How minimum wage rises will affect the early years education and childcare sector: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock The early years sector – nurseries and childminders who offer services to children under the age of five – waited expectantly for news of investment in the UK chancellor’s recent autumn statement. But this was not delivered, even though Jeremy Hunt …
Childcare reform: education is the responsibility of the state – care of young children should be too: Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock Parents face eye-watering costs for childcare in the UK. A part-time nursery place for a child under two sets parents in Britain back, on average, £7,134 a year. The government has put plans in place for …
How childcare subsidies can reduce the gap between mothers’ and fathers’ career paths – for this generation and the next: Making quality childcare more accessible will help generations of mothers. Dusan Petkovic/Shutterstock More than 80% of women in England and Wales will become mothers at some point during their working lives, according to OECD figures. …
Lockdown saw couples share housework and childcare more evenly – but these changes didn’t last: Halfpoint/Shutterstock It may feel like a common occurrence today, but if you cast your mind back to the first COVID lockdown, having whole families working and studying from home was a very unfamiliar situation. And it was one that had …
Why the UK childcare system is at breaking point: Over the last ten years, formal childcare in the UK has steadily become unaffordable for most parents. Recent reports on a UK web-based parent survey undertaken this summer by Mumsnet (in partnership with other parenting and campaigning organisations) have honed in on some startling figures. Of …
It’s time to stop ignoring paid childcare in urban Africa: What happens in early years matter for a child's lifetime. Wendy Stone/Corbis via Getty Images EarlyMomentsMatter is the hashtag that UNICEF and many others use when advocating for the importance of early childhood development. And it makes sense. The early years – when brain development …
Expensive childcare is making it harder for women to return to work: Balancing work and home. riopatuca/Shutterstock In the UK, women with children are less likely to be in paid work than men who have children or women who don’t have a family. While some of this difference is down to personal choice, there is …
Malawi study highlights the importance of men in childcare and nutrition: A woman and baby on a bicycle taxi in Salima, Malawi. Some Malawian men are becoming more involved in childcare. EPA-EFE In Malawi, as in many other patriarchal societies, women have historically been responsible for housework, food and childcare. Women’s household responsibilities have often …