child care - Digital Library Collections

THE STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN YEARBOOK 1998
Table 3.1 Labor Force Participation of Women with Children Under Age 6,
Selected Years
Year
All women in the labor force
Number
Percent
Married women in the labor force
Number
Percent
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1997
6,538,000
8,215,000
9,397,000
10,610,000
46.8%
53.5
58.2
65.0
1,399,000
2,012,000
2,474,000
3,117,000
3,914,000
4,518,000
5,227,000
6,406,000
7,247,000
7,582,000
11.9%
16.2
18.6
23.2
30.3
36.7
45.1
53.4
58.9
63.6
- Data nat available.
Source: U.S. Department of Labar, Bureau of Labar Statistics.
Past problems. In 1972 Windows on Day Care, a
study by the National Council of Jewish Women
(NCJW), exposed the glaring inadequacies of the
nation's child care system. The study, based on
observations ofprograms and interviews with families
across the country, revealed problems that are
strikingly familiar today: substandard care, insufficient
supply (particularly for infants. toddlers, and
school-age children), and a lack of funds to help
families pay for care.
NCJW members visited 431 child care centers
enrolling nearly 24,000 children. They found that
only 1 percent of the for-profit centers and 9 percent
ofthe nonprofit centers provided what NCJW
members regarded as truly developmental care, including
educational, health, nutritional, and, where
needed, social services. A significant proportion of
programs were of poor quality and should have
been closed.
A 1971 Washington Post article likewise described
poor conditions at a center in Washington,
D.C.:
In one corner of the large, neat, and very
bare room, 21 children, ages 3 to 6 years
old, and two adults sit, watching "Captain
Kangaroo" on a small-screen black-andwhite
television perched far above their
heads on a room divider. About half the
children seem attentive, a handful are
squinting or glassy-eyed, and five have their
heads down on the table either resting or
sleeping. . . . There is no talk, either during
commercials or after the program ends.
According to the reporter, there were few books in
the center, no educational toys, and little if anything
to stimulate creative play.
Windows on Day Care also documented a
serious shortage of child care for two large
groups-ehildren under age 3 (infants and toddlers)
and those of school age. One of the most
distressing findings of the report "was the almost
total absence of quality care for infants and toddlers
outside the home." Similarly, interviewees
in almost every community spoke of "a large need
for before- and after-school care ... about which
very little, if anything, was being done." Mother
after mother reported that there was no care of
any kind available for after-school hours.
Low wages for child care providers were another
problem in the 1970s. In 1977 almost two out
38 CHI L D R EN'S 0 E FEN S E FUN D