Family child care educators–those who run small child care programs in their homes–play an especially important role in providing care to infants and toddlers. Yet they are operating on razor-thin margins, and usually pay themselves last, if at all. And it is these exact educators who are crucial to ensuring women’s ability to participate, and ultimately thrive, in the workforce.
Lack of access to child care is one of the primary reasons women are unable to work. Even before the pandemic, families faced challengesThe current crisis, which has been greatly exacerbated by COVID-19, has forced many women to leave the workforce in order to take care of their children, and the situation is only worsening as time goes on. Since the pandemic began, nearly