The Nobel Committee has weighed in: childcare is not just a family issue, it’s an economic one. We’ve all needed or provided care at some point in our lives — for ourselves, our children, or elderly or sick family members or friends — but the labor involved in providing that care has been systematically undervalued. Historically, it’s been unpaid mothers and daughters or underpaid domestic workers serving as caretakers — roles that have undermined girls’ education and women’s economic security. It’s a long-standing pattern documented by this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics winner Dr. Claudia Goldin, who demonstrated the labor market effects of the “motherhood penalty,” or how gender wage gaps actually get worse for women when they become mothers. The implications are clear — to advance gender equality and promote economic growth, we must invest in care…
