Family and Community Participation in Early Childhood Development. (2015)
By Ridhi Sethi, Dr. Asha Singh, Dr. Bhanumathi Sharma
New Delhi, India
What is it to be a working mother with a young child in today’s world? The juggling act of balancing work and family has led to an interest in studying the stressors and support services that a woman has access to. What are the different arrangements available to the private sector? Are these same or different for different social groups? Whose responsibility is it to care for the young child? Is the role of the government limited to legislate and provide basic survival services for the children of the country? What is the role of the corporate sector in caring for the young? Is it philanthropic or strategic? This paper attempts to review the services available and its impact in caring for the young child. This paper also aims to highlight the relationship between provision of good child care services and women’s participation in the workforce. Women have always been working at home and outside but today they are burdened with more obstacles because of long hours, travelling, competitive nature of work, financial needs and perceived job insecurity. This perceived job insecurity is spilling into the lives of both men and women and have thus led to an increase in research on work and family.