Early childhood education and care (ECEC) opens up a world of opportunity for families.
Young children are supported to learn, parents are freed up to work, and although all things aren't yet equal in education and employment, ECEC does move girls, boys, women and men in a positive direction.
Here, we see what gender equality means for all people, and explain how ECEC services support efforts to create a gender-equal world.
What is gender equality?
Australia's Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) says that gender equality is the equal treatment of all genders and, ‘It means all genders will enjoy the same rights, opportunities, responsibilities and protections.'
Instead of being something we'd ‘quite like,' gender equality is a fundamental human right, and it has benefits, not just for women, but for society as a whole.
The United Nations says gender equality is, ‘Essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development,' and it's been shown that the empowerment of women, ‘Spurs productivity and economic growth.'
That said, gender equality won't just happen. Individuals, communities, organisations and governments all need to take action for equality, and WGEA says in a gender-equal world we would see:
- Equal access to education for girls and boys
- Equal representation of women in leadership positions
- No discrimination against women and girls
- Recognition of the value of unpaid and domestic work
- Equal access to economic resources, like financial services, inheritances and natural resources, and
- No gendered violence.
Unfortunately, the world is not there yet. In Australia, there are still gaps between men's and women's earnings, opportunities and treatment, but ECEC does play a part in equalising people's experiences.
What are some key ways that early childhood education supports gender equality?
When we look at the key markers of gender equality, ECEC supports girls and boys, mums and dads, and other people in three important ways:
It provides equal access to early childhood education for all genders
Although vulnerable and disadvantaged children may still face challenges accessing ECEC, in Australia, we're fortunate that girls and boys can both attend child care and, instead of practising gender inequality and splitting children down gender lines, there's a focus on each and every child's learning and development. Educational programs and practices at ECEC services are child-centred and stimulating. Quality services support all genders (and ages, personalities and capabilities) to follow individual children's interests and support them to learn through play, socialise, and develop in a healthy, engaged way.
ECEC supports the greater representation of women in leadership roles
The ECEC sector includes many women in leadership positions (such as centre directors and board members), and the use of childcare enables mums to advance their own careers. Instead of being in a ‘holding pattern' until their under fives go to school, women can take control of their career success – and take pay rises and promotions, too.
Child care also provides an opportunity for mums to increase their leadership prospects through tertiary education; and if leadership isn't their goal, ECEC enables women to work in other ways while their children are young.
Mums can start new jobs or return to old ones, work for themselves or for others, and there are different childcare options to suit individual families' work and life needs.
Our laws guard against discrimination against women, with child care in mind
WGEA says, ‘There are specific gender equality laws in Australia to ensure everyone is treated fairly,' and a principal objective of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 is to, ‘Promote, amongst employers, the elimination of discrimination on the basis of gender in relation to employment matters (including in relation to family and caring responsibilities).
This means employers should not discriminate against women because of the time they give to family and caring responsibilities.
Organisations can promote gender equality by proactively offering employees flexible work arrangements (e.g. late starts to do child care drop-offs or split shifts to do pick-ups), and some employers offer on-site or subsidised child care to allow women to more easily balance work and child-raising.
The Equality Act describes flexible and supportive work arrangements as ‘Gender equality indicators,' and there's more information about flexible working arrangements for parents on the Fair Work Ombudsman site.
Where is there room for improvement to better promote gender equality?
Quality ECEC provides a fantastic early education for girls and boys, and it allows mums and dads to work and study, but there are concerns that the current childcare system disincentivises women from going back to full-time work.
In 2020, the Grattan Institute's Cheaper Childcare report found that ‘The cost of childcare combined with additional taxation and loss of family benefits means that for many women there is little or no financial benefit from increasing their paid work beyond three days a week.'
In recognition of this, the Federal government is boosting the Child Care Subsidy for some families to particularly support mothers wanting to get back into the workforce or take on more hours.
As of 7 March 2022, families with children aged five and under in care are getting a higher Child Care Subsidy for their second and younger children, and time will tell what effect this actually has on families' budgets and mums' workforce participation.
As it stands, there is ongoing inequity around parents' work and income.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has found that:
- There's a gap in workforce participation for people with young children. Specifically, only 65.5 per cent of women under sixes work, compared with 94.4 per cent of men.
- Rates of part-time employment are much higher for mums than dads. Amongst parents of under sixes, three in five employed mothers work part-time, compared to less than one in 10 employed dads.
- As of May 2020, Australia's national gender pay gap was 14 per cent, which meant the average weekly earnings of full-time female workers was 86 per cent of that of men.
These statistics have ramifications for mums' earning potential, career progression and superannuation balance when they retire; and there is also inequity around unpaid child care.
Data from 2019, showed that women performed one hour and 48 minutes of unpaid care work for every hour that men did, and the Life During COVID-19 Report showed that the division of child care between genders barely changed with everyone at home during the pandemic. Women were still five times more likely than men to be the primary child carer.
For these reasons, it's important that everyone works together to eliminate gender stereotypes and forge a gender-equal world.
Every year on 8 March, International Women's Day provides opportunities to celebrate women's achievements, raise awareness against bias, and take action for equality. And every day, it pays to think about ways to achieve gender equality in early childhood and later life.
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