Work must not stop on childcare equality

Feb 23 2009 by Kevin Rowan, The Journal

THERE is a case for applauding the Government’s ambitions to support and encourage a better balance of caring responsibilities between men and women, as announced by the minister for families, Beverley Hughes, last week. While things appear to be moving towards a more equal footing, mothers still account for more than three quarters of parental time on childcaring activities during the week and two thirds of the time at weekends.

There is good evidence that children, especially boys, who experience both parents engaged in caring and domestic roles are more likely to develop a better sense of equality and fairness.

The measures outlined by Hughes last week are certainly welcome, focusing on shaping aspects of public services to more deliberately include fathers and providing more ‘parenting’ guidance aimed at fathers as well as mothers.

Witnessing fathers taking more of a share in responsibilities that have traditionally been the domain of women could be a powerful contributor in beginning to tackle gender inequality in the workplace.

There is an intrinsic relationship between women enduring poorer pay and worse terms and conditions at work and the fact that fathers, in the main, carry less of the burden at home.

It remains the case that jobs with very high proportions of women, are overwhelmingly low paid, while occupations with high ratios of male workers, are relatively highly paid.

If the situation at work doesn’t change, the Government’s efforts to support a better balance of caring in the home are less likely to be successful.

When a family has a new child, they make a decision about how to care for that child. At the point where it is practical for a father to take a lead role there are factors discouraging this from happening; eg. paternity leave rights are greatly inferior to maternity leave, and wage differentials tend to mean families choose the lowest earner to reduce hours – usually the mother.

The policy ambitions outlined by Hughes need to be considered in tandem with equality policies in the workplace.

The Government is making progress here, but it would be foolish to assume the work is done and the recession mustn’t be used as an excuse for pulling back.

Kevin Rowan, Regional Secretary, Northern TUC