Critical analysis of inadequate childcare Term Paper

Critical analysis of inadequate childcare - Term Paper Example Even now, the country seeks to increase the population growth rate, and has resorted to attracting immigrants and permanent residents. It is therefore to Canada’s interest for the nation’s birth rate to rise, in order to spur a natural increment in the population. It is for this reason that the state gives careful attention to the childcare benefits that are supposed to encourage established and healthy adults to have and raise children. The media report The media report relates the plight of several mothers who find the Toronto childcare subsidy program sorely deficient for the purpose of enabling them to work or study. Jennifer (student), Elise (work-at-home) and Sarah (career woman) found childcare either inaccessible or unaffordable, and believe that the 237,000 licensed child care spaces in Ontario inadequate to accommodate the roughly 1.2 million children under 12 in need of child care. The situation has created a gender disadvantage against women, since most sing le parents with young children in need of child care are women. ... Analysis in light of gender studies The dilemma faced by those mothers featured in the media report is supported by academic inquiry. Studies on childcare and parental benefits have been found to be gender discriminatory. For instance, the delivery of maternity and parental leave benefits through unemployment insurance tends to reinforce the gendered nature of the benefit, since maternity is not a form of unemployment and is not accorded its own recognition as such; likewise in the case of parental leave benefit being made contingent on labor force attachment of a specific kind which may discriminate against some women without the requisite affiliation (Calder 99). Tax and benefits laws contribute to the problems of unequal treatment between two-parent families and one-parent (usually headed by the mother) families, with the latter being discriminated against (Battle, et al. 2). Lost in the discussion on gender equality in social benefits is the realization that the effect on many mo thers of not finding full-time gainful employment confines her and her young offspring to a life of poverty. There is an inherent disconnect in the ideals associated with motherhood – of being at home for young children to provide proper nutrition, instruction, and emotional support – and the imperative of finding a job to sustain the family (Zeytinoglu, et al. 178). In the sixties, the Canadian federal government provided half of the welfare costs per province, and mandated that beneficiaries need not work for them to claim their benefits. This made benefits an absolute right. At present, this approach had been modified; the federal government had halved their subsidy, and allowed provinces to adopt work-for-welfare programs. For most of