Equality for women in the labour market relies on access to childcare

Women were already disadvantaged in South Africa’s workforce, and over recent months their position relative to men has worsened. The NIDS-CRAM study (National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey) by a team of South African academics, found that while 11% of male respondents lost their job between February and April 2020, 26% of female respondents lost theirs. In real terms, this means that of the three million net job losses over this period, women accounted for two million.

We also know that 38% of all households in South Africa are headed by women, rising to over 45% in some rural areas. These households are particularly vulnerable because any financial detriment suffered by the woman rebounds on other members of the household – usually children. 

Official figures in 2018 showed that 43% of South African children lived with their mother only, and over four million children up to the age of five (61%) lived in households where the father was absent. Survey data also shows that female-headed households are more likely to live in poverty and to rely on grants.

The reasons for women’s relative disadvantage in both employment and income terms are complex, and include cultural and social factors which are not always easy to unpick. However, one cause of labour market exclusion is both objective and solvable – access to childcare.

In South Africa, as in virtually every other country in the world, the burden of childcare falls on women. NIDS-CRAM found that more women than men were spending greater time than usual on childcare in April. This fits with what we already know – that when access to childcare is constrained, the greatest personal and financial impacts are experienced by women, with serious knock-on consequences for children.

For this reason, over recent decades, high-income countries have treated investment in childcare as first and foremost an economic investment. They understand that universal provision of childcare unlocks the current labour market potential of women, and the future labour market potential of children.

In this sense, childcare is a triple impact investment. 

First, it enables labour market entry for women by providing them with a safe place to leave their children while they go out to work. 

Decision-makers are slow to grasp the economic realities for women who carry the burden of care. Recently, the president made a speech on women and access to economic opportunity – but failed to mention the pivotal role of childcare in enabling such opportunity.