Are “neighbourhood mums” the answer to a childcare shortage?

Turkey’s government has made no secret of its desire to boost birth rates and strengthen the traditional nuclear family. But its ambitions clash with the relatively meagre maternity leave working mothers receive – just 16 weeks paid leave as standard – and a lack of publicly-funded daycare centres.

Its proposed solution, unveiled last year as part of a wider initiative that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dubbed the Year of the Family, is the “neighbourhood mum” project. This pilot for community-based childcare allows women aged under 65 to offer childminding services at home, charging lower fees than either private daycare or nannies.

Some experts cautiously welcome the project, though warn it doesn’t go far enough. Huriye Toker, director of Yaşar University’s Women and Family Studies Centre, believes it could contribute to lifting barriers to women’s participation in the workforce – but thinks other solutions are needed in the long run.

https://insideturkey.org/are-neighbourhood-mums-the-answer-to-a-childcare-shortage/