A chance to break the glass ceiling

A remarkable proposal to introduce onsite child care services at companies in Budget 2017 should not be lost in the number crunching of taxes. This incredibly progressive policy, which should be put on par with possibly the best thing to increase women in the formal workforce since Sri Lanka reached gender parity in university education, should be supported and implementation fast-tracked.

The number of women in Sri Lanka’s formal workforce has stagnated at about 34% for years, possibly decades, and this is a massive loss when considering that more than 50% of graduates are women and they make up roughly 52% of the population. Unemployment data from the Census and Statistics Department shows that women are twice as likely as men to be without jobs and more than five million women of working age are unemployed in Sri Lanka. In his five-year policy framework delivered to Parliament in October, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe outlined a Government plan to increase women participation in the formal workforce to 40% by 2020.

Having more women in the formal workforce is positive for several reasons. Sri Lanka can get the full extent of its return on investment from taxpayer-funded education by encouraging educated women to stay in the formal workforce. This also means that many thousands of women can be financially empowered and those working in the informal sector at present have the chance to earn better as well get better treatment.

It means that women do not have to make the often very difficult decision of whether to wait to start a family or give up their careers for families. It means that men can also take equitable share in housework and childcare. It means more women can enter challenging new fields driven by technology, science and services and rise to the top; breaking gender norms and pushing economic growth at the same time. In the long run it means Sri Lanka’s glass ceiling could be broken completely, or at least be severely cracked.

The Budget proposal is simple. Companies with more than 500 employees should start a daycare, which can be done individually or with another company. They are free to decide the system and funding, perhaps even charging parents a nominal amount to fund the facility, but the Government encourages them to target low income women and train them so they have access to better paying jobs. Women whose only recourse would be to travel to the Middle East as housemaids would then have a relatively lucrative option.   

Undoubtedly implementation would come with challenges but many developed countries adopted such policies in the early 2000s and could provide ideas that can be adapted by local companies. Companies in these countries have found that when working parents are provided with high-quality reliable childcare, they get employees who work hard, stick with their jobs, miss fewer workdays, return early from maternity leave and even brag about their great employers. How can that not be good?

Women employees, who already make up a significant part of most companies, should step forward for this cause. They finally have the platform to build a discourse on this topic, come up with plans and push management to make this policy happen. It will not be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is. Childcare policies could even be great CSR programmes. It is finally time for Sri Lanka’s private sector to set aside their excuses and step up to make a real difference.