Raising children is one of the major reasons why women, as a group, are poorer than men. Children cost money - a lot of it. They need food, clothing, diapers, housing, toys, school supplies, shoes, and lots of other things. But more importantly they need time. And the time and energy that are necessary to raise healthy children makes up the biggest part of the unpaid work performed by women in Canada and around the world, drastically reducing women's ability to participate in the paid workforce. Like other unpaid work, the work of caring for children is often unnoticed and not valued as the important economic contribution that it is.

Jump ahead to:

• Who's responsible?
• Childcare
• The global picture
• Are things changing?
• What can I do?

Who's responsible?
One does not get paid to deliver a child (unless you are the doctor or midwife) and the monetary reimbursement for raising a child is minimal if any. Yet life on this planet depends on the renewal of life. For us to continue living, children must be born, animals must give birth, and new plants must grow. We were all children once and every child develops into a contributing member of our society. So why is most of the work of bearing, caring for, and raising children, not counted as part of any country's economic activities? And why does child care remain the unpaid responsibility of individual parents when our whole society is depending on it?

For mothers of young children who work outside the home, integrating work and family life is often an extremely stressful endeavour for which they, rather than the fathers of their children, are primarily responsible. Many 'working' mothers feel constantly drained and exhausted as if they are working two full-time jobs, one in the home, one outside the home, one paid, one unpaid. As well, more women than men interrupt their jobs or careers to care for small children and respond to family needs; more mothers than fathers will 'choose' part-time work (and part-time pay), and it is more often women who refuse better paying or more rewarding work if it might conflict with family needs. Once again, the situation for single parents is even more challenging. In many two-parent families women's work outside the home helps keep their families out of poverty. In single-parent families the reality is more blatant. Women must solely raise children and provide an income. The choices these women face are often quite impossible.

Childcare
Manitoba has about 24,000 licensed child care spaces for approximately 200,000 children under the age of 12 years (2001 figures). In order to use a child care space, a parent must pay. Fees are very high - as much as $7,300 per child per year - more than the cost of university tuition in Manitoba. Child care costs can easily take up to half the after-tax incomes of women working typical jobs such as clerical and service work. In many families, daycare is more expensive than the mortgage. While the province provides about 11,000 child care subsidies for very low-income parents (2001 figures), the eligibility rate for a child care subsidy is set very low - well below the poverty line, and there are not enough spaces or subsidies for parents who need them. Even those parents who are fortunate enough (in other words poor enough) to qualify for a scarce subsidy must still pay a portion of the child care fee.

Because our society provides so little licensed child care, most children with employed/studying parents are in unregulated situations - cared for by relatives, older brothers or sisters, baby-sitters or by themselves. Women on reserves, in small towns, and in rural areas experience the greatest lack as most licensed child care spaces are found in urban centres.

If you think child care costs are high, try working in a day care. In Canada, early childhood educators who care for our young children are paid roughly the same amount as parking lot attendants and zookeepers. According to our economic system, taking care of a child is about as valuable as taking care of a car or an animal. Few child care workers can afford to use the care they provide to other people's children.

Leah worked in a daycare in Winnipeg for six years. She loved the work and the loving atmosphere of the centre where she worked. But these days Leah is looking for another career. "The main reason I'm switching is because I couldn't afford it," Leah says. "People think child care is just babysitting but it's not. Working as a child care worker is exhausting." Indeed, caring for a child involves many skills and research shows that the best quality care is provided by staff like Leah who have training in child development. Despite the hard work demands, Leah would have stayed if she had been able to earn more. She says, "When I left the work 2 years ago I was getting paid $7.70/hour. After 6 years of work. When you take taxes off of that you're not left with much. I probably could have made more waitressing." Leah says that one of her co-workers only earned $10/hour after 16 years in the profession.

Whether or not both of their parents have paid work outside the home, most kids need some kind of paid care, be it a babysitter, a neighbour, or a daycare. The need is there. And the benefits are great. Providing quality, affordable, accessible child care to parents is actually a tremendously good investment for governments. A study by economists at the University of Toronto says that there is at least a 2-to-1 payback in economic benefits if we invest in our children's well-being. And that is only economic. We all know that healthy children grow up to be healthy adults and parents who can work or study are able to contribute economically and have more life choices. The social benefits of good child care are enormous.

The global picture
In much of the world children are not seen strictly as the responsibility of individual parents. Instead children are recognized as the next generation and highly valued and protected. In many cultures children are very visible in public life: strapped to their mother's backs in African marketplaces, attending meetings with their fathers in rural Indian villages. They are recognized as necessary parts of life rather than impediments and interruptions. Neighbours and grandparents, cousins and friends, older brothers and aunties all take their turn parenting children. In most European countries children are seen to be a public responsibility and this is reflected through tax benefits directed at children as well as childcare programs available to all parents.

Are things changing?
There is some progress in Manitoba. In February 2001, the Manitoba Minister of Family Services and Housing released a Vision Paper on Child Care in Manitoba and asked for public comment. Citizens in Manitoba quickly mobilized - over 24,000 Manitobans responded. One group, the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba, produced a 20-page "Blueprint for Action: A Five Year Plan for Manitoba Child Care Policy Redesign" following it up with a seven-step provincial proposal. Currently, the Government is considering a series of confidential recommendations made by the Child Day Care Regulatory Review Committee. Whether or not the government makes significant changes to Manitoba's child care system is uncertain. The positive news is that both the provincial and federal budgets are expressing interest in making child care more accessible; still, they have not yet made fundamental changes.

What can I do?
In Manitoba, unlike in Quebec or in European countries, child care is not a publicly-funded service to which all citizens are entitled. If Manitobans want policy change, they will have to make child care a political priority now, and in upcoming provincial elections. To tell the provincial government that child care is important to you visit the Manitoba government's on-line Budget Consultation.

To find out more:
Visit our Women & Child Care in Manitoba Fact Sheet for more statistics on child care in Manitoba. For further information on child care in Manitoba see the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives paper: A Decade of Decline: Child Care in Manitoba, 1989-1999. A wonderful website for learning more about child care across Canada is hosted by University of Toronto Child Care Resource and Research Unit. To find out more about child care advocacy in Manitoba or to become involved in advocacy yourself, visit the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba. Finally the book Changing child care: Five decades of child care advocacy and policy in Canada by Manitoban Susan Prentice is available at McNally Robinson bookstores in Winnipeg.

Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Lynn Skotnitsky, Susan Prentice, Leah Erickson, and Roberta Simpson for their input in this article as well as to mothers and children at the Family Community Centre for allowing their photos to appear. Thanks also to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the University of Guelph Centre for the study of Families, Work, and Well-being for providing valuable information on child care in Canada.