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Don’t Build Roads, Open Schools

The idea of child care as women’s (unpaid) work holds the issue back in political discussions.

After all, Johnson could invest in one thing right now that would help millions of people get to work just as surely as any road or bridge: child care.

Affordable, high-quality child care is good for gender equality, good for parents’ household budgets and stress levels, and good for the economy. Any investment in care would produce 2.7 times as many jobs as an equivalent investment in construction, according to the Women’s Budget Group, an independent think tank. Nurseries, day-care centers, and kindergartens have been badly hit by pandemic closures, but so have primary and secondary schools, which we should also count as child care. These are not just sites for learning, or places where children go to make friends and develop social skills. Schools are also what allow parents to go to work, earn wages, generate tax income, and contribute to economic growth.