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Feminism and Child Daycare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Vicky Randall
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Abstract

This article explores some of the main reasons why feminist mobilisation around the issue of child daycare in Britain has been so limited and its impact so modest. It describes this mobilisation, comparing it with experience in other countries and with mobilisation on other issues. It suggests that the modest achievement to date is largely attributable to factors other than the lack of feminist pressure. Indeed feminist reservations were partly a realistic response to these external constraints. But they were also a consequence of the particular character of second wave feminism in Britain and of the questions posed by the issue of childcare for feminists. These questions included the nature and proper role of the state, motherhood, the value of paid employment for women, social class and the tension between short and long-term strategies for social change.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , October 1996 , pp. 485 - 505
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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