Alliance reacts to TUC report showing a widening of the gender pay gap once a woman becomes a mother
The Early Years Alliance has issued a comment following a report by the TUC on the gender pay gap.
In addition to highlighting that the average woman in paid employment effectively works for free for nearly two months of the year compared to the average man in paid employment, the report also said that the gender pay gap significantly widens once a woman becomes a mother.
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said:
鈥淚t is extremely concerning, but sadly not at all surprising, to see how significantly the gender pay gap widens once a woman becomes a mother.
鈥淲hile we recognise that the reasons for this are varied and complex, it鈥檚 clear that our broken early years funding system is a huge part of the problem. Early years providers are doing their utmost to provide affordable and high-quality education and care 鈥 but the fact is that sector funding just doesn't go far enough. This has created a perfect storm where struggling providers are forced to increase fees, and as a result, more and more mothers feel they have no choice but to sacrifice their careers to save on early years costs.
鈥淭here is no doubt that the sector has reached a tipping point. If the government doesn鈥檛 take meaningful action soon, the financial pressure on both families and the sector will only worsen, making an already difficult situation simply impossible.鈥