Working parents with young children: cross‐national comparisons of policies and programmes in three countries

Abstract

Multiple global trends are putting pressure on governments to develop policies and programmes that meet the needs of families with children aged 0–3. This cross‐national analysis focuses on policies and programmes of parental leave and childcare in the United States, Sweden and Japan. Cross‐national studies of early childhood education and care are reviewed. National profiles are provided of demographic, economic, political and socio‐cultural characteristics and of parental leave and childcare policies and programmes. Policies and programmes are compared in relation to equity of coverage and support of basic parental childrearing and child‐protection responsibilities. Issues raised highlight the need for unified programmes and policies, and continuing global dialogue regarding the needs of this population.

“Who Cares for the Children?” Lessons from a Global Perspective of Child Care Policy

“…Like many Western and industrialized countries, the United States has also experienced increases in maternal employment. With only 20-27% of American children, ages five and under, cared for by parents (NCCIC Report 2008), and just over 60% of mothers in the work force (Allen 2003), the majority of US families must make child care arrangements. Despite the high demand for child care, the US has adhered to a familialistic model that places responsibility for care squarely on families and provides limited alternatives to family care and little support for those alternatives.…”

“…The United States is far behind its European counterparts, and in some cases its Eastern counterparts, in the provision of child care, either for the sake of care or for the sake of education. The American care ideal, which is strongly entrenched in religious and right wing politics (Zigler et al 2009), and in the American insistence on minimal government interference in family life (Allen 2003), prefers mothering as the best care option for young children, with a recent shift to parental sharing or intergenerational care.…”

“…The ideology is that child care needed only by those non-normative families that must have a mother working. For all other families it is a choice and thus a private matter and burden taken on by the family (Allen 2003;Durst 2005;Palley 2010;Zigler et al 2009). …”

Extending eusociality to include vertebrate family units

“…The greater number of available work hours for adults has generated a need for family members-facultative-sterile helpers-to help rear offspring. If family members are not available, 'nannies' or regulated cooperative-care facilities are available (Allen 2003). Because 24 h care for young by facultative-sterile helpers-human or otherwise-is such a successful parental adaptation, it is no surprise that eusocial species often dominate prime real estate within their habitats.…”

Child daycare policy in Japan: an examination of the program and its impacts

“…In 2001, 21% of Japanese children younger than three years of age were in daycare. In the United States the comparable percentage of children in daycare was 26%, and in Sweden 29% (Allen, 2003, citing data from a 2001 United Nations study).…”