CHILD CARE

The entrepreneurial spirit of women has ignited innovation, fostered economic growth and paved the way for future generations. As chair of the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, I want to shine a light on the contributions of women across our economy and call on my colleagues in the U.S. Senate to help us fully unlock their economic potential by addressing access to and affordability of quality child care.

In New Hampshire, nearly 1,500 child care slots have been lost since 2019 after dozens of child care centers closed during the pandemic. These closures impacted families like Michael and his wife, a critical health care worker. Their son’s child care center closed, leaving the nearest center with open slots more than an hour away. Like many families across the state, Michael and his wife were left to do their best to keep their jobs without local and reliable child care. Fortunately, thanks to advocacy on their behalf, they now have child care, but it should not have been this hard for them to obtain it.

While women have made substantial strides toward economic equality, failing to address the child care crisis will only continue to force women to make difficult economic decisions. Women are significantly more likely than men to drop out of the labor market to care for their families. This occurs despite the continued narrowing of the gender pay gap.

As I heard at the committee’s July 2023 hearing, child care businesses are small businesses, and their success and accessibility are paramount to women’s ability to participate in the workforce or to start their own businesses. Programs that invest in the sector and help families afford child care have been underfunded for decades. For example, of the children eligible for federal child care assistance, only one in seven receive it, in part due to inadequate funding.

The lack of available or reliable child care impacts the nation’s economic bottom line. Many businesses are unable to hire employees to operate or grow their business due to a lack of child care options in their communities. In addition, 40% of small businesses report that workers’ child care needs negatively affect their ability to fulfill the requirements of their job. Income losses due to missed work can accumulate to millions of dollars in lost tax revenue, retirement savings, benefits and long-term earnings.

For women seeking to fully participate in the economy, quality child care enables them to focus on scaling their enterprises and supporting their families. By ensuring access to affordable and high-quality child care, we empower women to contribute their skills and talents to the fullest extent, fostering a more inclusive and robust entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In April, the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will hold a hearing on the child care crisis. We plan to dive deeper into why investing in quality, affordable child care is not only a social responsibility but an important economic decision.

Too many challenges have prevented women from achieving their full, economic potential; nevertheless, they have persevered. If women were entrepreneurs at equal rates as men, global gross domestic product could increase by approximately 3% to 6%, adding $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion to the global economy.

In the United States, 99% of businesses are considered small businesses, of which women alone own more than 14 million businesses, employ more than 12 million workers and generate $2.7 trillion in revenue. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of women-owned businesses increased at nearly double the rate of those owned by men. In 2022 alone, the rate of growth for women-owned businesses was 4.5 times that of their male counterparts. Undeniably, women have shown their ability to succeed despite the obstacles they face.

As a longtime advocate for increased support of child care providers and young families, I urge my Senate colleagues to thoroughly consider and pass legislation to provide additional funding, tax incentives and access to capital to address America’s broken child care system, like my Right Start Child Care and Education Act of 2024.

Correcting past underinvestment and devaluation of child care support will allow women to unleash their full economic potential and strengthen America’s economic competitiveness.

Democrat Jeanne Shaheen is New Hampshire’s senior U.S. senator.