European Commission. Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities. G1 Unit
Abstract
In recent decades, childcare services have become a matter of serious public concern. Affordable and good-quality
childcare services may improve the reconciliation of work
and family life and thus foster labour market participation
and gender equality. Childcare facilities may also provide
an important answer to declining fertility rates, by lowering the cost of childbearing in terms of labour market and
career opportunities. Finally there is a growing tendency
to see childcare services from a social pedagogical perspective. In this perspective the main policy rationale is no
longer the reconciliation of work and care, but rather the
contribution of childcare services to child development and
socioeconomic integration. The importance of providing
childcare services has also been recognised at the EU level.
At the Barcelona Summit in 2002, some explicit conclusions
and targets were defined with regard to the provision of
childcare services. Confirming the goal of full employment,
the European Council agreed that Member States should
remove disincentives to female participation in the labour
market and strive to provide childcare by 2010 to at least
90 % of children between 3 years old and the mandatory
school age and at least 33 % of children under 3 years of
age. The importance of these targets has been reaffirmed as
recently as 2008 in the employment guidelines (2008–10)
adopted by the Council.peer-reviewe