Why Are Women Paying To Work?

Despite decades of dispute, childcare fees are still costing working mothers their salaries –and their careers. After the pandemic further exposed a broken system, the fight for free childcare has a new urgency.

- Georgie Dent

Having worked in finance for almost 20 years, Nichole Alexander isn’t averse to running her eyes over a spreadsheet populated with numbers. But there’s one figure the Sydney-based mum of three has studiously avoided for seven years: exactly how much she and her husband, a builder, have spent on childcare for their daughters. “At our peak when all three girls were in long daycare we were spending more than $1300 a week.” Alexander says. “We’ve spent more than $300,000 after tax on childcare.”

They tried many combinations – long daycare, family daycare and a nanny – at different times, but no matter the solution, two factors remained: the juggle was immense and the cost was eye-watering.

“I’m in an absolute minority as a 38-year-old woman, working full-time in banking with three kids, and I know that’s because it’s too hard and too expensive,” Alexander explains. “I’m ahead in my career because I’ve continued to work, but from a financial perspective, whether I had worked or not, there’s barely any difference.”

If it hadn’t been for a timely piece of advice from an older female boss, Alexander admits she may have resigned. “One of my mentors said: ‘You might not be making anything right now, you might even be in the red, but think about your super,’” she recalls. “That was persuasive … but if you don’t love your job or it doesn’t pay well, why would you persevere with the juggle? Because it effectively means you are paying to work.”