Does Quebec's Subsidized Child Care Policy Give Boys and Girls an Equal Start?

Abstract

Although an increasing body of research promotes the development of universal early education and care programs, little is known about the extent to which these programs affect gender gaps in academic achievement and other developmental outcomes. Analyzing the introduction of universal highly-subsidized child care in Quebec, we first demonstrate that there are no statistically significant gender differences in the average effect of access to universal child care on child outcomes. However, we find substantial heterogeneity in policy impacts on the variance of developmental and behavioural scores across genders. Additionally, our analysis reveals significant evidence of differential parenting practices by gender in response to the introduction of the policy. The analysis is suggestive that the availability of subsidized child care changed home environments disproportionately and may be responsible for the growing gender gaps in behavioural outcomes observed after child care is subsidized.Résumé. Est-ce que la politique de garderies subventionnées du Québec donne aux garçons et aux filles un avantage de départégal? Même si un corpus de recherches croissant promeut le développement de programmes universels de garderies et Corresponding author: Steven F. Lehrer, lehrers@queensu.caWe would like to thank two anonymous reviewers, one of the co-editors (Baker), Habiba Djebbai, Jessica Pan, Aloysius Siow, Eugenia Toma and seminar participants at the