National Pyjama Day 2023

International Women’s Day 2020

International Women’s Day 2020

The theme of International Women’s Day this year is “Each for Equal and is focussed on the role that each of us can play in ensuring that women’s achievements are highlighted and celebrated. It aligns very well with Leading Transformation Together which is the theme of this year’s Early Childhood Ireland annual conference. As part of the conference, participants will hear more about challenging and inspiring work being undertaken in early years contexts both in Ireland and across the world.  Members will also have the opportunity to engage in compelling discussions on leading sectoral transformation through a focus on compliance, rights, health and well being, and quality improvement.

Our sector is predominantly female, and each day women of all ages are engaged in caring for and educating babies and children, with our members also playing an additional and vital leadership and guidance role with those staff.  It remains a sad fact that despite the hard work of our members, and all those working in the sector, care-work remains under-resourced and undervalued in the public policy process. There is a great deal of research evidence to suggest that the reasons behind this under-valuing has a lot to do with the fact that to a large extent, care work is equated with women’s work. While we acknowledge the fantastic work that men do in our sector, we cannot get away from the fact that the early years and school age childcare workforce is over 98% female and the perception that caring for small children is still seen as ‘women’s work’.

Despite these perceptions, Early Childhood Ireland’s third Childcare Barometer showed the huge value which the Irish public places on education and care work for babies and young children. There is also high support (65%) for educators to receive proper terms and conditions. Despite this, our sector has for too long been the Cinderella of education & care in Ireland.

Caring roles, which have been traditionally carried out by women, have long been undervalued across the world. Historically, the traditional family unit in western societies tended to emphasise the male breadwinner working outside the home for a wage that could provide for his partner and children. This model has evolved over time, with most developed states now expecting that women will also work outside the home. The structures to support this have not caught up in Ireland, nor has there been any sustained discussion about the role of men in caring, including in our sector, where they remain a tiny minority, not to mention the interests, views and voices of children.  Though both parents are expected to work, there has been little investment in parental leave or in supporting a fully-fledged, for-purpose early years system. The knock-on effect on families and society is sometimes acknowledged, but the impact on the early years and school age care sector is misunderstood at best. On behalf of our members, Early Childhood Ireland has been highlighting the issues of sustainability and other areas of concern to policy makers and the public, and never more so than during the recent election and since its outcome.

Returning to the themes of Each For Equal and Leading Transformation Together, it is important that we acknowledge the role that our members play in leading sectoral transformation in their own right. In the face of the challenges faced by our members, resilience and leadership are two of the defining characteristics of the early years sector in Ireland. Despite the high turnover of staff, the under investment and all the other issues, our members are never found wanting when it comes to stepping forward to represent their settings and the children in their care. Our members show leadership when they volunteer to sit on Early Childhood Ireland’s Policy and Implementation Panel, when they represent Early Childhood Ireland at consultative forums and when they speak in the media on our behalf. We see leadership and desire to enhance and empower settings with the huge interest of our members in upskilling and continuous professional development. In successfully running their settings in the face of enormous challenges and delivering the best for babies and children each day, all of our members embody and demonstrate leadership through promoting excellence in education and care-work.

We look forward to welcoming our members to the event on the weekend of the 3 and 4 of April and to celebrating the leadership that they display in their practices every day as part of their work.

Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan shona daoibh go léir / Happy International Women’s Day from all in Early Childhood Ireland.

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