Valuing Family
Jennifer Parnham
My heart lifted as I heard Ed Balls announce labour
would commit to 25 hours of free childcare, while I stood
at the Fabian conference some months ago, bouncing up
and down trying to keep my baby asleep. Immediately I
wanted to know from what age. I got chatting latter to a
woman next to me about the complications of having a
family and working. We both agreed we wanted more
than a commitment to 25 hours free
childcare (from I
suspect 3 years) we wanted a comprehensive
set of
policies that would support
families in work and address
the competition so many
people experience between
caring responsibilities
and paid employment.
In the lunchtime
session with the
Fabian
Women’s
society
someone
pointed
out that
the
disproportionate
effect of the cuts on
women had not been
mentioned in the main meetings so
far and that we needed to mainstream
feminist politics. I nearly shouted amen
before remem