I’m officially still on maternity leave, but spent this afternoon at the #WorkEqual #EqualPayDay ‘Why Care About #childcare event. Appropriately enough, I brought baby Ravi with me. And - inevitably for the son of a PR person - he got roped into posing in the photocall :)
Speakers at the event included @FrancesByrne, @TarynDeVere, @JenHoganJourno, Ivana Bacik TD, Senator Emer Currie, WorkEqual founder Sonya Lennon & more. Key points were about the need for Ireland to stop viewing #childcare as a labour market activation measure / a service for parents and, instead, to place children at the centre of a quality service that prioritises their learning & development… #WorkEqual #EqualPayDay
Also discussed at today’s #WorkEqual event was, of course, the need for local, community-based, properly funded, affordable #childcare; the need to challenge societal norms & make it more acceptable & visible for men to share parenting on a truly equal basis with women; and the potential to change the language used around childcare to removed inherent gender bias
Last toot about today’s #WorkEqual #EqualPayDay event on #childcare (for now), but another really interesting aspect was to hear from speakers & attendees about the different models of care in place in other countries - from quality, local care in Australia for $16 a week to a properly-functioning public childcare system in Iceland to insights about how longer school-days in France are part of the overall childcare picture. Ireland can learn so much from all these places!