Child care enables parents, in particular women, to balance the needs of work with supporting child development and care.  Across Asia and the Pacific, the responsibility for caring for children under 6 years old falls disproportionately on women, as it is commonly seen as an extension of their reproductive roles as mothers and caregivers.

This has several negative impacts, notably on women’s labor force participation, or the percentage of the population that is either employed or actively seeking employment. Asia and the Pacific is the only region in the world with a growing gender gap in labor force participation. This makes it more common for people to believe that only women should take care of children. It also makes it harder for society to recognize that child care is a priority that requires investment, good policies, and the right facilities.

Women across the region work the longest hours in the world once their paid and unpaid work is combined. Prior to the pandemic, it was estimated that on average, women spent four times more time on unpaid care work than men. Unpaid care activities encompass vital social functions such as caring for children and other members of the family as well as other domestic and household activities such as fetching water or cooking. Data shows that the unequal distribution of unpaid care work worsened during the pandemic.

Moreover, while female job losses were disproportionately higher at the height of the pandemic, post-pandemic jobs for women appear to be more vulnerable, reflecting the need to supplement or replace lost household income. As regional economies look at strategies to rebuild and rebound from the pandemic, investing in child care should be a top priority to address some of these systemic gendered weaknesses in the labor market.

In Asia and the Pacific, the general perception is that child care remains the responsibility of women, whether paid or unpaid. The role of child care services in providing vital early childhood education and care is often overlooked.  We need systemic approaches to child care which embrace gender equality as well as children’s welfare.

There are some countries in the region where early childhood education and care systems are more developed can act as models for how to strengthen own policies and investments.

In Georgia, for instance, almost 70% of children were enrolled in a public kindergarten in the pre-pandemic period, an increase of 25 percentage points since 2013 when the mandatory monthly fees of public child care facilities were removed (the enrollment rate showed 5% decline during pandemic). All children aged 2-6 are entitled to a place in a nursery (for ages 2-3) or a kindergarten (for ages 3-6) free of charge.

However, for children 2 years and under, access to day care is not a legal entitlement. This age group is the most under-served, with mothers often forced to exit the workforce to provide care. If there are more children than there are places available in free child care, priority for admissions is given to children from socially and economically vulnerable families and children under state care.

While more children are enrolled in kindergartens, other challenges remain in terms of provision of quality child care and guaranteeing decent working conditions for caregivers in terms of their earnings, job security, workloads, career prospects and overall working environment.  

Attracting a well-qualified child care workforce from the younger generations is challenging, as the social status of caregivers in the field is low and the wages of caregivers are three times less than the average monthly salary in Georgia. 

Promoting affordable, accessible, and quality child care services, supported by caregivers enjoying decent work, is key for building the human capital of children while allowing parents, particularly women, to pursue other economic opportunities.

There are multiple gains for gender equality, growth and diversity of the workplace when countries invest in child care systems. The following actions are needed:

• Support universal access:  Ensuring that all children, including the most marginalized children, can access child care services. The services should also accommodate the diverse range of needs of children and their families and strengthen evidence-based investments in child care services.
• Increase public investment: Increased funding will enable affordable child care, minimize the out-of-pocket expenses of parents, and enable a less fragmented, multi-layered child care funding landscape.
• Enhance quality: Establish quality assurance systems for child care services that integrate the needs of diverse populations, including rural, indigenous, and tribal communities, and regularly monitor these standards. 
• Ensure decent working conditions: Improve conditions for paid caregivers by extending labor and social protection mechanisms. The wages and working conditions of child care workers should be determined through collective bargaining, free from discrimination and gender bias. Workforce development, accreditation and upskilling of child care workers and other professionals in the child care sector should be included as well.

Our research for the report “Investments in Childcare for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific” highlights the need for a systemic approach to the child care sector, with children’s wellbeing and gender equality at the core.

Promoting affordable, accessible, and quality child care services, supported by caregivers enjoying decent work, is key to build the human capital of children while allowing parents, particularly women, to pursue other economic opportunities.  Investing in early child care is a smart investment that will put the region on the path to sustainable economic growth and gender equality.