Denise Tyler: Childcare cost often a huge issue for parents

Published on Sunday 1 February 2009 21:16

A LOT of women return to work after having a baby because they need intellectual stimulation or because they have an established career path, writes Denise Tyler. Others go back because they have no other choice – their family needs the money. In many cases, these are lone parents who could not afford not to work.

Women will have to weigh up the effects of going to work with what they will have to pay out in childcare costs. Often, the cost of childcare takes up most of their earnings. Women often contact us suffering from the stress of juggling their working life with their home life. But this is not simply about the women's role in bringing up children.

Men must also be allowed to exercise their rights to work flexible hours and play a part in their children's upbringing. Women must be given proper support to allow them to return to work if that is what they want with, for instance, with affordable childcare.

&#149 Denise Tyler is the editor of the Mother@Work online magazine