Marie Michael Library

Childcare service expansion in Chile and Mexico: For women or children or both?

Staab, Silke & Gerhard, Roberto

Recently, Chile and Mexico have increased the availability of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Mexico's ECEC services subsidize community- and home-based daycare therefore targeting and facilitating employment of low-income mothers. The Chilean government's strategy has been to invest in the capabilities and equalize the opportunities of children from low-income families. Children, rather than women, are the main beneficiaries of this programme. This paper compares both programmes and shows that differences in policy design have implications for the opportunities the programmes are able to create for women and children from low-income families.