MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? - Tartu Ülikool

TÖÖ- JA PEREELU ÜHITAMINE RECONCILING WORK AND FAMILY LIFE
have pointed out long wait lists of kindergartens as the main problem of childcare activities
(Ainsaar et al. 2004).
In 2010, the number of children under seven years of age in Estonian families was slightly higher
than 100,000; on average, more than 55,000 of them attended a kindergarten or a crèche. In
case of 17,000 children under seven years of age – other childcare services were used, and with
nearly 30,000 children – help of relatives or acquaintances living outside of the household was
frequently used. For 35,000 children up to seven years of age no persistent childcare services
were used.
The types of childcare services used and attending of institutions providing childcare services
largely depend on the age of children. A kindergarten or a crèche was attended by over 80% of
children aged three to six and by only one fifth of children up to two years of age.
Help of relatives or acquaintances was also used in case of nearly one third of children aged up
to two years of age, but most of the parents of the children of this age group (63% of children) did
not use traditional childcare services. The percentage of households with 3–6 year-old children
who did not use childcare services was several times smaller – childcare services were not used
only in case of 11% of children.
The question remains, whether the fact that for most of the children 0–2 years of age childcare
services were not used is due to insufficiency and unavailability of such services or the
unwillingness of parents to take their children to a kindergarten.
Krusell et al. (2004) have analysed the satisfaction of parents with childcare services and their
wish to use childcare services. Most of the parents were more or less satisfied with the used
childcare services and the organisation of these services: only one tenth did not consider the
available childcare services satisfactory. The level of satisfaction was significantly affected by
whether the parent wanted to start working again or not. This factor divided the parents who were
staying at home into two: a half of those who did not want to go to work were very satisfied with
the organisation of childcare services and the other half of the parents staying at home, those
who would have gone to work if possible, were the least satisfied. The age of children also
affected the level of satisfaction: most of the parents of 1-year-old children are happy to be at
home and pleased with the situation while some of the parents of 2-year-old children would like to
return to the labour market but cannot find suitable childcare facilities. (Krusell et al. 2004)
In case of men, the high price or absence of childcare services had no effect on whether they
were looking for work or not. At the same time, 11% of women with children up to two years of
age considered the absence or price of childcare services an important hindrance that made
them not look for work.
Thus, the low use of childcare services with children aged 0–2 years is due to both unwillingness
of the parents to use them and the insufficiency of such services offered. (Figure 4)
Nearly 20,000 persons in the prime working age (25–49) who were currently unemployed and
were not actively seeking work, reported willingness to work, although they would not have
commenced working immediately. Two thirds of this so-called potential labour force was
comprised of women i.e. their number was considerably bigger than that of men. The reasons for
not to commencing work within two weeks differed by gender. For men, the most important
reasons were studies and own illness or disability. For women, the main respective reasons also
included studies, but the most important reason was taking care of children or adults requiring
care. Most of the women belonging to the group of potential labour force raised a child up to two
years of age and only 8% of these women had children aged over 15 or did not have children in
their households. (Figure 5)
One might assume that if parents have sufficient income, more childcare services are used as
they would be less dependent on the price of such services.
In case of children up to six years of age, the use of kindergarten, crèche or a kindergarten for
children with special needs was not significantly affected by income. However, a significant effect
of income was seen on the use of hobby groups. While 7% of the children up to six years of age
MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? MAN’S HOME IS THE WORLD, WOMAN’S WORLD IS HER HOME? 77