Free reader event: The true cost of childcare
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
This article is the latest part of the FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign
Ahead of the general election, the high cost and poor availability of UK childcare has shot up the political agenda. Yet, despite promised reforms, women are still paying a heavy price financially.
To mark this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8, the FT is hosting a free digital event featuring prominent campaigners, who will set out the economic reality of how the current system puts women at a disadvantage, and make the case for how and why this needs to change.
Anna Whitehouse, the author and Heart Radio presenter, better known online as Mother Pukka, is the founder of the Flex Appeal campaign to have flexible working enshrined as a legal right for all.
Joeli Brearley founded Pregnant Then Screwed in 2015 after her own experience of pregnancy discrimination, and has been campaigning to end the “motherhood penalty” ever since.
Maike Currie, a former journalist, is head of campaigns at Hargreaves Lansdown, the investment platform. She launched the Financially Fearless campaign to spur more women to invest and highlight the damaging impact of the gender pay and pensions gap.
The one-hour panel discussion and Q&A will be chaired by Claer Barrett, the FT’s consumer editor and presenter of the FT’s Money Clinic podcast.
Topics the panel will tackle include whether bosses are really sold on the benefits of flexible working; whether childcare reforms will make enough of a difference; what the opposition Labour Party might do differently; and what the UK can learn from other countries.
As well as discussing the impact of childcare costs on women’s finances, careers and future earnings potential, the conversation will also focus on the related financial impact on older women if they have to care for grandchildren.
To be broadcast online at 12.30pm GMT on Friday March 8, click here to register and secure your free place at this virtual “lunch and learn” event and submit your questions to the panel in advance.
This event has been organised in partnership with the FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign charity and the FT Women employee network.
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