-equipped-205968">How to create an oral history with your grandparents – don’t delay and come equipped</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Being able to pool resources has obvious financial benefits. It eases the pressure you might feel at the beginning of your career or when you’re starting a family. It can make things easier for your elders too, especially if they are retirees struggling to make ends meet. And its emotional and relational benefits are clear. </p>
<p>However, living with parents and grandparents is not a commitment to take lightly. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322002867">My research shows</a> that tensions can arise when family members across generations with different expectations come together. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An elderly lady sits between two young women." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559410/original/file-20231114-27-2yz6gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559410/original/file-20231114-27-2yz6gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559410/original/file-20231114-27-2yz6gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559410/original/file-20231114-27-2yz6gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559410/original/file-20231114-27-2yz6gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559410/original/file-20231114-27-2yz6gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559410/original/file-20231114-27-2yz6gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Living together has clear financial and emotional benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-grandmother-two-granddaughters-1460953328">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The benefits of living with your parents</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/younger-parents-moving-in-with-kids">sense of financial stability</a> that communal living can bring to individuals and families is noteworthy. Having elderly relatives can make it easier for young parents to <a href="https://napc.uk/news/what-is-multigenerational-living/">arrange childcare</a>. It also makes <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/chinre/v14y2021i6d10.1007_s12187-021-09857-6.html">organising adult care</a> within the family easier too. </p>
<p>Families can thus save the money that would have otherwise been spent on care services, for children’s education, or hobbies and other family activities that <a href="https://www.ageco.co.uk/useful-articles/health/multi-generational-or-independent-living-what-to-consider/">improve</a> their collective quality of life. </p>
<p>Having more time to spend together can also lead to stronger relational bonds. It can foster greater understanding and empathy between family members. Gardening and cooking together can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9768532/">relieve loneliness</a>. It can provide a sense of security for the young and the elderly alike.</p>
<p>Research shows that for the youngest household members, living communally can nurture a sense of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/oct/09/the-multi-generation-game-is-living-with-your-parents-and-your-children-a-good-idea">aspiration</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X2200338X">boost their wellbeing</a>. Children, in particular, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335203775_The_Increase_in_Multigenerational_Households_in_the_UK_The_Motivations_for_and_Experiences_of_Multigenerational_Living">have been shown</a> to develop a more resilient approach to dealing with difficulties when growing up within in a multigenerational home. </p>
<h2>Challenges of multigenerational living</h2>
<p>For most people, there will be a certain amount of anxiety over how much your personal time might be impacted. Being able to set boundaries and protect your physical and emotional privacy is crucial. </p>
<p>In addition, making joint decisions can be confusing, which, in turn, can lead to frustration, or, worse, a lack of trust and confidence. This can impact negatively on family bonds.</p>
<p>If these issues are not adequately addressed, they can result in stress levels harmful to adults and, most importantly, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5954612/">children</a>. Overcrowding, in particular, can have both <a href="https://www.housing.org.uk/resources/overcrowding-in-england-2023/">emotional and sanitary consquences</a>. This was made particularly visible by COVID. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://ageing-better.org.uk/resources/homes-health-and-covid-19">research study</a> conducted by the <a href="https://ageing-better.org.uk/resources/everyone-has-right-good-later-life-our-2022-25-strategy?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAo7KqBhDhARIsAKhZ4uj7Px9ssYuYv9mKw2tngZybMpSXuuDtz_QRSA2FUFTd2OerVWehECwaAox9EALw_wcB">Centre for Aging Better</a> revealed that 31% of adults in Britain reported having mental and physical health problems during the pandemic. This was the result of the poor-quality housing conditions typical in overcrowded homes. </p>
<p>This chimes with <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.14.21258904v1">research</a> from the US, that found that, of 39,923 suspected COVID-19 cases in New York, the adjusted rates of infection increased by 77% for those in multigenerational families. </p>
<p>Overcrowding has been shown to be more <a href="https://ageing-better.org.uk/resources/homes-health-and-covid-19">prevalent</a> in black British and British Asian communities. Research has shown that it was harder for family members to <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2021-0023/#:%7E:text=Overcrowding%20makes%20it%20harder%20to,within%20local%20authorities%20in%20England">self-isolate and shield from COVID-19</a>. Infection rates <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/12/virus-hitting-hardest-modern-equivalent-victorian-slums">were also higher</a> in homes where people live in crowded conditions with shared facilities.</p>
<h2>Multi-generational homes</h2>
<p>Due to the increasing popularity, there is a <a href="https://adahousing.co.uk/sectors/multigenerational-living/#:%7E:text=One%20study%20has%20highlighted%20the,to%20maintain%20full%20pension%20contributions">growing demand</a> in the UK for suitable homes that can accommodate multiple generations. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nhbc.co.uk/binaries/content/assets/nhbc/foundation/multigenerational-living.pdf">A study</a> by the industry research provider, the <a href="https://www.nhbc.co.uk/media-centre/industry-news/2018/06/05/futurology--the-new-home-in-2050">National House Building Council</a>, identified a potential demand for around 125,000 purpose-built homes in the UK that can cater to intergenerational family needs, such as privacy, freedom and personal space. Developers are duly introducing features like level-access, knockout panels and privacy floors to <a href="https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/23166779.bolton-multi-generational-houses-built-horwich-golf-club">purpose-built homes</a>. </p>
<p>Nearly half of the 1,019 UK residents <a href="https://www.legalandgeneral.com/insurance/over-50-life-insurance/under-one-roof/">recently surveyed</a> by the insurance providers Legal and General said that multigenerational living had a positive impact on their lives and could help addressing current social problems. A third of the respondents believed that governments should provide <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/oct/09/the-multi-generation-game-is-living-with-your-parents-and-your-children-a-good-idea">incentives</a> to encourage more people to live in this way. </p>
<p>The Canadian federal government has started to do just that. In January 2023, it introduced a <a href="https://fin.canada.ca/drleg-apl/2022/ita-lir-0822-n-2-eng.html#mghrtc">home-renovation</a> tax credit scheme which provides a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/multi-generational-home-renovation-tax-credit-1.6707980">one-time 15%</a> incentive – up to $50,000 – for families who are looking to expand and adapt their homes for multigenerational living.</p>
<p>In many countries across the world, of course, this type of household is the norm. This is an old but new way of family living. To harness its full potential, you need to consider its potential challenges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prabash Edirisingha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Multigenerational households are the fastest growing household type in England and Wales but living with extended family is a commitment not to be taken lightly.Prabash Edirisingha, Assitant Professor in Consumer Culture and Marketing, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2152592023-10-30T19:11:09Z2023-10-30T19:11:09ZYes, childcare is costly, but nowhere near as costly as recent reports suggest – here’s why<p>Childcare in Australia is generally regarded as expensive. </p>
<p>And it’s true that prices charged by some centres, particularly long daycare centres, can be pretty steep, climbing to as much as <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/sydneys-childcare-costs-soaring-to-200-a-day/news-story/0d024cd97bc1112b86a629a27377aee0">A$200 per day</a> or more in well-located parts of Sydney and Melbourne. </p>
<p>While those prices are indeed very high, they are not typical and don’t include the often substantial <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/child-care-subsidy">childcare subsidy</a> that families earning up to $530,000 receive to offset those costs. </p>
<p>The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s childcare inquiry reported in September that an average family with two children in care five days a week faced out-of-pocket costs (fees minus subsidies) that amounted to <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/inquiries-and-consultations/childcare-inquiry-2023/september-2023-interim-report">16%</a> of its after-tax income. </p>
<p>This was much higher than the OECD average, which was 9%. </p>
<p>The ACCC calculation is based on what is called a <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/inquiries-and-consultations/childcare-inquiry-2023/september-2023-interim-report">hypothetical family</a>, the same one used by the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/benefits-and-wages/data/">OECD</a> to compare costs between nations.</p>
<p>That family has two children in long daycare five days a week and two adults working, each earning two-thirds of the average wage. </p>
<p>This month’s report of the the <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/10-year-plan">Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce</a> discussed a similar hypothetical family with the same number of children in full-time care.</p>
<p>But, while useful to allow international comparisons using the OECD metric, in Australia that type of family is anything but typical.</p>
<h2>Most families don’t have 2 children in care, full-time</h2>
<p>What’s far more typical is one child in long daycare three days a week, with costs far lower than those of the OECD’s hypothetical family, and far lower than those heavily <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/01/childcare-price-cap-accc-inflation-subsidies">reported in the media</a>.</p>
<p>Rather than examining the costs facing hypothetical families, it is possible to use the Australian National University’s <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/policymod">PolicyMod</a> microsimulation model to estimate costs as a share of income facing actual families. </p>
<p>PolicyMod uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of income and housing which includes detailed information about childcare use. My team has updated this data using information from the department of education on childcare prices and the use of childcare by income. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-fees-keep-climbing-this-is-why-competition-isnt-enough-to-deliver-cheaper-childcare-209209">As fees keep climbing, this is why competition isn’t enough to deliver cheaper childcare</a>
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<p>We find that after the latest increases in the childcare subsidy in July, not even one in 50 families with at least one child in long daycare faces childcare costs of 16% of their household’s after-tax income or higher. That’s right: very few.</p>
<p>Three in ten families with children in care face childcare costs of less than 2% of their after-tax income. Six in ten pay less than 4%.</p>
<p>The average cost is 4% of after-tax household income.</p>
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<p>The average cost for all families regardless of type of care used varies by income, from 2.5% of after-tax family income for families in the bottom quarter of earners to 4.6% for families in the top quarter. </p>
<p>The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s estimate is also dated (to allow comparison with other OECD countries) and so doesn’t include the recent increases to the subsidy introduced by the Morrison government or the recent substantial increase introduced by the Albanese government in July. </p>
<p>The Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce’s estimates of workforce disincentives also use subsidy rates that predate the recent very significant changes that are particularly beneficial to families with multiple children in long daycare.</p>
<p>PolicyMod suggests that in raw dollar terms, across all families with children in daycare the median (middle) cost is about $2,400 per year. Around one fifth of childcare families spend less than $650 and one fifth spend more than $6,900. </p>
<h2>Some families pay a lot, most of them earn a lot</h2>
<p>A very small proportion of Australian families have very high out-of-pocket costs. </p>
<p>They are generally very high income families, particularly those with multiple children in long daycare and those with children attending very expensive centres for four or five days a week in inner city locations which charge fees in excess of the $13.73 per hour cap on support.</p>
<p>It is beyond dispute that childcare prices have increased substantially over time, but most of that increase has been worn by the taxpayer rather than families using childcare. </p>
<p>Our modelling suggests that for most Australian families with children in care, out-of-pocket costs are relatively contained and not quite as substantial as some may have you believe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Phillips does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ACCC has published calculations for two children in care five days a week. More typical is one child in care two days a week. The typical cost is 5% of after-tax income, not 16%Ben Phillips, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150092023-10-25T13:48:57Z2023-10-25T13:48:57ZMen say they are spending more time on household chores, and would like to do more – survey of 17 countries<p>Women perform between <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=7">three and seven times more caregiving tasks</a> than men in the global south. These include household domestic work and largely focus on caring for children. </p>
<p>Hopefully this is changing. The <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf">2023 State of the World’s Fathers Report</a>, themed “Centering Care in a World in Crisis”, explored the experiences and involvement in caregiving among 12,000 men and women, many of whom are parents, across 17 countries. The survey looked at who does the caregiving, how they care, for whom, and what men and women think about care.</p>
<p>I am one of five co-authors of the report, which unveiled a remarkable appreciation for care among respondents. In an online survey they overwhelmingly associated care with positive terms. “Love” was the most frequently mentioned word across all countries. </p>
<p>Other frequently mentioned words included “help”, “protection”, “attention”, “responsibility”, “health”, “kindness” and “family”.</p>
<p>Most of the men involved in the survey said they were doing care work, and they were willing to do more. But many barriers stood in their way, including societal norms and financial constraints. While the findings of the research point to changes, it also found that the pace of change is far too slow. </p>
<h2>Growing pressure for greater equality</h2>
<p>Earlier this year, United Nations member states unanimously designated <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/news/2023/08/member-states-agree-on-international-day-of-care-and-support-a-milestone-for-gender-equality-and-sustainable-societies#:%7E:text=This%20international%20day%20shows%20the,key%20lever%20to%20sustainable%20development.%E2%80%9D">29 October as the International Day of Care and Support</a>. This reflects a growing recognition of the value of care and care work, highlighting the urgent need to distribute caregiving responsibilities more equitably. </p>
<p>Providing care for another person can be a positive experience, fostering empathy and meaningful relationships. However the unequal allocation of <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_633115/lang--en/index.htm">caregiving</a> between men and women has long hindered women’s participation in paid work. </p>
<p>In 2018, the International Labour Oganization estimated 606 million working age women were not able to do so because of unpaid care work. And the heavy burden of care work has had <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354252144_Women's_wellbeing_and_the_burden_of_unpaid_work">adverse consequences </a>on the physical and mental wellbeing of women.</p>
<h2>Moving in the right direction</h2>
<p>The State of the World’s Fathers report found that mothers still bore a greater share of responsibilities in care work such as cleaning, physical and emotional childcare, cooking and partner care. Women reported performing 1.32 times more physical childcare and 1.36 times more house cleaning than men across all countries surveyed for the report. </p>
<p>But fathers in countries as diverse as Argentina, Ireland, China, Croatia and Rwanda also reported dedicating significant hours to various unpaid caregiving tasks within the household.</p>
<p>The State of the World’s Fathers study attributed this shift to several factors, including the impact of <a href="https://www.who.int/europe/emergencies/situations/covid-19#page=58">COVID-19</a>, evolving gender norms related to caregiving, and structural factors such as care systems and parental leave policies.</p>
<p>In 15 countries, between 70% and 90% of men agreed with the statement, “I feel as responsible for care work as my partner.” </p>
<p>Encouragingly, in some nations like <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf">South Africa (85%) and Rwanda (93%)</a>, men disagreed with the statement, “Boys should not be taught to sew, cook, clean, or take care of their siblings.”</p>
<p>Men who were more emotionally aware and open to seeking emotional support were <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=22">two to eight times</a> more likely to provide care to a family member than those who were not emotionally aware. </p>
<p>Men who spent more time caring for others experienced greater well-being. Respondents who expressed satisfaction with their involvement in raising their children were <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=8">1.5 times</a> more likely to agree with the statement, “I am the person I always wanted to be” and report a sense of gratitude in life than respondents who did not report satisfaction with childrearing. </p>
<h2>Everybody needs to chip in</h2>
<p>It’s important to recognise that caregiving cannot be dependent solely on individual efforts. Men and women alike require the support of communities, care systems and policies to provide care effectively. </p>
<p>More than half of both mothers and fathers considered<a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=8"> political activism </a>for care leave policies a priority. This sentiment varied: 57% of fathers and 66% of mothers in India, and 92% of fathers and 94% of mothers in Rwanda supported this cause.</p>
<p>Women were more likely than men to <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=54">prioritise care policies</a> along with healthcare and gender equality policies. Concerns about the cost of living were prevalent among both genders, with slightly more women (58%) than men (53%) expressing this worry. </p>
<p>The study found a significant portion of individuals in all countries reported <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=54">taking action </a>to improve care policies. The majority (74%) discussed the issue with friends and family, while 39% of women and 36% of men signed or shared online petitions. Additionally, 27% of women and 33% of men attended events calling for improved care policies.</p>
<p>Policymakers have an important role to play in reforms for improved parental leave. Better data enables better policies, so there also need to be more accurate statistics on, for example, how many fathers take parental leave, and how time spent on care work is distributed among men and women. </p>
<p>Making it easier for men to share duties in the house is essential if countries are to <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=81">thrive</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215009/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wessel Van Den Berg works for Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice.</span></em></p>The latest State of the World’s Fathers report found a shift in attitudes. In 15 countries, between 70% and 90% of men agreed with the statement, “I feel as responsible for care work as my partner.”Wessel Van Den Berg, Research fellow, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2130222023-10-11T13:42:31Z2023-10-11T13:42:31ZMale domestic workers in South Africa – study sheds light on the experiences of Malawian and Zimbabwean migrants<p>An estimated <a href="https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2672/1644">800,000 people work as domestic workers</a> in South Africa. Most are black women from marginalised backgrounds. It’s therefore not surprising that the bulk of the literature about domestic work focuses on females performing cleaning, cooking and care work. What’s missing in debates about domestic workers’ job-related experiences and relationships with their employers is the experiences of men performing domestic work, a job traditionally linked to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24713312">femininity</a>. </p>
<p>However, paid domestic work in South Africa hasn’t always been dominated by women. In the 1880s when the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/New_Babylon_New_Nineveh.html?id=DiDtAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">mining industry</a> was being established in Johannesburg, black men, rather than women, were the preferred servants in white households. Known as <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/From_Servants_to_Workers.html?id=ha_3GUYK6FwC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=houseboy&f=false">houseboys</a>, they cooked, cleaned, nursed and cared for white colonial families.</p>
<p>But over the next decade the landscape of domestic work underwent significant changes. This was due to a few factors, among them:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a scarcity of labour in the mines, which drew black men away from domestic roles to join the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/brief-history-domestic-service-south-africa">mining sector</a> </p></li>
<li><p>the increasing <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/brief-history-domestic-service-south-africa">urbanisation of black women</a> </p></li>
<li><p>racial stereotypes about black men as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2637313">sexually aggressive or promiscuous</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>A small proportion of men still work as domestic workers, however. Some are <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---africa/---ro-abidjan/---ilo-pretoria/documents/vacancynotice/wcms_789648.pdf">migrants</a>. Due to South Africa’s relative stability and economic opportunities, there has been <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/south-africa-immigration-destination-history">an increase in migration</a> from countries like Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique since apartheid ended in 1994. The migrants come seeking education, employment and improved livelihoods. They rely on friends and family already in South Africa <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-92114-9_2">to find jobs</a>. </p>
<p>While African migrant women from poor backgrounds often find work in <a href="https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/edar2018_BP1_en.pdf">domestic service or the hospitality sectors</a>, most migrant men work as <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/2019-05/20767_mangezvo_xenophobic_2015.pdf">gardeners, painters or security guards</a>. Some Malawian and Zimbabwean male migrants work as <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/2019-05/20767_mangezvo_xenophobic_2015.pdf">waiters or domestic workers</a>, jobs that are traditionally associated with women. </p>
<h2>Exploring unfamiliar territory</h2>
<p>As a researcher of domestic work in South Africa, I noticed that few studies had focused on male migrants performing domestic work in South Africa. Consequently, such work is commonly viewed as an employment arrangement involving affluent female employers and black female domestic workers from marginalised backgrounds. The intersections of race, class and gender between employers and domestic workers often lead to <a href="https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/74795/Masterson_Domestic_2019.pdf?sequence=1">unequal power relations and economic exploitation</a> entrenched within the employment relationship. </p>
<p>In my study, I examined <a href="https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2677">the experiences of migrant male domestic workers in Johannesburg</a>, with the aim of shedding some light on their duties and working conditions. </p>
<p>A male Malawian domestic worker employed by an acquaintance referred me to other male domestic workers in Johannesburg. Interviews were conducted with six male Malawian and four male Zimbabwean domestic workers employed by affluent white employers in Johannesburg. All had been employed for more than five years. </p>
<p>Migrant men’s experiences add a new layer of complexity to the study of domestic work, where complex intersections of class, race and gender occur. </p>
<h2>Migrant male domestic workers in South Africa</h2>
<p>My study showed that domestic work offered a viable employment path for men. </p>
<p>They faced similar challenges to their <a href="https://www.academia.edu/13215366/_Help_somebody_who_help_you_The_Effect_of_the_Domestic_Labour_Relationship_on_South_African_Domestic_Workers_Ability_to_Exercise_their_Rights">female counterparts</a>. These included long working hours, a paternalistic employer-employee dynamic, and a marginalised job status.</p>
<p>The respondents said they had an array of indoor and outdoor responsibilities. Indoors, their tasks encompassed cleaning and tidying their employers’ residences. They also handled laundry and ironing, alongside duties such as grocery shopping and meal preparation.</p>
<p>Outdoors, their responsibilities extended to garden maintenance, swimming pool upkeep, pet waste disposal, cleaning outdoor grilling areas (braais), and sweeping driveways. They were also entrusted with securing the homes and taking care of pets when their employers were away. </p>
<p>The daily life of male live-in domestic workers was much the same as <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_230837.pdf">live-in female domestic workers</a>. The working day started at 06:30, preparing breakfast for employers. Once employers had left for work, they cleaned the house, prepared lunch, did laundry and attended to the garden.</p>
<p>The long working day often ended at 20:00 after dinner was prepared for employers. Most weekends were spent on additional piece jobs, working as gardeners or painters for others.</p>
<p>While the homes of employers were opulent, male domestic workers, just like their female counterparts, lived in small rooms in the back yard, hidden away from the employers’ gaze, as other researchers have <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3514408?seq=1">also found</a>. The one-room accommodation was often equipped with basic furniture, differing little from the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=c89wfLEahEIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=living+quarters+of+domestic+workers+apartheid&ots=oumA3GgaGq&sig=Cjco7oSLcK6vGAgKpM_kgF0HTzQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=living%20quarters&f=false">squalid living quarters of domestic workers during apartheid</a>.</p>
<p>The men said they considered their wages reasonable. They earned on average between R5,000 (US$260) and R8,000 (US$416) a month. This was much higher than <a href="https://personal.nedbank.co.za/learn/blog/domestic-workers-minimum-wage.html#:%7E:text=The%20minimum%20wage%20for%20domestic%20workers%20in%202023&text=Employing%20someone%20for%20more%20than,with%20the%20Department%20of%20Labour.">the minimum wage of R4,067</a> (US$216) for a domestic worker working eight hours a day, five days a week in South Africa. Most said they could engage in wage negotiations, which enabled them to improve their wellbeing and that of their families.</p>
<p>None of the male domestic workers in this study had written employment contracts with their employers, or were members of a trade union, such as the <a href="http://www.sadsawu.com/">South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union</a>. Work contracts need to be renewed every few years, which is costly and time consuming. Job security is precarious. </p>
<h2>The recurring issues of domestic work</h2>
<p>In South Africa, domestic work continues to be associated with <a href="https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2672/1644">marginalised black individuals</a>, perpetuating a historical and societal imbalance. </p>
<p>Paid domestic work continues to occupy a low-status position. No formal qualifications and little specialised expertise are required. Domestic workers’ contributions to the functioning of households are essential but frequently taken for granted, as other studies have <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/42905/">also confirmed</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/edited-collections/exploited-undervalued-and-essential-domestic-workers-and-the-realisation-of-their-rights">legislation</a>, domestic workers work long hours and perform physically demanding work. While male domestic workers in this study could negotiate better working conditions and pay, others might not be successful, and might remain in a precarious working environment. </p>
<p>Job security is not assured, a vulnerability most <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---migrant/documents/publication/wcms_535598.pdf">migrant domestic workers</a> experience. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---africa/---ro-abidjan/---ilo-pretoria/documents/vacancynotice/wcms_789648.pdf">Practical protection remains constrained</a>. For instance, migrant domestic workers often encounter difficulties when seeking healthcare.</p>
<p>To safeguard this group from exploitation and elevate their overall livelihoods, regulators, enforcement agencies and trade unions must protect and recognise all domestic workers, including migrants, in South Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David du Toit does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Paid domestic work has a low status in South Africa. The labour of domestic workers is often undervalued and unrecognised.David du Toit, Sociology Lecturer, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2083962023-09-14T21:19:18Z2023-09-14T21:19:18ZOntario needs to remove barriers to child-care subsidies for low-income families<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/ontario-needs-to-remove-barriers-to-child-care-subsidies-for-low-income-families" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In September, a major turnover in child care occurs, as preschoolers graduate to kindergarten and a new wave of preschoolers enters into early learning and care systems. </p>
<p>This year, the pressures on the child-care sector have increased dramatically as governments are radically decreasing the costs of child care for families as they <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/early-learning-child-care-agreement/agreements-provinces-territories.html">implement Canada-wide early learning and child care (CWELCC)</a> agreements.</p>
<p>The government of Ontario has <a href="https://www.fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/2022-education-estimates">projected significant increases in demand for child care</a> as a result of lower fees. In these early days, we are not aware of evidence of this happening, but <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/now-that-daycare-is-cheaper-in-ontario-demand-is-up-are-working-parents-getting-squeezed-out-1.6757416">anecdotally this seems to be the case</a>.</p>
<p>While provinces are talking about increasing the number of spaces, substantial <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2022-059">labour shortages in staff</a> (since pay and benefits are poor in this sector) and insufficient investment in physical spaces likely mean that increases in demand will <a href="https://fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/2022-education-estimates">far outpace increases in supply</a>.</p>
<p>When resources are scarce, disadvantaged parents and children receive the short end of the services stick while more affluent families are more likely to secure access to higher-quality services. </p>
<p>Research from 2005 found that following Québec’s move to significantly expand a network of daycare services in 1997 and reduce fees for parents, “<a href="https://irpp.org/research-studies/quality-counts">the overall quality of the daycare settings attended by children from less privileged families was significantly lower</a> than that of those attended by children from more privileged families.” </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ottawas-10-a-day-child-care-promise-should-heed-quebecs-insights-about-balancing-low-fees-with-high-quality-159626">Ottawa's $10-a-day child care promise should heed Québec’s insights about balancing low fees with high quality</a>
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<p>Ontario’s current implementation plan for child care and early learning agreements runs the risk of leaving disadvantaged families further behind, rather than closing gaps in opportunities and outcomes for their children. To prevent this, Ontario, and indeed all provinces, need to double down on removing barriers to child-care subsidies for low-income families. </p>
<h2>Lower-income families have less access</h2>
<p>In Canada, many children spend a <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-652-x/89-652-x2014005-eng.pdf">significant part of their day in early learning and child care</a>, whether in centres or home-based settings.</p>
<p>With the introduction of new child care agreements across Canada, all families are eligible for substantial fee reduction. </p>
<p>For example, when Ontario’s agreement is fully implemented, fees should be down to approximately $12 per day, regardless of whether both parents (or one parent in single-parent households) work or study. </p>
<h2>$10 a day is a hardship for many</h2>
<p>Before the federal government announced the introduction of Canada-wide early learning and care agreements, most parents who received a child-care subsidy in Toronto paid well below $10 per day. For example, when we examined data pertaining to nearly 900 parents recruited from the City of Toronto’s child-care subsidy waitlist, we found that, based on their financial and work/study activity eligibility, parents paid an average of $3.33 per day. </p>
<p>Since their fee contribution was set based on financial eligibility criteria, this means that $10 per day would be a hardship for many of these families. Without additional fee subsidies, these parents would likely not be able to afford care.</p>
<h2>Complicating factors</h2>
<p>Even if parents can afford child care (whether through their earnings or subsidies), they still need to secure a space. Wait lists for child care can be long, with some parents having to get in line even before their child is born. </p>
<p>This is especially challenging for families who are new to Canada or unfamiliar with the system, as well as those in neighbourhoods with limited child-care options. </p>
<p>As documented by the research of Petr Varmuza, one of the authors of this story, in the City of Toronto, when neighbourhoods have lower levels of income and maternal education, they tend to have lower availability of child care. </p>
<p>One complicating factor is that parents find it hard to evaluate the quality of care their children receive, with many being unaware of whether it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-019-0063-8">licensed or not</a>. </p>
<h2>Disadvantages compounded</h2>
<p>It is concerning that children from lower-income families <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-019-0063-8">are less likely to have access to any form of licensed care</a>. Low-income families tend to have limited knowledge of the child-care sector and tend to live in neighbourhoods with fewer child-care <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson/UserFiles/File/Events/2023_Summer_Institute/Michal_Perlman_-_WHO_S_IN_AND_WHO_IS_OUT_CWELCC_AND_EQUITY.pdf">spaces per child</a>. </p>
<p>Furthermore, because subsidies for low-income parents are tied to parent activity, if their circumstances change for any reason (like losing a job, going on parental leave or caring for a sick family member), their subsidy is revoked. And research has linked such <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-023-01513-8">disruptions in care to worse outcomes for children</a>. </p>
<p>It is simply unfair that low-income parents are subject to these activity requirements in order to receive the level of subsidy they need while, under the current framework for CWELCC, higher income parents are not subject to these restrictions. </p>
<h2>Remove work/study requirements</h2>
<p>To address this inequity, all work/study requirements for fee subsidies should be removed.</p>
<p>Inclusivity is explicitly stated as an important goal of the federal government’s Canada-wide early learning and child care initiative, and one aimed at providing support to society’s most vulnerable populations and ensuring the healthy development of their children. </p>
<p>However, for vulnerable and marginalized groups, access to early learning and child care remains uncertain. This inclusivity goal must become a top priority to fulfil affordable care for all families.</p>
<p>The ultimate solution is publicly funded child care with enough spaces for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208396/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michal Perlman receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, The Lawson Foundation, The Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and other sources.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Burns receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and The Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Petr Varmuza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For vulnerable and marginalized groups, access to early learning and child care remains uncertain. Inclusive access must become a top priority to achieve affordable care for all families.Michal Perlman, Professor of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of TorontoPetr Varmuza, Assistant Researcher, Perlman Lab, Ontario Institute for the Studies of Education, University of TorontoSamantha Burns, Ph.D. Student, Developmental Psychology and Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2098262023-08-28T21:42:27Z2023-08-28T21:42:27ZChildren’s early learning belongs in neighbourhood schools<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/childrens-early-learning-belongs-in-neighbourhood-schools" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The beginning of each school year brings an opportunity to reflect, for children, families and also for policymakers. Some important lessons pertain to effective ways provinces and territories <a href="https://irpp.org/research-studies/early-learning-and-child-care-in-canada/">can expand children’s and families’ access</a> to early learning programs. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2021/04/budget-2021-a-canada-wide-early-learning-and-child-care-plan.html">Canada-wide early learning and child-care agreements</a> established between the federal government and provinces or territories allow governments to be creative with increasing access. Research can guide that creativity by linking the early years to neighbourhood schools. </p>
<p>Programs for four-year-olds (alternately known as pre-kindergarten, pre-primary, junior kindergarten or two-year kindergarten, depending on the area) belong in neighbourhood schools, closely tied into the cascade of schools’ curriculum, teaching and learning expertise. These programs establish a continuum of learning and healthy child development. </p>
<p>Right now, access to schooling for four-year-olds <a href="https://ecereport.ca">is not consistent across the country</a>, as noted by the Early Childhood Education report by the not-for-profit Atkinson Centre. </p>
<p>For example, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have part-time programs for some high-risk children only, while Ontario, Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia offer universal full-day junior kindergarten in neighbourhood schools.</p>
<p>Ample evidence points towards <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-doesnt-canada-let-schools-provide-child-care-188419">benefits and practical ways of offering high-quality early learning programs</a> in schools quickly and efficiently.</p>
<h2>Relying on school infrastructure</h2>
<p>Schools can launch early learning and care fast and well by including four-year-olds in the neighbourhood school in programs offered by the school, free of charge. These programs <a href="https://childcarecanada.org/documents/research-policy-practice/21/12/10-day-child-care-will-it-really-reduce-barriers-employment">recognize that any fee, even $10 a day, is a challenge</a> for many, especially those who most need the program. </p>
<p>This approach is efficient and effective, child-friendly and family focused, and informed by a wealth of international research.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A child and teacher seen in discussion at a table in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544647/original/file-20230824-2922-lty3yt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544647/original/file-20230824-2922-lty3yt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544647/original/file-20230824-2922-lty3yt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544647/original/file-20230824-2922-lty3yt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544647/original/file-20230824-2922-lty3yt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544647/original/file-20230824-2922-lty3yt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544647/original/file-20230824-2922-lty3yt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Governments can focus on extending existing infrastructure and resources of their schools to serve four-year-olds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<h2>Creating more early years spaces</h2>
<p>Ample examples exist of governments who have effectively launched school based early learning programs:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>In 2021, 5,900 Nova Scotia children enrolled in pre-primary, after the province first <a href="https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20201002005">launched the program in 2017</a>. <a href="https://childcarecanada.org/sites/default/files/ECEC2021-Northwest-Territories_0.pdf">The Northwest Territories</a> created just over 500 spaces in a similar time frame. </p></li>
<li><p>In 2021-22, with its large and disbursed population, <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/facts-about-elementary-and-secondary-education#section-3">Ontario enrolled over 250,000 children within five years</a> in what has become a <a href="https://www.etfo.ca/news-publications/publications/ontario-s-kindergarten-program-a-success-story-full-report,">popular and successful two-year kindergarten program that begins at age four</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.quebec.ca/en/education/preschool-elementary-and-secondary-schools/kindergarten">The Québec government</a> is gradually expanding <a href="https://www.quebec.ca/education/prescolaire-primaire-et-secondaire/maternelle">their program for four-year-olds</a> into a universal program operated <a href="https://www.nfsb.qc.ca/kindergarten">by public schools</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Canadian success with school-based pre-kindergarten reflects international experiences, including in the United States: </p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w28756">In Boston, where a pre-kindergarten program</a> was established in the 1990’s, researchers are documenting the lifelong boost <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/boston-free-universal-pre-k_n_64a7f68be4b03d308d946c76">enjoyed by children and economies</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>Many school districts in <a href="https://mailchi.mp/learningpolicyinstitute/california-added-a-new-grade-to-public-schools-how-is-it-going?e=d9ba33f225">California plan to be ahead of schedule</a> in <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-05-10/california-wants-to-provide-preschool-for-all-but-districts-face-a-rocky-road-ahead-essential-california">adding a new grade</a> to their school system to accommodate four-year-olds.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>High-quality programs</h2>
<p>For many governments, relying on infrastructure and resources of neighbourhood schools has been an effective way to expand access to quality early childhood education. Similar lessons were learned in many schools’ move to full-day kindergarten <a href="https://ecereport.ca/en/resources/charts-graphs/overview/early-childhood-education-report-2020/">for five-year-olds, once unheard of but now enjoyed by all but three provinces in Canada</a>. </p>
<p>As regions across Canada work to meet the expansion requirements outlined in the federal agreements, enrolment numbers for existing school-based programs for four-year-olds offer an attractive route toward creating more early years spaces.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-to-look-for-in-a-high-quality-pre-primary-or-junior-kindergarten-program-189060">What to look for in a high-quality 'pre-primary' or junior kindergarten program</a>
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<p>It is not just the rate of expansion that is impressive; so too is the quality of programs. Well-trained educators are attracted to working in neighbourhood schools with better pay packages and staff support. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten share curriculum and teaching approaches that make play the heart of education while cultivating children’s enjoyment of learning. </p>
<p>Schools, with curriculum leaders, professional development plans and accountability structures, are better able to monitor and promote quality than the current mix of child-care providers. </p>
<h2>Short- and long-term benefits</h2>
<p><a href="https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/eei/article/view/9386">National</a> and <a href="https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/eei/article/view/9385">international</a> research confirms that including four-year-olds in early childhood education boosts literacy, numeracy and language learning and behavioural regulation while ensuring <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/product/ready-for-life-a-socio-economic-analysis-of-early-childhood-education-and-care/">higher graduation rates, post-secondary enrolments, family incomes and reduced draws on social programs</a>. </p>
<p>High-quality early childhood education <a href="https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/eei/issue/view/1054">lowers special education rates</a> and lessens the intensity of supports required for children with identified exceptionalities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-quality-early-childhood-education-reduces-need-for-later-special-ed-112275">New research shows quality early childhood education reduces need for later special ed</a>
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<p>When children are in school-based programs, they enjoy the resources of the school such as gymnasiums and libraries. They have access to support staff such as speech therapists, counsellors and psychologists. Families enjoy having all their children at one site, and can sometimes also rely on busing. </p>
<p>School-based education for four-year olds is particularly appropriate in rural areas where declining populations preclude any viable model of early years programs while schools struggle to maintain enrolment and stay open. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.etfo.ca/news-publications/publications/ontario-s-kindergarten-program-a-success-story-full-report,">An economic evaluation of Ontario’s model</a> yielded glowing reports on the wisdom of the investment.</p>
<h2>Return on investment, continuity of learning</h2>
<p>A report from the Roosevelt Institute, a not-for-profit think tank in the United States, notes “<a href="https://rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/RI_Childcare-as-Industrial-Policy-Blueprint_Report_202306.pdf">studies of early care and education programs beginning at birth targeted to disadvantaged groups</a> — such as children in low-income communities of color — have demonstrated significant improvements in their long-term education, health, and employment outcomes, leading economist James Heckman to estimate a 13 percent per year return on investment for similar programs.” New York’s pre-kindergarten program created 70,000 spaces in two years. </p>
<p><a href="https://ourplace.org.au/our-place-publication-col/">In Australia, efforts to align programs serving three- and four-year-olds</a> with primary grades stress the significance of learning and teaching that smooths the transition for children and families and optimizes academic and developmental outcomes.</p>
<h2>Early learning is early education</h2>
<p>Strategic planning creates efficiencies through programs informed by research and which assure quality. Families do not want more poor programs for their children. They need to know that their children are immersed in high-quality early learning and they do not want to be exhausted in their search for it.</p>
<p>Early learning <a href="https://earlyyearsstudy.ca">is early education</a>. It belongs under the purview of Ministries of Education. The federal government invested in children’s early learning and child-care because it finally accepted the wisdom of doing so — for children’s learning and development, for families’ well-being, for the economy and for communities optimal social outcomes. </p>
<p>The lessons that we need to learn in our move towards pre-kindergarten tell us much about where early learning and child care needs to be secured. Governments struggling to increase capacity to meet the demand for child care space would be wise to learn these lessons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Philpott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Access to schooling for four-year-olds is inconsistent across Canada. Families need to know children are immersed in high-quality early learning, and they shouldn’t be exhausted searching for it.David Philpott, Professor, Special Education, Memorial University of NewfoundlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2111972023-08-10T20:00:59Z2023-08-10T20:00:59ZWe need more than police checks: how parents and educators can keep childcare services safe from abuse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541642/original/file-20230808-19-37xtfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C51%2C4905%2C3223&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, a former childcare centre worker <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/man-charged-rape-and-sexual-assaults-childcare-centres">was charged</a> with more than 1,600 child abuse offences, sending shivers through the Australian community. There are about <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/early-childhood/early-childhood-data-and-reports/quarterly-reports-usage-services-fees-and-subsidies/march-quarter-2022-report">1.4 million children</a> using a childcare service (including centre-based care, family daycare and outside school hours care) around the country.</p>
<p>In response to a confidential briefing about the case last year, Education Minister Jason Clare <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/helicopter-parents-promote-unsafe-phone-use-in-childcare-advocates-warn-20230803-p5dtk9.html">set up a review</a> into safety practices in the childcare sector. </p>
<p>This will see the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority work with the Australian Federal Police. They will provide an interim report in October and a final report in December. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.acms.au/resources/the-prevalence-and-impact-of-child-maltreatment-in-australia-findings-from-the-australian-child-maltreatment-study-2023-brief-report/">Australian research</a> indicates children are most likely to be sexually abused by an adolescent they know (such as a sibling or peer at school) or an adult caregiver in the home. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the first question parents have understandably asked in the wake of this devastating news is “how could this happen?”. Followed very closely by “is my child safe?”.</p>
<p>We can reduce the likelihood of abuse occurring in childcare centres. This will need governments, childcare services, educators and parents to work together.</p>
<h2>Police checks are just the start</h2>
<p>Each state and territory requires people who work with children to have a working with children <a href="https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/working-children-check">clearance</a>. </p>
<p>There are differences between state and territory jurisdictions but applicants are required to prove their identity and provide prior aliases. </p>
<p>At the centre of the process is a police criminal history check. Certain records, including charges or convictions for child sexual offences or other violent offences would see an application denied. </p>
<p>This is a start. But it does not mean all employees with a clearance are trustworthy. Unfortunately, many offenders remain undetected, let alone prosecuted. And working with children may give employees the opportunity to offend for the first time, or trigger previously unrealised motivations to offend.</p>
<p>The man charged with 1,623 child abuse offences in multiple jurisdictions, including Queensland, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-09/qld-blue-card-check-man-facing-child-abuse-charges-found-nothing/102707068">had passed</a> the state’s “blue card” check, clearing him to work with children.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children play with play-dough and coloured rocks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541644/original/file-20230808-15-cnw778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541644/original/file-20230808-15-cnw778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541644/original/file-20230808-15-cnw778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541644/original/file-20230808-15-cnw778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541644/original/file-20230808-15-cnw778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541644/original/file-20230808-15-cnw778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541644/original/file-20230808-15-cnw778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">All childcare workers need to pass a working with children check.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Safer recruitment processes</h2>
<p>With the current <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/15/rising-fees-and-staff-shortages-the-crisis-in-australias-childcare-system">shortage of childcare workers</a>, employers may be tempted to expedite the employment of new staff. But rigorous <a href="https://library.nspcc.org.uk/HeritageScripts/Hapi.dll/search2?CookieCheck=45145.5458067708&searchTerm0=C2843">recruitment practices</a> are vital.</p>
<p>A history of frequent job changes and working at multiple sites and organisations – particularly when accompanied by residential relocations – suggests someone might be trying to evade detection.</p>
<p>Verbal reference checks are more effective than written forms or reports. This includes talking directly to past managers and supervisors, including those in other jurisdictions. Questions should include, were there any concerns about their interactions with children? Were they reported? Would the employer hire them again? If not, why not?</p>
<h2>The importance of open plan centres</h2>
<p>Even if someone motivated to abuse children gets a job, it is still possible to prevent abuse occurring.</p>
<p>The physical environment of a childcare centre and how it is managed can significantly reduce the opportunity for abuse to occur. <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781843925606">Open plan centres</a> allow for natural surveillance and reduce the likelihood of offending. </p>
<p>Where possible, it is also important to prevent blind spots (created by moving furniture, covering windows or building cubbies) that obstruct the natural line of sight. If there are blind spots like windowless offices or storerooms, open door policies or CCTV can be used.</p>
<p>On top of all this, centres can require staff to always be in line of sight of another staff member.</p>
<p>Centres should also ban staff from carrying personal mobile phones during work hours and stipulate where they should be stored. If staff need to take photos of children for documentation or parent reports, this can be <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/helicopter-parents-promote-unsafe-phone-use-in-childcare-advocates-warn-20230803-p5dtk9.html">done on a centre device</a> that is managed and overseen by multiple staff.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An open plan childcare classroom with desks, shelves and shelves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541643/original/file-20230808-27-xypnhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541643/original/file-20230808-27-xypnhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541643/original/file-20230808-27-xypnhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541643/original/file-20230808-27-xypnhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541643/original/file-20230808-27-xypnhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541643/original/file-20230808-27-xypnhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541643/original/file-20230808-27-xypnhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Open plan centres can help keep children safe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/real-dirt-no-fake-grass-and-low-traffic-what-to-look-for-when-choosing-a-childcare-centre-191260">Real dirt, no fake grass and low traffic – what to look for when choosing a childcare centre</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Beware of cognitive biases</h2>
<p>Research on <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2015-09/apo-nid58977.pdf">child sexual abuse</a> is full of accounts of disbelief a person could engage in that behaviour.</p>
<p>Both parents and centre workers are <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2015-09/apo-nid58977.pdf">susceptible to cognitive biases</a>, that can lead them to discount the likelihood a person could abuse children. In the childcare context two factors can increase these biases.</p>
<p>Knowing a person has a working with children check tends to reinforce the view they are a “good person” who would not harm a child. </p>
<p>Child sex abusers also engage in a range of grooming techniques. While community awareness of child grooming techniques is increasing, there is less awareness that offenders often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663906066613">groom parents and colleagues</a>. They do this by ingratiating themselves through acts of kindness and friendship. </p>
<p>These behaviours serve to reinforce they are “good people” and facilitate continued access to children. Overly familiar and personal conduct is another red flag in child-related employment contexts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/use-proper-names-for-body-parts-dont-force-hugs-how-to-protect-your-kids-from-in-person-sexual-abuse-139970">Use proper names for body parts, don't force hugs: how to protect your kids from in-person sexual abuse</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Share information</h2>
<p>Information sharing is a key part of reducing risk. Centres should have clear processes for staff and parents to safely raise concerns and have them investigated quickly.</p>
<p>Importantly, we must also equip children with the skills to communicate concerns if they arise. This includes <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/car.1012">teaching them</a> appropriate terminology for body parts and basic rules about safe and unsafe behaviours. This can empower even very young children to disclose abuse. </p>
<p>The vast majority of childcare workers are good people. And if there is clear leadership and governance for childcare centres and good parental awareness, we can improve children’s safety. But we need to remain vigilant.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>For support and advice regarding child sexual abuse, you can call <a href="https://bravehearts.org.au">Bravehearts</a> on 1800 272 831.</em> </p>
<p><em>If you are a child, teenager or young adult who needs help and support, you can call <a href="https://kidshelpline.com.au">Kids Helpline</a> on 1800 55 1800.</em></p>
<p><em>If you are an adult who experienced abuse as a child, call the <a href="https://blueknot.org.au/survivors/blue-knot-helpline-redress-support-service/">Blue Knot Helpline</a> on 1300 657 380.</em></p>
<p><em>You can also call <a href="https://www.1800respect.org.au">1800RESPECT</a> on 1800 737 732 to access support for domestic, family and sexual violence.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211197/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The news a former childcare worker has been charged with more than 1,600 child abuse offences has sent shivers through the Australian community.David Bartlett, Industry Fellow, Griffith UniversityAmanda L. Robertson, Adjunct Research Fellow - Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith UniversityDanielle Arlanda Harris, Senior Lecturer, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101542023-08-08T12:29:52Z2023-08-08T12:29:52ZOlder ‘sandwich generation’ Californians spent more time with parents and less with grandkids after paid family leave law took effect<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541049/original/file-20230803-27-xpn12q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4535%2C2841&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nearly a dozen states have enacted these policies so far.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-taking-care-of-old-woman-in-wheelchair-royalty-free-image/970176900?adppopup=true">Westend61 via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>A California law that mandates paid family leave has led to adults in their 50s, 60s and 70s spending more time taking care of their parents and less time being their grandkids’ caregivers.</p>
<p>The law requires all employers to allow eligible workers to <a href="https://edd.ca.gov/en/disability/Am_I_Eligible_for_PFL_Benefits/">take up to six weeks of paid leave</a> to care for newborns, newly adopted children or seriously ill family members.</p>
<p>From 2006, two years after the law went into effect, to 2016, <a href="https://ca.db101.org/ca/situations/workandbenefits/rights/program2c.htm">this policy led to older adults’ spending 19 fewer hours</a> per year caring for their grandchildren, a 17% decrease. They spent 20 additional hours on average helping their own parents, a 50% increase. </p>
<p>The effect was most striking for people with newborn grandchildren and parents in need of help, but the law also benefited Californians with older grandchildren and those who don’t have parents requiring their assistance.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2023.2226283">These findings</a> are from research I conducted with <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yWNlAzcAAAAJ">Marcus Dillender</a>, a fellow economist. They suggest the law had effects through two channels. It enabled older adults to take paid leave to care for relatives with medical needs and it reduced the need for older adults to care for their grandchildren by granting paid parental leave to these children’s parents.</p>
<p>To assess how older adults spend their time, we analyzed data for people between the ages of 50 and 79 from the Health and Retirement Study, a <a href="https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/">longitudinal study of approximately 20,000 Americans</a>.</p>
<p>The survey asks respondents in that age group how much time they spend taking care of their grandchildren and helping their aging parents with basic personal activities like dressing, eating and bathing. We compared outcomes for people who lived in California with what happened to Americans in other states before and the law’s enactment.</p>
<p>We also looked into what happened for people who had different combinations of caregiving obligations – grandchildren less than 2 years old or older grandkids, or parents who need help or no parents requiring assistance.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The U.S. is the only wealthy country that <a href="https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/PF2_1_Parental_leave_systems.pdf">doesn’t require employers to provide paid family leave</a>. California was the first state to implement its own policies; <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/labor-and-employment/state-family-and-medical-leave-laws">10 others and the District of Columbia</a> have followed suit so far.</p>
<p>These policies can significantly affect older adults, who spend substantial time caring for their relatives.</p>
<p>Caregiving has become a more urgent policy issue because of the growing number of Americans who feel that they belong to a “<a href="https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/sandwich-generation-study-shows-challenges-caring-both-kids-and-aging-parents">sandwich generation</a>” of people who have to take care of their children or grandchildren and their parents at the same time. </p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p>Other research has found that California’s paid family leave policy doubled the overall length of maternity leave by new mothers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.21676">increasing it from an average of three weeks to six weeks</a>. It also upped the likelihood that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22030">fathers take parental leave</a> following the birth or adoption of a child by 46% – although <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.21894">fathers take less leave on average than mothers</a>.</p>
<p>According to some of the many other studies conducted so far, California’s paid family leave law helped workers with caregiving responsibilities stay employed by allowing them to take time off with reduced financial risk and increased job continuity, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/waab022">including for those ages 45 to 64 with a disabled spouse</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny105">middle-aged female caregivers</a>. The law has, in addition, reduced the share of elderly people using nursing homes by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22038">facilitating more informal care</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joelle Abramowitz receives funding from the National Institute on Aging, the Social Security Administration and the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>The law changed older adults’ caregiving behavior because their children became more able to take paid time off work to care for their own newborns.Joelle Abramowitz, Assistant Research Scientist at the Survey Research Center, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092092023-07-06T01:04:53Z2023-07-06T01:04:53ZAs fees keep climbing, this is why competition isn’t enough to deliver cheaper childcare<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535935/original/file-20230705-17-lpavph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4168%2C2760&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian consumer watchdog is halfway through an <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/inquiries-and-consultations/childcare-inquiry-2023/june-2023-interim-report">inquiry into childcare prices</a>. </p>
<p>The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/pricing-practices-and-operating-costs-of-childcare-services-to-be-examined-as-latest-accc-report-confirms-fees-outpaced-inflation">interim report</a> was released on Wednesday. It comes just days after the federal government’s <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/child-care-subsidy-campaign?gclid=CjwKCAjwqZSlBhBwEiwAfoZUIJTQeJ063e82GpNgNpYKDjozmpNTLVj7Qw4MoXndNssToBdM0ywAEBoCNrMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">increased childcare subsidies</a> kicked in on July 1. </p>
<p>This is one of two major inquiries the federal government has commissioned on childcare. The <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/childhood#draft">Productivity Commission</a> is also looking at how early education is set up in Australia.</p>
<p>After six months on the job, the ACCC report is full of facts and figures but short on conclusions. </p>
<p>However, reading between the lines of the 146 pages, the implication is competition alone is probably not enough to deliver high-quality and affordable childcare for Australian families.</p>
<h2>Childcare markets are highly localised</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A child stacks blocks in a tower." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535936/original/file-20230705-19-lpavph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535936/original/file-20230705-19-lpavph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535936/original/file-20230705-19-lpavph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535936/original/file-20230705-19-lpavph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535936/original/file-20230705-19-lpavph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535936/original/file-20230705-19-lpavph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535936/original/file-20230705-19-lpavph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Childcare choice for families is much more limited than it may seem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Markus Spiske/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first reason for this is choice is much more limited than it may appear. Childcare markets are highly localised. Centres only really compete within a 2-3km radius, because most parents are not willing to travel more than 15 minutes for care.</p>
<p>The ACCC’s survey of parents suggests location and availability are the two most important factors in informing where parents chose to send their child. That’s understandable – if you can’t find a convenient place on the days you need, most other considerations are moot. But that dynamic softens the degree of competition between centres.</p>
<p>The ACCC finds that affordability of care – the out-of-pocket costs parents face – is most important for determining how much care parents use. But crucially, once the decision has been made to use a certain amount of care, price appears less important than other factors. Indeed, price is only fifth on the list of the things parents consider when choosing between centres.</p>
<p>The implication here is price competition is weak. Indeed, fees are actually higher in local markets with more childcare services. This is likely due to a larger number of services in wealthier areas where parents can afford to pay more. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/better-cheaper-childcare-is-on-the-horizon-in-australia-but-4-key-challenges-remain-199864">Better, cheaper childcare is on the horizon in Australia, but 4 key challenges remain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Switching is costly</h2>
<p>The second factor that softens competition is parents rarely switch providers. </p>
<p>The ACCC found 65% of parents they surveyed had not switched provider since 2020. One in five of this group said the reason they did not switch was that they didn’t want to disrupt their children. Moving into a new environment and building new relationships with educators is a barrier to moving to a better-quality or lower-priced centre.</p>
<h2>Quality is hard to judge</h2>
<p>The third reason is it is hard for parents to judge the “quality” of childcare services.</p>
<p>Of course parents want to put their children in high-quality care, but they find it difficult to measure key dimensions of quality, such as the standard of the educators. </p>
<p>The government has tried to fill some of the information gaps by introducing National Quality Standards, but the ACCC found parents do not place emphasis on these – probably because many are unaware of them.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-1-million-australians-have-no-access-to-childcare-in-their-area-179557">More than 1 million Australians have no access to childcare in their area</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fees have risen</h2>
<p>One trigger for this ACCC inquiry was the increases in childcare centres’ fees – something that has been costly not only for parents and but also governments (who pick up an average of 60% of the fee for centre-based care via <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/child-care-subsidy">the childcare subsidy</a>).</p>
<p>The ACCC shows between 2018 and 2022 childcare fees – the total amount charged – increased across childcare service types by between 20% and 32%. Government subsidises have reduced the impact of these rises on parents, with out-of-pocket expenses for childcare growing at a slower rate.</p>
<p>It is not surprising childcare costs tend to grow faster than inflation. That’s because childcare is highly labour intensive with limited scope for productivity gains. But the ACCC’s analysis show fees have also grown faster than wages over the past five years.</p>
<p>These high fees hurt everyone, but particularly low-income households. The ACCC’s analysis shows out-of-pocket expenses as a share of disposable income were higher on average for households in the bottom 10% of income earners, despite the higher subsidy for this group.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A room in a childcare centre, with toys and shelves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535937/original/file-20230705-29-s5muy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535937/original/file-20230705-29-s5muy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535937/original/file-20230705-29-s5muy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535937/original/file-20230705-29-s5muy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535937/original/file-20230705-29-s5muy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535937/original/file-20230705-29-s5muy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535937/original/file-20230705-29-s5muy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Childcare fees have risen by up to 32% between 2018 and 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Follow the money</h2>
<p>The interim report flags the most important part of the ACCC’s work is yet to come – understanding where the money is going.</p>
<p>The childcare market is highly diverse, with different models of care, and centres run by government, for-profit and not-for-profit providers. Many people struggle to understand how childcare can simultaneously cost so much for governments and parents, while its workers are paid so little.</p>
<p>Some in the industry are making good money. As <a href="https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/childcare-centres-in-demand-at-sold-out-property-auction-20230704-p5dlkj">articles in the financial media</a> regularly remind us, it is a market where private equity and commercial property investors see attractive returns relative to the risks.</p>
<p>In the next phase of its inquiry, the ACCC will examine costs, profits, and quality across the sector. If there are excess profits being made, I’m confident the ACCC will find them. </p>
<p>This next stage of the inquiry will also inform whether the ACCC recommends stronger price regulation for the sector. This interim report is treading softly, but it looks like this is where the ACCC is heading.</p>
<p>The final report is due by December 31.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209209/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Wood's employer, Grattan Institute, has been supported in its work by government, corporates, and philanthropic gifts. A full list of supporting organisations is found at <a href="http://www.grattan.edu.au">www.grattan.edu.au</a></span></em></p>The consumer watchdog is halfway through an inquiry into childcare prices. It found location and availability are the two most important factors informing where parents chose to send their kids.Danielle Wood, Chief executive officer, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2053532023-05-31T12:38:48Z2023-05-31T12:38:48ZMost super rich couples have breadwinning husbands and stay-at-home wives, contrasting sharply with everyone else<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528142/original/file-20230524-15-8jribu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=484%2C0%2C6776%2C4671&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Uber wealthy couples are rather traditional when it comes to who works and who doesn’t. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/business-pasion-royalty-free-image/186565267?adppopup=true">EXTREME-PHOTOGRAPHER/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Men are the sole breadwinners in over half of super rich heterosexual couples – defined as those in the top 1% of households – while the women are not employed, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soad061">our new peer-reviewed study</a>. That’s twice the rate of less affluent heterosexual couples.</p>
<p>Our finding is based on 30 years of data, from 1989 to 2019, from the Federal Reserve’s <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm">Survey of Consumer Finances</a>. We examined how couples divide work, focusing on three different wealthy groups – the super rich, the just plain rich and the upper middle class, as defined by their wealth percentile, and compared them with those of less affluent couples. </p>
<p>To get a better sense of how much money we’re talking about and the extreme differences among these groups, super rich couples in the U.S. had a median net worth of US$17.6 million in 2019. That compares with $2.3 million for rich couples – those in the next 9% of the wealth distribution – and $796,000 for the upper middle class, who were in the 10% after that. Our fourth group comprised everyone below the 80% threshold, with median wealth of just $67,000. </p>
<p>We found that, in 2019, 53% of super rich heterosexual couples had arrangements in which the woman was not gainfully employed, compared with 27% of rich couples, 20% of upper-middle-class couples and 26% of less affluent couples. </p>
<p>On the flip side, just 28% of super rich couples had both the man and woman working full time. In rich, upper-middle-class, and less affluent households, that figure was 51%, 61% and 50%, respectively. </p>
<p>Looking at the data over time is revealing. Whereas the share of couples in which only the man worked has modestly declined over the last 30 years for the other groups, it remained high among the super rich. </p>
<p><iframe id="WMMD7" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/WMMD7/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The uniquely high prevalence of sole male-breadwinner arrangements among the super rich is a symptom of stark class and gender inequalities in the U.S. economy. </p>
<p>Rising class inequality between the super rich and all others <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418820702">has been driven</a> by a handful of men’s incomes and wealth rising exponentially compared with everyone else’s. </p>
<p>And even though <a href="https://doi.org/10.15195/v9.a6">women have made progress</a> in entering professional jobs that pay $100,000 or more, the glass ceiling – or perhaps more appropriately, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418820702">diamond ceiling</a> – is still firmly intact. </p>
<p>Accordingly, a woman’s objectively high income may seem less consequential to the overall household finances when her husband earns an exorbitantly high income of a million or more. Or, it may seem trivial when the couple has massive amounts of wealth exceeding $10 million.</p>
<p>The absence of women at the top of the economic ladder has many implications. </p>
<p>The super rich are inordinately powerful in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-020321-031544">workplace</a> and in <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691162423/affluence-and-influence">politics</a>. If the majority of the wealthiest married women are not in the workforce, it is unlikely they have the same degree of public influence as their husbands. So men continue to exercise the majority of societal power associated with the super rich. </p>
<p>We also know that family structure shapes people’s worldviews and behaviors. Previous research shows that men with stay-at-home wives <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839214528704">are less supportive of women</a> in their own workplaces, including being less likely to promote them. This suggests that the most powerful leaders in the workplace and in politics may not be as eager to support women’s career advancement or family-friendly workplace policies as some might hope.</p>
<h2>What we still don’t know</h2>
<p>We don’t know what exactly drives super rich couples’ work-family decisions. </p>
<p>We believe that at least some of the women in these couples exit the labor force after their partner achieves economic success – and their incomes are no longer needed to maintain their lifestyle.</p>
<p>It’s also possible that some super rich men’s wealth accumulation was made possible, in part, by their wives’ unpaid labor throughout their careers. </p>
<p>The most highly compensated jobs in the U.S. economy tend to require <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12596">long hours</a>, frequent travel and the ability to be on call 24/7 – all of which tend to be incompatible with raising children and managing a household.</p>
<p>Men may have been able to meet these intense job demands and become financially successful because they have wives who stepped back from their own careers, freeing them from the majority of household responsibilities – a dynamic that few women have access to.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While most heterosexual couples are dual-earners, super rich couples continue to have gender-traditional arrangements in which the man is the sole breadwinner.Jill Yavorsky, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina – CharlotteSarah Thebaud, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of California, Santa BarbaraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2025132023-04-17T20:03:00Z2023-04-17T20:03:00ZEarly educators around the world feel burnt out and devalued. Here’s how we can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520414/original/file-20230412-28-t5cbl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anne Nygard/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Australia’s royal commission into early childhood education led by Julia Gillard has <a href="https://www.royalcommissionecec.sa.gov.au/publications/interim-report">released an interim report</a>. The key recommendation is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-17/sa-early-childhood-education-royal-commission-interim-report/102230702">preschool for all three-year-olds </a> (in a move similar to other states). But the report notes one of the critical considerations around this change will be the early education workforce. </p>
<p>SA’s report comes as the Productivity Commission begins a <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/productivity-commission-inquiry-consider-universal-early">wide-ranging inquiry</a> into early childhood education and care in Australia. </p>
<p>As part of this, the commission is looking at the workforce. We already know there are high rates of <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/mitchell-institute/early-learning/early-childhood-educators-are-leaving-in-droves-here-are-3-ways-to-keep-them-attract-more">turnover</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/early-childhood-educators-feel-burnt-out-and-undervalued-heres-what-we-can-do-to-help-170091">burnout</a> among early childhood educators. This makes it difficult for people to make a sustainable career in the sector.
It also makes it harder for services to find staff and for families to <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/mitchell-institute/early-learning/childcare-deserts-oases-how-accessible-is-childcare-in-australia">find a childcare place</a> for their children. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/ng.pdf">new research</a> looks at why early childhood educators are burning out and how we can fix this. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-1-million-australians-have-no-access-to-childcare-in-their-area-179557">More than 1 million Australians have no access to childcare in their area</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Educator turnover</h2>
<p>Like <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-resignation-didnt-happen-in-australia-but-the-great-burnout-did-201173">other essential sectors</a> the issue of <a href="http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/rogers.pdf">burnout</a> in early education has become <a href="http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/sims.pdf">more pressing</a> since the beginning of the pandemic. </p>
<p>A 2021 a <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/73-of-early-educators-plan-to-leave-the-sector-within-three-years/">union survey</a> of 4,000 educators revealed 73% planned to leave the sector within the next three years due to excessive workload, stress, low pay and status, lack of professional development and career progression.</p>
<p>It <a href="https://bigsteps.org.au/report-shows-early-education-workforce-in-crisis/">also found 82%</a> “always” or “often” felt rushed when performing key caring tasks in the past month. </p>
<p>As of, 2022, educator job advertisements had <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2022/05/31/ecec-job-advertisements-have-doubled-since-covid-19-illustrating-the-depth-of-staffing-crisis/">doubled since the pandemic</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-chaos-has-shed-light-on-many-issues-in-the-australian-childcare-sector-here-are-4-of-them-174404">COVID chaos has shed light on many issues in the Australian childcare sector. Here are 4 of them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is burnout?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.darlingdowns.health.qld.gov.au/about-us/our-stories/feature-articles/signs-you-might-be-experiencing-a-burnout-and-how-to-regain-balance-in-your-life">Burnout is complex</a> and can involve many things, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>ongoing physical and mental fatigue</li>
<li>low sense of personal achievement</li>
<li><a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/why-cant-we-value-and-pay-for-the-emotional-cost-of-caring/">emotional exhaustion</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/dissociation-and-dissociative-disorders/about-dissociation/">depersonalisation</a>, where you feel separate from your body or true feelings. </li>
</ul>
<p>Burnout matters, because it harms <a href="https://blog.une.edu.au/hasse/2021/12/07/early-childhood-educator-staff-welfare-tales-of-burnout-and-hope/">educators’ wellbeing</a>, the <a href="https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/62964/grant-journal-article-chaos-and-commitment.pdf?sequence=1">quality</a> of children’s education, leads to <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/224034/">educators leaving</a> and then the ability of parents to work (especially women), and businesses to thrive.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An educator in a sandpit with children and plastic buckets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520418/original/file-20230412-28-m6601g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520418/original/file-20230412-28-m6601g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520418/original/file-20230412-28-m6601g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520418/original/file-20230412-28-m6601g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520418/original/file-20230412-28-m6601g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520418/original/file-20230412-28-m6601g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520418/original/file-20230412-28-m6601g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early educators report feeling rushed and stressed in their work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Our new study</h2>
<p>We wanted to understand what causes educator burnout, with the aim of helping policymakers and governments plan better support for the sector. </p>
<p>To do this, <a href="http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/ng.pdf">we reviewed</a> 39 studies about the drivers of early childhood educator burnout from 13 countries, including Australia. </p>
<p>This type of a study – called a “<a href="https://www.elsevier.com/connect/authors-update/why-systematic-reviews-matter">systematic review</a>” – is a powerful way for researchers to provide a full and clear summary of what we know about a topic. </p>
<h2>What leads to burnout?</h2>
<p>We found educator burnout can be driven by a range of factors.</p>
<p>Certain personal circumstances make an educator more likely to experience burnout. For example, those with lower household income, or those with increased family responsibility report higher feelings of burnout. This category includes those who are single, widowed, divorced or separated.</p>
<p>Younger, less experienced educators were particularly vulnerable to depersonalisation. Male educators were more likely to experience burnout than their female colleagues. </p>
<p>Educators said poor mental health (particularly depression and mental distress) played a crucial role in their burnout. More socially connected educators who are supported by friends, family and/or their faith were less likely to experience burnout.</p>
<h2>How services treat staff matters</h2>
<p>Educators from services where there was little or no focus on wellbeing were more likely to report burnout. </p>
<p>This included services with scarce emotional support strategies – such as being able to debrief with peers, or access counselling or coaching. These services also showed a lack of respect for educators’ work-life balance – such as demanding they do extra <a href="https://theconversation.com/early-childhood-educators-are-slaves-to-the-demands-of-accreditation-167283">unpaid hours</a> or not being flexible about leave for family reasons. </p>
<p>Educators discussed the fatigue caused by “surface acting”, where they had to pretend they were (or were not) experiencing certain emotions to please children, staff and parents. For example, an educator might be feeling exhausted and overwhelmed due to their workload, but they had to pretend to feel energetic and enthusiastic when engaging with children and families.</p>
<p><a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/09/14/accreditation-effects-on-early-childhood-educator-morale/">Poor professional relationships</a> were associated with feelings of stress. This included feeling undermined by parents, teaching children with behavioural challenges, and negative relationships with colleagues and directors.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-canadian-program-that-helps-educators-thrive-not-just-survive-could-help-address-australias-childcare-staff-shortage-193954">How a Canadian program that helps educators 'thrive' not just 'survive' could help address Australia's childcare staff shortage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Funding and status</h2>
<p>Our research showed educators experienced stress when they had <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=11840">few resources</a>, but very high expectations to produce “<a href="https://www.iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view/1447/532">quality</a>” learning environments and experiences for children. </p>
<p>Some work was more likely to <a href="https://educationhq.com/news/managerialism-is-driving-the-crisis-in-early-childhood-education-117618/#">cause exhaustion</a>, such as constantly trying to <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/10/25/bound-for-burnout-early-childhood-educators-are-swimming-against-a-gendered-micromanaged-tide/">prove to authorities</a> they were providing a “quality” service by <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1365480216651519">collecting data</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/smile-and-wave-ladies-the-attempts-to-silence-grace-tame-mirrors-the-plight-of-early-childhood-educators/">Inadequate income</a> can push educators to leave their positions. It can also lead to reduced motivation, and increase the number of sick days.</p>
<p>Educators’ feelings of burnout were also linked to a belief they had a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1836583">low status</a> in society. This was more pronounced if they taught younger children, or if they had been working in the sector a long time. </p>
<p>Both groups reported being affected by a lack of professional development and opportunities for promotion.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman reading to a baby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520417/original/file-20230412-15-r07o9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520417/original/file-20230412-15-r07o9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520417/original/file-20230412-15-r07o9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520417/original/file-20230412-15-r07o9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520417/original/file-20230412-15-r07o9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520417/original/file-20230412-15-r07o9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520417/original/file-20230412-15-r07o9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Educators who taught younger children were more likely to feel like they had a lower status in society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lina Kivaka/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How can we reduce burnout?</h2>
<p>Our review showed there are some effective ways to improve educators’ wellbeing, prevent burnout and keep them from leaving their jobs. </p>
<p>These include coaching, so educators can get feedback and develop their careers, <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2022/10/27/the-cost-of-what-the-budget-doesnt-address-will-cost-us-all-in-the-long-run/">peer mentoring</a> so they know they are not alone and counselling, so they have an emotional outlet to reflect on their work.</p>
<p>If we want to keep educators in these <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-96977-6_4">vital roles</a> we need to actively support them to stay. </p>
<p><em>The author acknowledges the work of Joanne Ng (lead researcher) and Courtney McNamara for their research on the systematic review.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marg Rogers is a Research Fellow with the Commonwealth-funded Manna Institute that builds place-based research capacity to improve mental health in regional, rural, and remote Australia through the Regional Universities Network (RUN).</span></em></p>Our review explored what leads to early childhood educator burnout in 13 countries, including Australia.Marg Rogers, Senior Lecturer, Early Childhood Education, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2020162023-04-06T13:52:26Z2023-04-06T13:52:26ZWhat is ‘eldest daughter syndrome’ and how can we fix it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519302/original/file-20230404-24-pqcpq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3600%2C3567&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eldest daughters often take on the lion's share of domestic responsibilities.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/three-children-smiling-2385657/">Pexels/nishant aneja</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you heard of “eldest daughter syndrome”? It’s the emotional burden eldest daughters tend to take on (and are encouraged to take on) in many families from a young age. </p>
<p>From caring for younger siblings, helping out with everyday chores, looking after <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-019-00119-9">sick parents</a> to sorting shopping orders or online deliveries, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/work-employment-and-society/article/abs/household-division-of-labour-generation-gender-age-birth-order-and-sibling-composition/C8915E3CE7CA1BDECA34D25AAC0C71D4">eldest daughters</a> often shoulder a heavy but invisible burden of domestic responsibility from a young age.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with that? You might ask, shouldn’t the eldest children, who are supposed to be more grown-up, help out and look after their younger siblings? Aren’t girls “naturally” better at caring? These <a href="https://www.elgaronline.com/display/edcoll/9781788975537/9781788975537.00033.xml">popular assumptions</a> are so entrenched that they can make it difficult for us to see the problem.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/oldestdaughtersyndrome">#EldestDaughterSyndrome</a> is now trending on TikTok, with adolescent girls speaking out about the unfair amount of unpaid (and unappreciated) labour they do in their families, as well as discussing its adverse effects on their lives, health and wellbeing.</p>
<p>Of course, the “<a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/eldest-daughter-syndrome-tiktok-trend-093323841.html">syndrome</a>” has existed for centuries across many parts of the world. So why is it now being spoken about as such an issue?</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/houseplants-dont-just-look-nice-they-can-also-give-your-mental-health-a-boost-186982">Houseplants don’t just look nice – they can also give your mental health a boost</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-philosophy-behind-the-japanese-art-form-of-kintsugi-can-help-us-navigate-failure-193487?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">How the philosophy behind the Japanese art form of kintsugi can help us navigate failure</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spend-time-wisely-what-young-people-can-learn-from-retirees-189340">How to spend time wisely – what young people can learn from retirees</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Despite women’s rise in <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-soc-073117-041215">education</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12248?casa_token=SbEGSkHlhYQAAAAA:gO7Afzv3nFIe2QHW4kwYlb3hcEvAs31SRbLwbhviKNQgkmFD8nV-yGovkwTiOOaLFgMjy9LGcUnmr94">employment</a>, they still shoulder the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jomf.12590">lion’s share of housework</a>. Indeed, progress towards gender equality in the workplace has not <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12248?casa_token=STyBuPSvBKkAAAAA:Ov9x4WfFu4XW21hHDd_8pfFn_0mlOPE-SIu8DcLqFCUQnpa1NwJ-EUK3q44wpChTJT5ulFFHX_1OPDo">translated into</a> gender equality at home. And eldest daughter syndrome can go some way to explain why this is the case.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eldest daughter helps her brother and looks after him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘ Just look after your brother will you.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.pexels.com/photo/little-girl-helping-her-brother-with-homework-5088191/">Pexels/olia danilevich</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research shows that children make a notable but often <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11150-013-9234-5">overlooked contribution</a> to domestic labour. Mirroring the gender divide among adults, girls between five and 14 years old spend <a href="https://www.unicef.org/turkiye/en/node/2311#:%7E:text=The%20data%20show%20that%20the,chores%20than%20boys%20their%20age.">40% more time</a> on domestic work than boys. </p>
<p>Following a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21620555.2018.1430508?journalCode=mcsa20">patriarchal pecking order</a>, the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21620555.2018.1430508?journalCode=mcsa20">eldest daughter</a> often bears the brunt of the burden among her siblings.</p>
<p>As voiced by many on TikTok, the syndrome <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/oldestdaughtersyndrome">can impair</a> eldest daughters’ wellbeing and “steal” their childhood as they are rushed into assuming a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21620555.2018.1430508?journalCode=mcsa20">disproportionate amount</a> of adult responsibilities – also known as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/sep/20/parentified-child-behave-like-adult">parentification</a>. In doing so, it reproduces gender inequality in domestic labour from one generation to another.</p>
<h2>Why it happens</h2>
<p>At least three behavioural theories underlie eldest daughter syndrome and they are often simultaneously at play, reinforcing one another.</p>
<p>First, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jomf.12225?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false">role modelling theory</a>, which suggests that eldest daughters often follow their mother as a role model in learning to “do” gender. Second, the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0044118X92024002004">sex-typing theory</a> proposes that parents often assign different, gendered tasks to girls and boys. </p>
<p>Sex-typing often builds on parents’ gendered understanding of domestic work as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X04001073?casa_token=7-yGCGodnf4AAAAA:pz_LKJKsAWAgnNIZoqNuHHjRM6fpwgmli69FdBQrAibGqnyN7GtIZj9ae_KKP9M_OvrmJjM48Q">something associated with femininity</a>. For parents who consciously strive to instil gender equality in their children, sex-typing can still occur as eldest daughters unconsciously <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2657414?casa_token=VDKVPExTOXAAAAAA%3AOnkPl9ACA1nU7FUY5hV5wPjQ2tQ1gbFjbu8Kojq6lC--QKqp6JxMEnOkiM1E8ZKWGz32JpqBdxILbj9F0DYs3ZVI09DeMsIH-uLPEFlNVeZ2EwBGO_s">join their mothers in gendered activities</a> such as cooking, house cleaning and shopping.</p>
<p>And third, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9507.00225?casa_token=PMbEnckrqtoAAAAA:NuCMXJNrsW2-DwY5kYhrlaQ7tzgLlXml3rBtnZnGR7zTjhR1Vx8gnKdz1-uUnsJ6ZTksuFxhYbJo834">labour substitution theory</a> suggests that when working mothers have limited time available for domestic work, eldest daughters often act as “substitutes”. As a result, they end up spending more time on care provision and housework. </p>
<p>Consequently, mothers’ progress towards gender equality at work can come <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21620555.2018.1430508?journalCode=mcsa20">at the cost</a> of their eldest daughters picking up the domestic slack at a young age.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eldest daughter helps sibling with homework." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Older siblings often end up helping with homework.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/mother-helping-her-daughter-use-a-laptop-4260325/">Pexels/august de richelieu</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As we look further afield, the issue of eldest daughter syndrome has far-reaching implications for <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Servants_of_Globalization/sCcoCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=servants+of+globalisation&printsec=frontcover">global gender inequality</a> and an ongoing <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2018/a-global-crisis-in-care/">global care crisis</a>.</p>
<p>In the Philippines, for example, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Servants_of_Globalization/sCcoCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=servants+of+globalisation&printsec=frontcover">many mothers migrate</a> to the US, the Middle East and Europe to work as domestic workers.</p>
<p>Their work helps free their clients from domestic gender inequality to some extent through <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jomf.12321?casa_token=jYXuxbZK_H8AAAAA:kJYVkwu5HRiCyfiAqzMDeeildvh9C3_vCgEgQCdLqHPVwcCB_y4qXBlMV_bezq8F2XG2h3VqnzXYFJ4">domestic outsourcing</a>. But back in the Philippines, the women’s eldest daughters often have to step up as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/011719680501400301?casa_token=plrqCW5kHG8AAAAA:yYkI906GzoUOiSdio9psYpb1VfxxdBVNMSvICk_eFI94n72L5QBxX6jd_DAu-kADauVqaKRufVbf">“surrogate” mothers</a> and run the household.</p>
<p>In this process, eldest daughter syndrome reproduces <a href="https://trainingcentre.unwomen.org/instraw-library/2009-R-MIG-GLO-GLO-EN.pdf">domestic gender inequality</a> across generations and offloads such inequality from one part of the world to another.</p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>The “cure” might seem simple – we need families to recognise the unfair burden that may have been placed on the eldest daughter and to redistribute household responsibilities more equally.</p>
<p>Yet, doing so is far from straightforward. It requires male family members in particular to step up their contribution to domestic work. In turn, it requires us to “undo” <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12245?casa_token=F2VnZvOJRaoAAAAA:6-kRCkTWzBiHQsE33S-0Z-VzajzAIMI1WgFO_mKrawK7bOzSFuSQgKn-qkRG3IkSBEoCOpv0_6_kPCk">centuries of thinking</a> about housework and care as something gendered and “feminine”. </p>
<p>To achieve that, we need to first recognise the problem that domestic labour, particularly labour performed by children and eldest daughters, which goes largely <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1043463193005003003">unseen, unpaid and under-valued</a>. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/16/budget-2023-everything-you-need-to-know-about-childcare-support/">2023 UK Budget</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/14/budget-2023-hunt-to-announce-4bn-boost-for-childcare-in-england">£4 billion</a> investment in extending childcare coverage sheds some light on the sheer economic value of childcare, which, although massive, represents only a tiny fraction of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210518-the-hidden-load-how-thinking-of-everything-holds-mums-back">extensive</a> range of domestic responsibilities disproportionately shouldered by women and often eldest daughters.</p>
<p>But we can’t change something we can’t see. This is why being more aware of eldest daughter syndrome, not only as an individual struggle but also as an issue of gender inequality, is a good start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yang Hu receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, UK, and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada, for his ongoing collaborative projects on artificial intelligence and labour market inequalities.</span></em></p>Breaking the cycle of eldest daughter syndrome: tips for families.Yang Hu, Professor, Department of Sociology, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022382023-03-28T19:21:34Z2023-03-28T19:21:34ZThe Whitlam government gave us no-fault divorce, women’s refuges and childcare. Australia needs another feminist revolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517542/original/file-20230327-20-35bjxm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John McKinnon/Australian Information Service/National Library of Australia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s history of women and political rights is, to put it mildly, chequered. It enfranchised (white) women very early, in 1902. And it was the first country to give them the vote combined with the right to stand for parliament.</p>
<p>But it took 41 years for women to enter federal parliament. The first two <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-it-taking-so-long-to-achieve-gender-equality-in-parliament-117313">women federal MPs</a>, Dorothy Tangney and Enid Lyons, were just memorialised with a joint statue in the parliamentary triangle. It was unveiled this month – finally redressing the glaring absence of women in our statues. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Women and Whitlam: Revisiting the Revolution - Michelle Arrow (ed.), (NewSouth)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Australia’s record of women’s rights is still uneven. We pioneered aspects of women’s welfare, such as the <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/government-and-democracy/prime-ministers-and-politicians/maternity-allowance-act-1912">1912 maternity allowance</a> that included unmarried mothers. But now, Australian women’s economic status is shameful. </p>
<p>As Minister for the Environment <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-policy-aesthete-a-new-biography-of-tanya-plibersek-shows-how-governments-work-and-affect-peoples-lives-197427">Tanya Plibersek</a> notes in her foreword, Australia has plunged from the modest high point of 15th on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap index. In 2022, it was 43rd.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-policy-aesthete-a-new-biography-of-tanya-plibersek-shows-how-governments-work-and-affect-peoples-lives-197427">'A policy aesthete': a new biography of Tanya Plibersek shows how governments work – and affect people's lives</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What Whitlam did for women</h2>
<p>Federation was an exciting time for women. But the next peak didn’t arrive until the 1970s, when the Whitlam Government proved a beachhead for women’s rights. Feminism helped to swell the tide of change carrying <a href="https://theconversation.com/gough-whitlams-life-and-legacy-experts-respond-33228">Gough Whitlam</a> to power in 1972. </p>
<p>But just how did Whitlam conceive his agenda for women? What were his short-lived government’s many achievements in this area? Until now, these questions haven’t been fully studied. </p>
<p><a href="https://unsw.press/books/womenandwhitlam/">Women and Whitlam</a> is important not just for taking on this task, but for its stellar cast of essayists. Many of them were feminist activists in the 1970s, and their memories add rich narrative detail.</p>
<p>The book is edited by Michelle Arrow, a <a href="https://www.whitlam.org/">Whitlam Institute</a> Research Fellow and an authority on women, gender and sexuality in the 1970s: not least through her prize-winning monograph, <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/seventies/">The Seventies</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517350/original/file-20230324-28-qz4ve3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517350/original/file-20230324-28-qz4ve3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517350/original/file-20230324-28-qz4ve3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517350/original/file-20230324-28-qz4ve3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517350/original/file-20230324-28-qz4ve3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517350/original/file-20230324-28-qz4ve3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517350/original/file-20230324-28-qz4ve3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517350/original/file-20230324-28-qz4ve3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>This excellent collection’s origins lie in <a href="https://www.whitlam.org/publications/womensrevolution">a conference</a> held at Old Parliament House in November 2019, organised by the Whitlam Institute. The book has been several years in the making, but its timing is perfect. Its month of publication, April 2023, is the 50th anniversary of Gough Whitlam’s appointment of Elizabeth Reid as his adviser on women’s affairs. This role, as an adviser to a head of government, was a world first.</p>
<p>In her introduction, Arrow points out <a href="https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1972-gough-whitlam">Whitlam’s 1972 election speech</a> only outlined three “women’s issues” as part of his program. But she also notes the late (former Senator) <a href="https://theconversation.com/vale-susan-ryan-pioneer-labor-feminist-who-showed-big-difficult-policy-changes-can-and-should-be-made-146996">Susan Ryan</a>’s excited response when she heard him begin it with the inclusive words, “Men and women of Australia” – a symbolic break from tradition. Iola Mathews, journalist and Women’s Electoral Lobby activist, captures the speed with which Whitlam acted on women’s issues: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In his first week of office he reopened the federal Equal Pay case, removed the tax on contraceptives and announced funding for birth control programs. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Arrow summarises what else the Whitlam government did for women. It extended the minimum wage for women and funded women’s refuges, women’s health centres and community childcare. It introduced no-fault divorce and the Family Court. It introduced paid maternity leave in the public service. And it addressed discrimination against girls in schools. Women also benefited from other reforms, like making tertiary education affordable.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fifty-years-ago-the-new-whitlam-government-removed-the-luxury-sales-tax-on-the-pill-it-changed-australian-womens-lives-194718">Fifty years ago, the new Whitlam government removed the luxury sales tax on the pill. It changed Australian women's lives</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A world-first role</h2>
<p>Elizabeth Reid’s chapter is especially powerful, because of the importance of her work as Whitlam’s women’s adviser and because she worked closely with him. She suggests Whitlam’s consciousness of feminism grew during his term in office. By September 1974, he understood his own policies and reforms could only go so far. Fundamental cultural shift was required: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have to attack the social inequalities, the hidden and usually unarticulated assumptions which affect women not only in employment but in the whole range of their opportunities in life […] this requires a re-education of the community. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Reid encapsulates how she forged her own novel role: travelling around Australia to listen to women of all backgrounds, holding meetings in venues ranging from factories, farms and universities to jails. Soon, she received more letters than anyone in the government, other than Whitlam himself. After listening and gathering women’s views, she learned how to approach parliamentarians and public servants in order to make and implement policies. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7MPQJVkgDh0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Elizabeth Reid, in her world-first role as women’s advisor, received more letters than even Whitlam himself.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Part of the power of Reid’s chapter lies in the insights she gives readers into the revolutionary nature of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-human-being-not-just-mum-the-womens-liberationists-who-fought-for-the-rights-of-mothers-and-children-182057">women’s liberation</a>. Feminists who hit their stride in the 1970s had bold ambitions: ending patriarchal oppression, uprooting sexism as a system of male domination, taking back control of women’s bodies and sexuality, and using consciousness-raising to find alternatives to the confinement of women <a href="https://theconversation.com/suburban-living-did-turn-women-into-robots-why-feminist-horror-novel-the-stepford-wives-is-still-relevant-50-years-on-186633">as housewives</a>. </p>
<p>Some in women’s liberation questioned the possibility of creating revolution from within government. But Reid’s chapter showcases her remarkable ability to take the fundamental insights of the movement and use them. She listened to Australian women and applied her insights and feminist principles to the key areas of employment and financial discrimination, education, childcare, social welfare and urban planning.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-australia-became-a-nation-and-women-won-the-vote-78406">How Australia became a nation, and women won the vote</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A dynamic movement</h2>
<p>One vibrant thread connecting several chapters is the dynamism of the women’s liberation movement: not least, the Canberra group where Reid developed her feminism. Biff Ward recalls the night in early 1973 that she and other Canberra women from the women’s liberation movement attended the party held for the 18 shortlisted applicants for the women’s adviser job.</p>
<p>It was a seemingly ordinary Saturday-night event in a suburban home: the prime minister was among the prominent Labor men present. Ward recalls the extraordinary atmosphere at the party, with the government luminaries aware of their own newfound power, yet “sidelined” by the women. These women knew each other from the movement and constituted “a tribe” that had the men on edge, because of the women’s shared confidence and agenda.</p>
<p>The chapter on the late Pat Eatock, the Aboriginal feminist who had travelled from Sydney to Canberra in early 1972 for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-aboriginal-tent-embassy-at-50-the-history-of-an-ongoing-protest-for-indigenous-sovereignty-in-australia-podcast-180216">Tent Embassy</a>, then stayed to move into the Women’s House (run by the Women’s Liberation group) is co-written by her daughter Cathy Eatock. In 1972 Pat Eatock became the first Indigenous woman to stand for federal parliament. Later she became a public servant, an academic and a pioneer in Aboriginal television. She was part of the Canberra women’s liberation movement, despite not feeling accepted by some members. </p>
<p>On balance, Eatock believed the movement changed her life for the better. She participated in the celebrated <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/canberra/programs/sundaybrunch/the-1975-women-in-politics-conference/12708060">1975 Women and Politics Conference</a>, and was in the Australian delegation to the International Women’s Year Conference in Mexico City, where she found Australian feminist theory was “leading the world”.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3LksdHh4bMg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Pat Eatock at the 1975 World Conference on the Status of Women.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Greater expectations</h2>
<p>The book is organised into five sections, each introduced by a relevant expert. In the section on law, Elizabeth Evatt succinctly describes her path-breaking roles. She was deputy president of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (predecessor to the Fair Work Commission), chair of the <a href="https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00003358.pdf">Royal Commission on Human Relationships 1974-77</a> (which brought abortion, homosexuality and domestic violence into the spotlight); and first chief judge of the Family Court of Australia. The latter was created by the Family Law Act of 1975, which introduced no-fault divorce. </p>
<p>In her conclusion, Evatt laments <a href="https://theconversation.com/book-extract-broken-requiem-for-the-family-court-166406">the recent merger</a> of the Family Court with the Federal Circuit Court, and hails the Family Law Act as one of Whitlam’s great legacies.</p>
<p>In the health and social policy section, former Labor Senator Margaret Reynolds recalls observing the Whitlam government’s achievements from conservative Townsville, where she was a founding member of the local Women’s Electoral Lobby. As a teacher, she saw how the reforms in education benefited regional schools and children. And the Townsville CAE introduced a training program for teaching monitors from remote communities, which particularly helped Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.</p>
<p>In the section on legacies, author and former “femocrat” Sara Dowse catalogues the disastrous social consequences of <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-neoliberalism-became-an-insult-in-australian-politics-188291">neoliberalism</a>, which have been braided with the many real and important gains for women since the 1970s. Hope lies, she suggests, in women’s greater expectations for their own lives.</p>
<p>I have focused on essays by senior feminists, but the 16 wide-ranging chapters include contributions from younger authors, too. </p>
<p>From our current standpoint, the fervour of the 1970s is enviable. It’s very promising that the 2022 election brought an influx of new women MPs. But if we’re going to conquer <a href="https://theconversation.com/family-violence-is-literally-making-us-sicker-new-study-finds-abuse-increases-risk-of-chronic-illness-199669">intimate violence</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-all-done-the-right-things-in-under-cover-older-women-tell-their-stories-of-becoming-homeless-188356">women’s homelessness</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-ranked-last-in-an-international-gender-pay-gap-study-here-are-3-ways-to-do-better-168848">gender pay gap</a>, we need another feminist revolution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Woollacott receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Feminism helped power the tide of change carrying Gough Whitlam to power in 1972. What were his government’s historic achievements for women? And what do Australian women need to fight for next?Angela Woollacott, Manning Clark Professor of History, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013822023-03-09T20:50:50Z2023-03-09T20:50:50ZNew Zealand’s childcare is among the most expensive in the world. But tax rebates are not the answer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514330/original/file-20230308-2058-7l4wg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C66%2C7326%2C4836&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some eight months out from this year’s election, the National Party has launched a new tax rebate policy to <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131407675/christopher-luxon-promises-childcare-rebates-for-any-family-earning-less-than-180000">help reduce childcare costs</a>. At the same time, Australia and Canada are abandoning their own rebate policies for failing to really address childcare affordability issues. </p>
<p>It might be a good idea for New Zealand to learn from their experiences.</p>
<p>Childcare in Aotearoa New Zealand is some of the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300696444/i-cant-afford-to-work-free-childcare-is-a-myth-and-costs-for-parents-are-high">most expensive in the world</a>, despite the government spending about NZ$2.3 billion annually on childcare through subsidies and payments to the sector.</p>
<p>National’s <a href="https://www.national.org.nz/familyboost">Family Boost</a> scheme would give a 25% tax rebate on childcare expenses up to $75 per week to families earning less than $180,000. This rebate is in addition to the extended childcare subsidy <a href="https://www.labour.org.nz/news-making_childcare_more_affordable">announced by Labour</a> last year. </p>
<p>On the face of it, National’s approach will return much needed money to families and has the potential to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1475-5890.12085?casa_token=BDwLB3C4H20AAAAA:lVgynv8bB-Wej2YGS74YI6Cmj-6xgPsqcgHMfz-3O1WeiJd6P0rWk2-pZKLUADjRjpJgmGdGsY4qcAsv">increase workforce participation</a>. But overseas experience shows there are some fundamental flaws with offering rebates for childcare. </p>
<h2>Turning away from rebate schemes</h2>
<p>The Australian Labor government has just launched a major <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/childhood">childcare review</a>, noting their rebate and subsidy schemes – which have been in place since the mid-1990s – have not achieved the hoped-for affordability outcomes. </p>
<p>Government spending on support to parents has reached almost AUS$9 billion, yet it is estimated childcare costs have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-21/government-accc-investigate-child-care-cost-increases/101461220">risen by 41%</a> for families since 2014.</p>
<p>Canada has also recently moved from tax rebates for childcare, instead embarking on an ambitious public funding commitment to offer <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/child-care.html">C$10-a-day childcare</a> by 2026. The government has committed $30 billion to develop 250,000 new affordable childcare places by expanding the not-for-profit sector. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-governments-were-really-concerned-about-tax-and-the-cost-of-living-they-would-cut-the-cost-of-childcare-182669">If governments were really concerned about tax and the cost of living they would cut the cost of childcare</a>
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<p>So, what can we learn from tax rebate funding models overseas?</p>
<p>As seen in Australia, tax rebate schemes are administratively burdensome. Their childcare rebate schemes were added into an existing funding model developed by previous governments, ultimately making the system <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/59056/1/book.pdf#page=325">confusing and complicated</a> for parents and providers to navigate. </p>
<p>Similarly, National’s proposed rebate scheme will add yet another layer to what is now an already <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/childcare-provision-in-neoliberal-times">complex funding model</a>, including the 20 hour early childcare education payment and the recently extended childcare subsidy. </p>
<h2>Rebates ineffective on their own</h2>
<p>Moreover, international experience suggests rebate schemes do little on their own to reduce childcare costs in highly privatised childcare markets. </p>
<p>Although money goes directly to parents, evidence shows there are limited benefits to families if there is no cap on the costs that providers can charge. </p>
<p>Any money going to parents risks being absorbed by fee increases. This occurred in Australia under the childcare tax rebate scheme introduced in 2004, with the following decade seeing what sector advocates called a financial “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1839-4655.2007.tb00050.x?casa_token=yrPV82rbYlsAAAAA:9TcxBCPcghd4R5DwWaL_q78acpDA_dVVW4-TUBrytHCnX51aoStA_4rlZ1oUV7XnrckMSjN9u2OvPMGR">bonanza for private providers</a>”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1632515582393458690"}"></div></p>
<p>But in a sector that is now almost 65% for-profit in New Zealand, any governmental attempt to control price increases risks being seen as “market interference”.</p>
<p>Proponents of rebate schemes argue that fee increases should not happen in theory, because such schemes empower <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018880553/national-party-deputy-leader-on-childcare-policy">parents as consumers</a>. They can regulate costs through choosing services that best meet their needs, and change services when they are not satisfied. </p>
<p>But research has long shown that viewing parents as consumers of childcare in this way is a political fiction. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.56687/9781847429353-016/html?lang=en">Childcare markets</a> do not work under textbook supply and demand imperatives. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-english-speaking-countries-upended-the-trade-off-between-babies-and-jobs-without-even-trying-118459">How English-speaking countries upended the trade-off between babies and jobs, without even trying</a>
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<p>The commonly held notion that parents will “talk with their feet” by <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10566-018-9452-3">changing childcare providers</a> is simply not the case. As any parent will attest, changing your child’s care environment once the child is settled is a move they are loathe to make, even if the service down the road is cheaper. </p>
<p>Furthermore, parental choice in many regions is constrained by the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130400740/exhausted-early-childhood-sector-predicts-longer-waiting-lists-on-back-of-governments-childcare-plan">lack of childcare services</a> and long waiting lists. As we see <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300814789/the-jugglenaut-how-childcare-became-a-forprofit-game">growing privatisation</a> and corporatisation of the sector, the range of choice is further limited.</p>
<h2>Time for an overhaul</h2>
<p>It is certainly time to consider childcare costs as a crucial issue affecting New Zealand households. But this needs to be part of a much more ambitious funding review of the sector. </p>
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<p>Overseas evidence has shown that the kind of intervention the National Party is proposing does little to improve affordability in the longer term, or address other thorny problems such as <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/childcare-markets">quality and access</a> in childcare markets. </p>
<p>If we look at Australia and Canada, countries which have had extensive experience of these kinds of funding models, there is now a renewed incentive to explore more universal, publicly-funded childcare options. </p>
<p>This may involve stronger support for community, not-for-profit services, which are a shrinking part of the childcare landscape in Aoteoroa. At the very least, it would require a much stronger sense of market stewardship than is currently in place. </p>
<p>If political leaders are serious about making some real changes for parents, children and the wider sector, we should expect better than to repeat the same mistakes already made elsewhere.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aisling Gallagher has recieved funding from the Royal Society of New Zealand, Marsden Fund. </span></em></p>The National Party is promising rebates for childcare. But similar policies have been discarded overseas for failing to effectively reduce the cost of childcare. Is it time for a rethink?Aisling Gallagher, Senior Lecturer in Social Geography, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989682023-03-05T17:19:56Z2023-03-05T17:19:56ZInclusive child care must support children with disabilities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513279/original/file-20230302-20-pz1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C77%2C5751%2C3750&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Policymakers need to better consider the needs of all children to ensure that children with disabilities are not left out.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/inclusive-child-care-must-support-children-with-disabilities" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In 2022, we spent several months listening to parents of young children with support needs as part of <a href="https://inclusionbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/InclusiveChildcare2.pdf">our study</a> about inclusive and equitable child care in British Columbia. </p>
<p>Parents whose children have disabilities, complex health conditions or behavioural differences have been advocating for years for their children to have the opportunity to learn and play alongside their peers in early learning and child-care programs.</p>
<p>In light of that, it was difficult for us to hear the complete absence of their voices in December 2022, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Premier David Eby celebrated <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/trudeau-and-eby-tout-daycare-funding-but-mom-says-kids-with-diverse-needs-left-behind">new measures</a> to make child care affordable in B.C. </p>
<p>Equitable access to child care requires that governments address the need for affordability and inclusion of all children, regardless of their abilities. Such initiatives need to bring about just conditions for all children, otherwise they are not just or fair.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513272/original/file-20230302-2561-cnfxhi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man speaking while another stands behind him. The words child care appear on the wall behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513272/original/file-20230302-2561-cnfxhi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513272/original/file-20230302-2561-cnfxhi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513272/original/file-20230302-2561-cnfxhi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513272/original/file-20230302-2561-cnfxhi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513272/original/file-20230302-2561-cnfxhi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513272/original/file-20230302-2561-cnfxhi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513272/original/file-20230302-2561-cnfxhi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks as B.C. Premier David Eby, back right, listens during a child-care announcement in Richmond B.C., in December 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Inequitable child care</h2>
<p>The UN <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/portfolios/crc.html">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>, which Canada <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/national-child-day/united-nations-convention-rights-of-the-child.html">ratified</a> in 1991, states that children with disabilities should “enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child’s active participation in the community.”</p>
<p>In response to years of government inaction in B.C. on inclusive child care, Inclusion B.C. initiated a <a href="https://inclusionbc.org/our-campaigns/kids-cant-wait/">Kids Can’t Wait</a> campaign in 2016. This created a forum for parents’ voices on the structural changes needed to advance inclusive child care in this province. </p>
<p>That was seven years ago. Since then, the B.C. government has launched a range of <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-supports/caring-for-young-children/running-daycare-preschool/inclusive-child-care">piecemeal measures</a> primarily focused on advancing accessibility and affordability. These measures have had positive impacts for some children and families. However, their stated vision for inclusive child care for all families and children has yet to be realized. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/child-care-after-the-coronavirus-pandemic-should-be-more-inclusive-of-children-with-disabilities-141172">Child care after the coronavirus pandemic should be more inclusive of children with disabilities</a>
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<p>What does advancing accessibility and affordability mean when there is a serious <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9403403/b-c-early-childhood-educator-report-staff-shortages-wages/">shortage of early childhood educators in B.C.</a>, when ‘special needs’ training for early childhood educators is optional, and when there is no clear provincial framework or imperative for inclusion? </p>
<p>It means that children with support needs are systematically left out. It also means there are an increasing number of <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/11/01/Protest-Disability-Funding-Clawback/">parent advocates</a> whose families’ lives have been turned upside down as a result of their <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/08/04/Disabled-Kids-Falling-Through-BC-Child-Care-Gap/">children being excluded</a> from early learning and child-care programs. </p>
<h2>Making child care more inclusive</h2>
<p>The B.C. government has stated its intention to build inclusion into the existing child-care system. Adding on inclusion in this way risks that the ableist foundations of this system will stay in place. </p>
<p>As they grow, children denied child care because of their ‘differences’ may continue to face similar situations: in <a href="https://canadianteachermagazine.com/2022/09/26/11465/">schools</a>, <a href="https://cic.arts.ubc.ca/research-streams/employment-and-transitions/employment-and-transitions-reports/">employment settings</a> and <a href="https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/10/04/bc-disability-poll-campaign/">their everyday lives</a> where decisions are made and inclusion is an optional add-on. That is, unless we commit to doing things differently. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513289/original/file-20230302-108-cfwhmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An adult hand holding a child's hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513289/original/file-20230302-108-cfwhmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513289/original/file-20230302-108-cfwhmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513289/original/file-20230302-108-cfwhmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513289/original/file-20230302-108-cfwhmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513289/original/file-20230302-108-cfwhmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513289/original/file-20230302-108-cfwhmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513289/original/file-20230302-108-cfwhmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Equitable child care requires that governments address the need for affordability and inclusion of all children, regardless of their abilities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The parents who participated in our study understand the discrimination their children experience, as well as what would make a positive difference. Their perspectives are extremely important to informing an inclusive system. </p>
<p>However, the burden of advocacy work should not be theirs to shoulder. They are already navigating a complex set of challenges while raising their families and making a living. To then have to do the emotional and time-intensive labour of trying to convince governments that your child matters is beyond what any parent can be expected to do. </p>
<p>Child-care centres should have better <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-supports/caring-for-young-children/how-to-access-child-care/licensed-unlicensed-child-care">adult-child ratios</a>. Activities need to be responsive to diverse needs and abilities. Early childhood education curricula must foster knowledge and skills for including all children in routine programming. Importantly, educators should be <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-covid-19-child-care-plan-must-start-with-investing-in-early-childhood-educators-157553">well compensated</a> to maintain a stable workforce and quality programs. Funding models should include support for program-level inclusion and policies must support inclusive practices.</p>
<p>This is all possible. Several participants in our study shared what it felt like when they finally found child care that included their children. As one parent stated, having their son in a child-care program was “like an extension of our family.” The parent added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I can trust them. It just shows you how it can be when you have the right people doing the right thing with the right education and experience. It works really well.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Regardless of whether our children need support, or whether we are parents at all — we can all recognize that advocating for equitable child care is something that will make a real difference in our communities. What might we accomplish if we made child-care programs a starting point for overturning the <a href="https://bchumanrights.ca/news/campaign-on-ableism-sparks-province-wide-conversation/">ableist norms</a> and assumptions that underpin so much in our society today?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As federal and provincial governments bring in measures to make child care more affordable, the voices and needs of children with disabilities must not be ignored.Alison Gerlach, Assistant Professor, School of Child and Youth Care, University of VictoriaJanet Newbury, Adjunct Professor, School of Child and Youth Care, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992402023-02-21T18:46:42Z2023-02-21T18:46:42ZWorking more and making less: Canada needs to protect immigrant women care workers as they age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510403/original/file-20230215-28-28mmto.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C152%2C5946%2C3835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Immigrant women working in the care sector do the essential work many Canadians rely on, but low wages mean many need to work past retirement age.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/working-more-and-making-less--canada-needs-to-protect-immigrant-women-care-workers-as-they-age" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The pandemic has heightened Canadians’ awareness of the 3D jobs — <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/immigrant-women-face-dangerous-working-conditions-in-long-term-care-u-of-c-researcher">dirty, difficult and dangerous</a> — done by many migrant workers in our communities.</p>
<p>When the pandemic first struck, many of these workers were on the front line working in essential services. Engaged in low-wage work in health and child care, immigrant care workers had <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8123521/covid-cases-death-healthcare-workers-canada/">high rates of COVID-19 infections</a>, while also experiencing <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210312/dq210312a-eng.htm">widespread job losses</a> and continuing <a href="https://www.parklandinstitute.ca/more_than_just_a_health_care_aide">financial struggles to make ends meet</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2022.2139984">Our recent paper</a> in the <em>Journal of Aging and Social Policy</em> reveals troubling realities for immigrant women care workers as they age. We found that immigrant women aged 65 and over who entered Canada through the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/caregivers.html#caregiver">(Live-in) Caregiver program</a> work more but make less than other comparable immigrant women. The required live-in component was <a href="https://mwcbc.ca/downloads/AnOverviewofCanadasNewCaregiverProgram-AShiftfromPermanencetoPrecariousness.pdf">removed in 2014</a> and the program has since been split into <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/caregivers/child-care-home-support-worker/2023-changes.html">two pilot programs</a>. </p>
<p>These findings are crucially important given <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/98-200-X/2021004/98-200-x2021004-eng.cfm">Canada’s rapidly aging population</a> and increasing concern about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0714980810000814">senior poverty in racialized communities</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing a blue nurses uniform plays Connect Four with an elderly man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jobs like personal support workers, home health aides and child-care workers tend to have low wages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Working past retirement age</h2>
<p>In Canada, we have long known that it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928718768337">disproportionately racialized immigrant women</a> (specifically Black and Filipina women) who do challenging and devalued work as carers. We also know that jobs like personal support workers, home health aides and child-care workers are still usually associated with “women’s work” and tend to have low wages.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-treat-migrant-workers-who-put-food-on-our-tables-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-4-153275">How we treat migrant workers who put food on our tables: Don't Call Me Resilient EP 4</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, what we have not known is whether these women continue to experience these disadvantages later in life. Specifically, we have very little information about the financial challenges immigrant women care workers in Canada face as they age. </p>
<p>On the one hand, it is plausible that care workers are more likely than other workers to continue working past the typical retirement age because of their relatively <a href="https://progressive-economics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/temppermlcpfinal.pdf">low wages and limited savings</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, due to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4431-4">physically and emotionally demanding nature of care work</a>, which can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-014-9423-2">detrimental to their health</a>, care workers may be less likely to continue working past age 65 and have higher rates of eligibility for government low-income supports. </p>
<p>Our recent research tried to clarify the situation of immigrant care workers as they age. We examined 11 years of Statistics Canada data from 2007-2017 to compare the income sources and trajectories of immigrant women who entered Canada through three migrant entry programs. </p>
<p>We used Statistics Canada’s <a href="https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5057">Longitudinal Immigration Database</a> to unpack how the gendered and racialized devaluation of caring occupations disadvantages immigrant women as they age. The database is a comprehensive source of administrative data that includes information on the socio-economic status of tax-filing immigrants since their arrival in Canada.</p>
<p>The data show that care workers are more likely to be employed after the age of 65 than other immigrant women, but have a lower and declining total income as they age. </p>
<p>Furthermore, while care workers receive higher rates of government pension benefits, they tend to have lower levels of private pension savings. And the cumulative income they report shows a relative decline over time.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a nurse uniform assists an elderly woman using a walker." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Care workers are more likely to be employed after the age of 65 but have a declining total income as they age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prioritizing care workers as they age</h2>
<p>So what does this all mean? Our study underscores serious concerns about government investment in alleviating senior poverty. The conditions of low-wage care workers, before and after retirement, must be prioritized.</p>
<p>The package of pension supports available in Canada, which includes Old Age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada Pension Plan, does not offset the decline in earnings immigrant care worker women face as they age. </p>
<p>That means there is a need to enhance policies that address senior poverty, recognizing that immigrant care worker women are among Canada’s most vulnerable populations. These women experience <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12851">intersectional disadvantages</a> as immigrants, women and racialized minorities. </p>
<p>Our findings also reinforce the need for more full-time, permanent and well-paying jobs in the Canadian care sector. As of 2017, the unemployment rate of female immigrants in Canada was <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-606-x/71-606-x2018001-eng.htm">nearly double</a> that of their Canadian-born counterparts. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-09-2020-0255">Recent research</a> finds that the pandemic increased rates of unemployment and led to shifts to precarious work for many immigrant women in Canada.</p>
<p>The federal government must enhance access to and the amount of money provided through the Guaranteed Income Supplement to address senior poverty within underserved communities. Any government invested in reducing social inequalities and protecting vulnerable senior populations must consider the financial challenges immigrant care worker women face as they age and equalize their income over time with other comparable groups. And we, as the electorate, must do our part to keep governments accountable to this goal. </p>
<p>Ultimately, immigrant women are doing the essential jobs that most Canadians rely on. They are caring for our elderly, sick or young family members when we are in need. </p>
<p>It is the very least we can do to ensure that immigrant women care workers are able to age with financial security, dignity and adequate social protections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Lightman receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (file number 435-2021-0486).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hamid Akbary received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant number 752-2019-2640). In addition to his academic affiliation, he works as an Analyst for Statistics Canada. </span></em></p>Immigrant care workers are having to work into retirement age to make ends meet. The Canadian government must do more to support them.Naomi Lightman, Associate Professor of Sociology, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityHamid Akbary, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1998642023-02-16T19:05:00Z2023-02-16T19:05:00ZBetter, cheaper childcare is on the horizon in Australia, but 4 key challenges remain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510443/original/file-20230215-28-k247ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C0%2C4859%2C3254&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Hanaoka/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>About 100 early childhood experts are meeting in Canberra today for a <a href="https://ministers.dss.gov.au/media-releases/9711">national summit</a> on children who are five and under.</p>
<p>This is part of the Albanese government’s work to develop an early years strategy to ensure Australian kids “have the best start at life in their critical early years of development”. It is also the latest in a flurry of activity around early childhood education and care.</p>
<p>The federal government has just set up two major inquiries. Last week it established a <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/productivity-commission-inquiry-consider-universal-early">Productivity Commission inquiry</a> into early childhood education. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission began its <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries-ongoing/childcare-inquiry">inquiry</a> into the cost of childcare last month. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, states are also making massive commitments. The <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/give-your-child-the-best-start-in-life">Victorian</a> and <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/early-childhood-education/early-years-commitment/about-the-early-years-commitment">New South Wales</a> governments have made multibillion-dollar promises to expand preschool for three- and four-year-olds. Former prime minister Julia Gillard is leading a <a href="https://www.royalcommissionecec.sa.gov.au/">royal commission</a> into early education and care in South Australia, with an interim report due in August. </p>
<p>Universal, affordable and high-quality early education for Australian families is on the horizon. But four key challenges remain. </p>
<h2>1. We still have ‘childcare deserts’</h2>
<p>Access to early childhood education and care is not equal in Australia, and depends on where families live. </p>
<p>Regional and rural families are more likely to have poorer access, and many live in “<a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/mitchell-institute/early-learning/childcare-deserts-oases-how-accessible-is-childcare-in-australia">childcare deserts</a>”. In these areas, more than three children vie for every childcare place. About one million Australians live in an area with no access to childcare at all. </p>
<p>It is easier to get a childcare place in high socioeconomic and metropolitan areas, suggesting access is not equitable. We need to address this, as research in <a href="https://ijccep.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40723-015-0012-0">Australia</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731515578882">overseas</a> highlights the importance of early education and care for children’s social and cognitive development, especially for children from <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/relationship-between-early-childhood-education-and-care-ecec-and-outcomes">disadvantaged backgrounds</a>. </p>
<p><iframe id="ykTB1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ykTB1/9/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2. Childcare is really expensive</h2>
<p>In recent years, the <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/321382?utm_source=APO+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f9ee7e4111-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_02_08_10_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-f9ee7e4111-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=f9ee7e4111&mc_eid=a3a7c3ecef">Coalition government</a> injected significant funds into childcare subsidies. But the cost of early childhood services <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/mitchell-institute/early-learning/assessing-childcare-affordability-in-australia">remains a key issue</a> for many families.</p>
<p>The Albanese government will <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/changes-if-you-get-family-payments?context=41186">increase the subsidy again</a>, as of July 2023. This will ease some of the financial strain. </p>
<p>However, subsidy changes provide only temporary relief, as childcare costs often rise again. The Labor government has also said it will investigate the <a href="https://www.cela.org.au/publications/amplify!-blog/nov-2022/new-federal-government-budget-2022-ecec">feasibility</a> of a 90% subsidy regardless of income, although it is not clear how this will occur or how it will be funded.</p>
<p><iframe id="hY3Xj" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/hY3Xj/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>3. Work requirements are not working</h2>
<p>A 2022 <a href="https://www.impacteconomics.com.au/home/education">Impact Economics</a> report showed how the government’s “<a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/activity-level-and-subsidised-care-for-child-care-subsidy?context=41186">activity test</a>” is a major barrier to parents working. </p>
<p>Under the current test, families need to do certain amounts of paid work, such as study, training, volunteering or care, to receive certain hours of childcare subsidies. For example, parents doing less than eight hours of work a fortnight only get 24 hours of subsidised care for the same period. Those doing 48 hours of work get 100 hours of subsidised care. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-2018-childcare-package-was-partly-designed-to-help-families-work-more-but-the-benefits-were-too-modest-to-matter-179934">The 2018 childcare package was partly designed to help families work more. But the benefits were too modest to matter</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If there are two parents in a family, the activity test is based on the parent who works the least.</p>
<p>Impact Economics found the activity test was not encouraging people to work. Rather, it found low-income families were less likely to use childcare because of the restriction to hours of care. So the activity test can lock children from disadvantaged backgrounds out of early learning, despite being the group that would <a href="https://data.unicef.org/resources/a-world-ready-to-learn-report/">benefit the most</a>. </p>
<h2>4. Early childhood educators are overworked and not paid enough</h2>
<p>There are also major challenges around retention, pay and professional work conditions for the early education sector.</p>
<p>A 2021 <a href="https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A91207">survey</a> by the United Workers Union showed that 73% of educators envisaged leaving the early childhood sector by 2024. Excessive workloads and low pay were the two main reasons cited by more than 4,000 current and former educators who participated in the research.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-canadian-program-that-helps-educators-thrive-not-just-survive-could-help-address-australias-childcare-staff-shortage-193954">How a Canadian program that helps educators 'thrive' not just 'survive' could help address Australia's childcare staff shortage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Job vacancy rates are at <a href="https://www.nationalskillscommission.gov.au/reports/2022-skills-priority-list-key-findings-report">historically high levels</a> and the lack of qualified staff is a major restraint on increasing access to childcare services. To enhance efforts to attract and retain staff, educators are calling for a <a href="https://www.aeuvic.asn.au/your-job/early-childhood#:%7E:text=Pay%20rise%20for%20Preschool%20Field,replaced%20by%20a%20simpler%20process">pay increase</a> of between 13% and 30% over the next four years. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aeuvic.asn.au/your-job/early-childhood#:%7E:text=Pay%20rise%20for%20Preschool%20Field,replaced%20by%20a%20simpler%20process">Australian Education Union</a> is also negotiating for other changes to the early childhood profession, such as increased participation in professional development and changes to the structure of education and training. </p>
<h2>The good news … and the reality check</h2>
<p>A noticeable feature of the Albanese government’s approach to early learning is a greater emphasis on children’s development and wellbeing.</p>
<p>The summit has an explicit focus on making sure children are “thriving”. Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has stressed how the most significant stages of brain development happen before children turn five. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>By getting it right in the early years of a child’s life, we can help set the foundations for a happy, healthy, and successful future.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This marks a shift in government language, which previously talked about childcare in terms of <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tudge/increased-child-care-support-brought-forward">boosting female workforce participation</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, huge challenges remain in the sector. Addressing them will be a major task for the government if is going to progress beyond summits and strategies to deliver real change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199864/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Tham works for the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University who receive funding from Minderoo's Thrive by Five initiative to undertake research into early childhood education and care.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cynthia Leung is affiliated with Parenting and Family Research Alliance. She is an adjunct professor at the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University who receive funding from Minderoo's Thrive by Five initiative to undertake research into early childhood education and care. She received consultancy fees for evaluation of a parent training program from Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Hong Kong.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Hurley works for the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University who receive funding from Minderoo's Thrive by Five initiative to undertake research into early childhood education and care. </span></em></p>About 100 early childhood experts are meeting in Canberra today for a national summit on children who are five and under.Melissa Tham, Research fellow, Victoria UniversityCynthia Leung, Adjunct Professor, Victoria UniversityPeter Hurley, Director, Mitchell Institute, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1980342023-02-09T20:47:25Z2023-02-09T20:47:25Z‘Child care’ or education? Words matter in how we envision living well with children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508389/original/file-20230206-17-ehswee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C14%2C4912%2C2504&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Investing in non-profit programs that provide culturally-relevant education is important to children and families.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As people across Canada begin to understand the implications of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2021/12/a-canada-wide-early-learning-and-child-care-plan.html">Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program</a>,
public conversations often centre on the economic benefits of getting children back into quality child care, and their parents or guardians back into a robust Canadian economy. </p>
<p>In this narrative, early childhood education matters <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/record-employment-rate-for-women-shows-trudeaus-subsidized-daycare-plan-is-working-100802678/#.Y4-hRR13O0U.twitter">primarily as a driver of economic growth</a>. </p>
<p>This nurtures a belief that children and their learning should be conceptualized as a primarily economic issue: We need child care, the logic goes, so that women can work or children can learn the skills they need to contribute to the future market economy.</p>
<p>We are part of a collective of educators and scholars, the <a href="https://www.earlychildhoodcollaboratory.net/">Early Childhood Pedagogies Collaboratory</a>, invested in thinking about early childhood education otherwise. We ask: What narratives or stories are going unnoticed in the face of the universal child care plan in Canada?</p>
<p>Our proposal: Canada creates an education system that focuses on the work of living well with children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hand is seen holding a child's drawing in front of woods." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508386/original/file-20230206-21-lkl63x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our society urgently needs us to pay more attention to the education of young children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Sherri-Lynn Yazbeck)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Operating like a business?</h2>
<p>We are concerned with the current marketization of the early childhood education profession — how childhood education is increasingly forced to adapt itself to the needs of the market economy, where what becomes important is how well the field operates like a business. </p>
<p>For us, education is not about market-based economics. The buying and selling of children’s education and the labour of educators concerns us. What is urgently needed is to pay more attention to the education of young children — their relations to learning, which we call “pedagogy.” We define this pedagogy as the work of living well with children.</p>
<p>By focusing on living well with children, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2022.2042197">we are able to ask different questions that relate to early childhood education</a>. This means asking how we can foster ethical spaces with children and families.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-early-childhood-education-is-responding-to-climate-change-175107">How early childhood education is responding to climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Education as an event, experience</h2>
<p>Pedagogy takes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1817235">education as an event and an experience</a>. It is more than simply caring for children’s basic needs. Instead, it’s about collaborating with children and families to craft curriculum that truly matters to the messy worlds that children inhabit and inherit.</p>
<p>Amid the new federal funding, there is the creation of a market economy around childhood. </p>
<p>For example, as Ontario grapples with a shortage of early childhood educators, some advocates are concerned the province <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-could-be-short-8-500-early-childhood-educators-government-officials-estimate-1.6230879#">will focus mostly or exclusively on recruiting more early childhood educators, increasing admissions to programs or offering low-cost tuition</a>.</p>
<p>Such initiatives would see early childhood education as a numbers game, easily and inexpensively creating educators who can quickly fill positions. This would be at the detriment of longer, slower education required to think carefully about how to live well with children. </p>
<p>The risks to children, families and educators of rapidly expanding “spaces” under corporate business models are also apparent: The <em>Globe and Mail</em> reports that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ontario-daycare-childcare-lullaboo/">after the North Toronto Early Years Centre was acquired by a “rapidly expanding daycare chain,”</a> existing staff were presented with new contracts that paid less and said they could be moved to another location at any time.</p>
<h2>Turn the narrative around</h2>
<p>Our society needs to turn the narrative around: children are not in early childhood education to provide employment opportunities for educators and guardians.</p>
<p>Instead, educators are involved in co-creating locally meaningful and responsive educational and social spaces. This means being co-investigators with children into the inquiries that arise out of their complex and diverse lives.</p>
<p>Together as a society, educators, community members, parents and caregivers need to ask what roles we all need to take on in order to build a truly universal system that can meet the unknowns of children’s lives now and into the future.</p>
<p>We want to share two actions the community and early childhood education field can act upon. </p>
<p>These follow the <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-2021-7-actions-to-ensure-canadas-child-care-plan-is-about-education-159191">seven actions our collaboratory recommended in an earlier article</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children's and an educator's hands seen working with paper at a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508391/original/file-20230206-25-y8wva7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early childhood education involves more than merely meeting children’s basic needs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Yan Krukov)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p><strong>1. Understand ethical responsibility and shift our language.</strong></p>
<p>We, as a Canadian society, need to recognize the complexity of early childhood educators creating spaces for young children instead of simply warehousing children to advance the economy. </p>
<p>Shifting our language means educational and training institutions, policymakers and society must change our expectations of early childhood education, as we ask it to become an educational undertaking, not just about “supervision.” </p>
<p>We have an ethical obligation to our youngest citizens to re-frame the educator and the early childhood education system as ethically responsible for meeting children and families in all the richness of their diverse life stories. </p>
<p>We invite everyone to intervene when hearing early childhood education <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2043610617747978">referred to as only supervisory care</a>. </p>
<p>We instead raise the possibility that early childhood education involves more than merely meeting children’s basic needs.</p>
<p>Changing the expectations, stories and knowledge our society brings to concepts about educators, children and families is a good first step to changing the narrative around early childhood education.</p>
<p><strong>2. Invest in non-profit programs which provide education that centres living well with children.</strong></p>
<p>We need opportunities to understand education as a learning space, not strictly one for supervision, so guardians can join the workforce. </p>
<p>This requires that we, as government, advocates, families and communities, understand educators as capable and competent professionals, and education as a vibrant space full of life. </p>
<p>Public investment needs to be tied to non-profit programs where the primary concern is the meaningful and <a href="https://theconversation.com/weaving-is-helping-strengthen-ancestral-knowledge-among-women-and-children-in-ingapirca-ecuador-177137">culturally relevant</a> education of young children. </p>
<h2>Thinking beyond economics</h2>
<p>The two actions we propose are not a recipe but an invitation to disrupt problematic narratives that position educators and children as resources toward a market economy. </p>
<p>We are not proposing a “solution”; we propose we need an ongoing discussion about the purposes of early childhood education. </p>
<p>Shifting the narratives our society brings to understanding early childhood education in Canada matters to children’s and families’ lives. We can think beyond economics with children and families and educators. </p>
<p><em>Authored in conversation with Early Childhood Collaboratory members: Alexandra Berry (Capilano University); Alicja Frankowski, Courtney Amber, Cristina Delgado Vintimilla (York University); B. Denise Hodgins (British Columbia Early Childhood Pedagogy Network); Cory Jobb (Thompson Rivers University); Iris Berger (University of British Columbia); Kelly-Ann MacAlpine, Narda Nelson, Randa Khattar, Tatiana Zakharova-Goodman and Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw (Western University); Sylvia Kind (Capilano University).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Land receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Kummen receives funding from the Ministry of Education and Child Care, British Columbia.</span></em></p>Early childhood education isn’t about warehousing children so adults can go to work. There is an ethical imperative to support a paradigm shift in how our society values educating young children.Nicole Land, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Studies, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityKathleen Kummen, Chair, Education and Childhood Studies, Capilano UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.