1. An OECD view on parental childcare
Presentation for “Parental Childcare and Employment Policy Conference: Collision or Complementarity?”
Prague, Czech Republic, 5-6th 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