National child care can put women back in the workforce

Part of the Liberal Throne Speech on Sept. 23 was a slight nod to parents and women in the country – a promise of some form of national child care.

The government looking to bolster women in the workforce as part of a broader economic recovery plan, as many struggle with job loss across multiple sectors, is a lofty goal. Women historically have faced the greatest effects any time an economic crisis hits the country.

In July, the Royal Bank of Canada released a report stating that in the first months of the pandemic more than 1.5 million women in Canada lost their jobs. RBC said this downturn has “eclipsed those of any other recession,” and women in the labour force has hit its “lowest level in 30 years.”

Stats Canada showed the unemployment rate of women was occurring at twice that of men across the country and had dipped down to 1980s levels, sitting at approximately 55 per cent participation in April.

National child care not only assists families but boosts the economy and closes the gender gap that has been widening as the pandemic drags on into its seventh month. A gap that could see another increase as the second wave of COVID causes its own second wave of inevitable job losses.

The impact on women is greater as families deal with reduced school hours or having to school children at home due to the existing wage gap which still sits at more than 13 per cent less earned per hour than men. It just makes more sense for the lower earner to stay home and provide care for children, especially with the costs of child care where they sit currently.

According to that RBC report, his pandemic has seen the majority of industries such as education services, accommodation, the food service industry and retail being some of the hardest hit – mostly female-dominated industries.

And although the bulk of job creation happened in some of those sectors, being faced with child care costs means many women will choose to stay home rather than returning to work.

Women not returning to work during a crisis puts them more at risk for income-earning penalties due to gaps in employment and eliminates networks that can be used for regaining employment.

The promise of national child care could stave off a lot of the repercussions of this pandemic. Doing it right at the outset will be important, should the federal government go ahead on its promise.

That means parity for all families in the beginning as they move back into the workforce with the disparity being dealt with on the Revenue Canada tax end of things. Incorporating a sliding scale downward instead of up for families with lower incomes so that families can actually get ahead instead of living paycheque-to-paycheque or not entering back into the workforce at all.

This is a chance for the government to make a real difference in the lives of Canadians and women as we move to pull the nation out of an economic downturn.