Childcare: A critical barrier to women's health care

In recent years, there have been alarming onslaughts on women’s right to health care. These attacks have taken various forms, including legislative measures that restrict access to reproductive health care services resulting in rising maternal morbidity and mortality, as well as attempts to defund organizations that provide these services. While the battle for such health rights rages on, another barrier to accessing health care impacts countless women and other caregivers: lack of access to childcare.

Due to deep-rooted gender norms and sociocultural expectations, women often assume the traditional role of caretaking. In fact, US women provide 2.2 times more unpaid family care on a time-per-day basis relative to men. Existing research shows that this disproportionate division of family caregiving restricts women’s time to prioritize their own health and well-being.1 The impact of this imbalance can be seen as women experience delays in health care utilization that may impact health outcomes. A 2017 Kaiser survey underscores the significance of this issue with 14% of surveyed women reporting that they delayed or forewent medical care due to lack of childcare, a figure that was higher for women of lower socioeconomic status (17%). Moreover, a 2019 survey of 300 reproductive-age women within a community public health system in Texas found that over half of women reported delaying or missing care due to lack of childcare; it was the most cited reason for missed care. These surveys emphasize that delays in care due to childcare obligations are frequently recurring burdens rather than isolated incidents. Despite this robust evidence that childcare poses a significant barrier to care, there have been insufficient efforts by health care and governmental organizations to address this crisis and there is an urgent need for solutions.