The Difficulties Mothers Face in going Back to Work after Children
Child care costs have long been an issue for parents to consider when the mother is planning on going back to work. However, the combination of a poor economy, stagnant wages and rising child care costs is putting more and more strain on women, who need to ensure that their take home pay is enough to cover costs, as well as cope with the stress that being away from their child can cause. AnMSNBC articlecites statistics from Child Aware, a US organisation that monitors costs showed that they rose by 2% in 2010 compared to the previous year. Whereas child care costs can vary widely, the organisation reported that in Massachusetts, the annual cost of full-time care for a four year old child can be as much as $12,000.
According to a recentGuardianarticle, the situation in the UK is even worse; OECD figures show that the only country featured in an international study with costs higher than the UK is Switzerland. The net cost of child care in the UK, as a % of the average wage, is a massive 40.9%. In Switzerland it is 77.7% and in the US, it is 38.1%.
This puts women wanting to return to work in a quandary. Many don’t want to take on a high-powered, well-paid job, because their short-term focus is now on their child, rather than their career. Yet, it may not be financially viable to take a less well-paying job; working just to break even after child care costs have been taken out of the equation is not conducive to a happy career or family life. Even part-time child care, to fit in with a part-time job can be far too expensive for some to consider.
The Guardian article suggests that, because of high costs, 36.9% of UK parents rely on family members to care for children while they are at work. That is certainly an option for some parents, provided that they have relatives who live nearby and they are prepared to care for the children for free or for a reduced wage. However, many grandparents are still of working age and have their own jobs and life to juggle, whereas great grandparents may be too old to be capable of looking after young children, especially on a full-time basis.
Another issue revolves around safety. Parents are not necessarily content to use local services with which they don’t feel comfortable, because of a number of high profile issues. For example, in 2009 in the UK, awoman working at a kindergarten in Plymouthwas charged with performing sexual acts on children, along with two people she met on Facebook. The three then shared photos of their actions. The horror that this, and many other cases, engendered amongst parents reverberated around the country, ensuring that most parents now monitor kindergartens carefully and are often persuaded against choosing the cheapest option.
In the eighties and nineties, it became popular for mothers, who would once have remained at home to care for their children, to go back to work and leave their children to the care of others. It now seems that the situation is swinging back to the way it once was, with the mother staying at home to care for her children, simply because of excessively high costs. That is not, however, something that suits all mothers, particularly those who want to keep their career on track.
Governments around the world are recognising that child care costs are an issue and that it may have a huge impact on the economy, especially in the long-term. Unfortunately, subsidies for child care are being affected by a series of cuts and these are likely to continue.MSNBCmentions California, where there is a proposal for spending on child care and early education to be cut by $517 million. The same thing is happening in other states and many other countries too.
There is, however, some light at the end of the tunnel – it just means that women wanting to return to work may need to get creative and find ways of working at home, while keeping an eye on the children at the same time. It may not be ideal for all, but with many workplaces now investing in remote workers, it is a possibility for more and more parents. In the long run, unless child care costs start to fall, or the standard of living rises significantly, it may be their only option.
