1 An OECD view on parental childcare Presentation for “Parental Childcare and Employment Policy Conference: Collision or Complementarity?” Prague, Czech Republic, 5-6 th February 2009 Simon Chapple Child Wellbeing Project ELS/SPD, OECD, PARIS

2 Recent OECD work on families and children Starting Strong I & II Babies and Bosses reviews (13 OECD countries) Family database ( Society at a Glance (2008) Enhancing child wellbeing (2009)

3 Fertility context: Czech women start young…

4 …but have few children

5 There are large gaps in work chances for Czech women

6 Czech child wellbeing is generally below average compared to the OECD EU

7 Czech childcare spending is lower than average across the OECD EU (% of NNI)

8 OECD views relating to parental care Self-sufficiency of both men and women is encouraged via paid employment Too long parental leave (1-3 years) may undermine female employment Too short leave (< 6 months) may undermine child wellbeing, especially the WHO exclusive breast feeding target High quality early childhood education is cognitively beneficial, especially for disadvantaged children Parental care is not necessarily about a single primary carer: it is also about work-life balance and choices of part-time work and work hours for both fathers and mothers