Childcare responsibilities fall disproportionately to women, leaving them with less time and energy to devote to paid work. Women entrepreneurs often tell us of the “juggling act” they must do to keep their families and businesses in order, feeding babies between board meetings and taking client calls during nap times. It’s hard enough to run a business while raising children, so taking time to develop the skills, confidence and networks needed to grow that business is often not possible.

To address this, the Foundation advocates for better care policies around the world. When it comes to our own work, we now provide free childcare services to women in our training programmes in Guyana and Nigeria, supporting them to attend sessions and boost their businesses. Here, our Senior Programme Manager, Leanne Baker, shares why this is important and what it means for the women we work with. 

Gender stereotypes create unequal care workloads

The World Bank’s 2024 Women, Business and the Law report identified that less than a third of 190 economies have standards in place to ensure safe and quality childcare, and less than half have any financial support or tax relief for those with young children. This underinvestment, alongside entrenched gendered norms and expectations, means that women shoulder a disproportionate amount of care responsibilities and labour, the vast majority of which is unpaid. In 2023, OECD identified that globally, women conduct 2.6 times the amount of unpaid care and domestic tasks than men, which is exacerbated in countries with limited investment in the care sector.  

These imbalances pose significant barriers to women’s entrepreneurship as women have to balance these responsibilities with the demands of running a business. In addition, gender stereotypes around care can cause contention over their work as business owners; our own research found that 49% of women entrepreneurs had been told they should focus more of their time on their family or children.  

Responding to women entrepreneurs’ needs

In 2022, through conversations with the women we work with and our expert partners, it became clear that care responsibilities were limiting women’s ability to participate in our programmes. Some would miss sessions or drop out entirely due to childcare challenges, while others would bring their child to class, making it hard for them and others to focus. Seeing the obstacles women faced in attending and fully immersing themselves in our training sessions, it was important to us that we provide solutions to address their unmet childcare needs. 

Together with partners, we started offering free on-site childcare for women participating in our Road to Growth programme in Guyana and Nigeria in 2023.  This was offered for all in-person sessions and was provided by qualified childcare professionals, including Carlotta John, who is a programme alumna herself! We intentionally made the offer flexible, so that women could use the service as a last-minute option if other arrangements fell through. The childcare service was offered on site to maximise convenience and peace of mind for participants, allowing mothers to focus on their training while knowing their children were in a safe environment next door.  

This factor has proven important – in Nigeria, several of our participants had very young babies, and were able to easily to check in on their child or breastfeed whenever was needed, enabling them to fully focus on their learning. One incredibly dedicated women entrepreneur even gave birth midway through the course and still continued attending! This would not have been possible without the childcare offered. 

Addressing the problem at the source

While providing free childcare has been hugely beneficial for Road to Growth participants in Nigeria and Guyana, we know that it won’t solve the problem entirely. We must address the root causes that create unequal care workloads for women and explore solutions that are inclusive of their broader care responsibilities such as caring for elderly, unwell, or disabled family members. 

We encourage our programme facilitators to discuss sustainable ways for participants to manage their care workloads, which includes working with other family members to redistribute domestic responsibilities, where they feel able to do so.  

We are also working to engage male allies in women’s entrepreneurship. In Guyana, for example, we invite male family members to orientation and graduation, to witness the programme’s benefits and the women’s successes. We hope this will support the dismantling of gender stereotypes and norms that contribute to women’s disproportionate care burden.

It doesn’t stop there. We’re advocating for governments and policymakers to fulfill their commitments to women and girls. Our joint-report with CARE International UK, explores solutions for overcoming inequalities in unpaid care and creating care economies.

Looking ahead

We plan to continue offering childcare to participants in Nigeria and Guyana, and to expand it to all of our training programmes globally. But we can’t do this alone.  

Corporate partners have a crucial role to play. Learn how your company can join us in supporting women entrepreneurs to overcome challenges related to unpaid care, access our impactful training programmes, and improve their business outcomes.