High-quality, affordable and accessible services support children’s learning and development, help parents balance paid work and care, and strengthen the EU’slabour force by enabling more parents, especially mothers, to enter and remain in employment.
This brief shows how unequal care responsibilities continue to constrain women’s employment and well-being, while many families face barriers to affordable, accessible childcare. It calls for expanded high-quality childcare and out-of-school care, stronger parental leave and flexible working arrangements, more equal sharing of care, and targeted support reflecting families’ diverse circumstances.
This brief draws upon the 2024 wave of the EIGE's Survey on Gender Gaps in Unpaid Care, Individual and Social Activities (CARE Survey), the EU’s dedicated source of individual-level data on how women and men share care responsibilities and how these responsibilities shape their daily and working lives.
