Why is Child Care a Racial Justice Issue?
Child care, like many other systems in our country, is rooted in a long history of institutional racism, the legacy of which remains evident in the continuing inequities of our system today. By leading with racial justice in the fight for affordable, high-quality child care for all, we can move toward a system that more effectively and equitably supports all families—especially those who are furthest from justice—to thrive. A fair child care system can contribute to equitable power, access, opportunities, treatments, impacts and outcomes. Equitable child care policies can lift up families and communities by teaching affirming messages about race, anti-racism and racial identity; enabling parents to go to work with the peace of mind their children are safe and nurtured; and ensuring that caring for children is a valued job where people can earn a decent living. By valuing care, we can also redress the long history of racism and gendered racism (or sexism) that has been embedded in our inadequate care policies.
The history of child care in the United States is rooted in the exploitation of Black women and other women of color for whom domestic work—including child care—was one of few acceptable employment opportunities.
- This history began with the institution of chattel slavery, which forced Black women to nurse and care for children of white landowners, to the detriment of their own children.
- Following the end of slavery, Black Codes and the beginning of the Jim Crow era severely limited job prospects for Black women and continued to limit their ability to attain jobs outside of domestic work.
- The continued pervasive arrangement of women of color performing domestic duties for white women for centuries affirmed the notion that women of color were uniquely suited to this work, upholding the low status of both the work of child care itself as well as the women performing it.
Today, a disproportionate share of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) women are in the child care workforce, which remains undervalued and underpaid.
- The continued undervaluing of their work leaves many child care workers (1 in 7), many of whom have their own children to support, living below the poverty line, and only 15% have access to health care. Child care work is one of the lowest paid professions in the United States, despite rising requirements for credentials and education and extensive research pointing to the importance of the early years for young children’s healthy development and future outcomes.
- In spite of the prevalence of women of color in the early childhood field, the profession is highly stratified by race, with white women dominating more highly-paid leadership positions, demonstrating barriers to equity and sending damaging messages to young children about race at an early age.
BIPOC families are most likely to suffer due to the lack of affordable child care, and are also most likely to lack access to high quality care that meets their needs.
- Most children in the United States today are raised in households in which all available adult caretakers are working. Black mothers and caregivers are more likely than those of any other race (77%) to be in the labor force.
- Black mothers are by far the most likely to be the primary source of economic support for their families, and are more than twice as likely as white mothers to be their family’s primary breadwinner.
- BIPOC families are more likely to face greater barriers to care: prohibitive cost, irregular work schedules, language barriers, and other needs can make child care arrangements inaccessible for many families, leading to inequitable participation in licensed child care across racial groups.
- Child care availability also contributes to inequitable access: Hispanic/Latino and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities in particular are more likely to live in child care deserts, with 60 percent of their combined populations living in areas with a low supply of child care. More than 75 percent of the rural AIAN population lives in a child care desert.
The definition of “quality” in child care programs is often racially and culturally normative, which means that programs may be irrelevant to BIPOC families’ needs and in some cases, damaging to children’s healthy development.
- An unacceptable rate of child care and preschool suspensions and expulsions, with Black children experiencing expulsion at twice the rate of their white peers, shows the problematic biases and lack of necessary skills, capacity, and understanding built into child care systems to effectively serve diverse classrooms.
- Many BIPOC families, especially immigrant families and those who speak a language other than English, opt out of formal child care systems that do not reflect their cultural values and identities and are unable to effectively communicate with diverse families to build trust. Many rely instead on family, friend and neighbor (FFN) care, which remains largely unsupported and unresourced.
Our children’s diversity is our strength, but we must intentionally foster values of equity and inclusiveness by explicitly promoting anti-racism and sustaining a diverse, well compensated child care workforce.
- Our current generation of young children is the most diverse yet.
- Among children younger than age 5, there is no majority race or ethnicity. One-quarter of young children live in households with at least one immigrant parent, and one-third of children live in a household where a language other than English is spoken in the home.
- By the time they enter preschool, children are already developing an awareness of social categories of race and class and making social comparisons.
- It is thus important as these early perceptions form, in order to foster positive self-image and reduce racial bias, to give children the chance to interact with peers and adults from different backgrounds and identities, alongside nurturing relationships within their own cultural and linguistic communities.
- While the cultural competency of ECE teachers and caregivers, regardless of their own race or ethnicity, is important in helping to create affirming learning environments and promoting effective communication, there is also some evidence that having a more diverse early childhood workforce may foster more culturally competent classrooms, where teachers guide children in active explorations and celebrations of diversity.
When child care programs and systems prioritize racial justice, they can contribute to developing a more equitable society.
- High quality child care is critical for children’s healthy development and their families’ economic stability and well-being. High quality programs like Head Start that emphasize equity have been shown to have strong positive impacts, particularly for BIPOC children and those who speak a language other than English in the home.
- Child care programs serving BIPOC communities must end suspensions and find alternatives such as investments in trauma informed services, access to mental health supports, and other robust wrap around services that meet children’s diverse needs.
- Through robust investment in culturally competent childcare, resources, fair wages, and training, we can ensure that BIPOC children are developmentally ready for school. These investments in systems that prioritize racial justice can take steps to thwarting the pre-k to prison pipeline.
- Affordable, high quality child care that affirms young children’s developing identities and cultures should be a right for all families—beginning with those who are furthest from justice.
See full statement with citations HERE