Educated, employed and equal : Scolarisées, employées et égales : des services de garde nationaux pour la prospérité économique

CA EDUCATED, EMPLOYED AND EQUAL - THE ECONOMIC PROSPERITY CASE FOR NATIONAL CHILD CARE EDUCATED, EMPLOYED AND EQUAL Executive Summary Women’s advances in the work force and education over the last three decades demonstrate an unstoppable movement toward equality and mark a quiet revolution in women’s lives. [...] The social and educational benefits of early learning and child care services for children and families are now well established in the literature.4 These benefits are particularly acute for children living in poverty and low-income families, a disproportionate number of which are led by single mothers and from racialized communities.5 The economic case for comprehensive national early learning an [...] With Canadian women surpassing men in paid employment in 2009 and young women surpassing young men in education,6 Canada is at the brink of a broad sea-change in the workforce that cannot be supported by the current patchwork of early learning and child care services. [...] Analysis of the costs and benefits of early learning and child care services as a national social policy needs to include the changes in the gender balance in employment and education that have occurred over the last 30 years. [...] Discussion of early learning and child care services has shifted from a narrow focus on costs to a detailed analysis of costs and benefits, in which public benefit is measured in terms of “strong and long-lasting effects on child development” and support for parents to maintain continuous employment and build job skills.7 The discussion of benefits needs to shift further, to recognize the social c