Theme:
Gender
About the Issue
Early childhood is a period of rapid and foundational development, during which approximately 90 percent of a child’s brain is formed. This stage lays the groundwork for lifelong health, learning, emotional well-being, and productivity. It is also when children begin to absorb and internalize the gender norms, roles, and expectations modeled by their families, communities, and broader society.
By the time children reach primary school, many already have a clear sense of how they are expected to behave based on their gender, how they are valued, and what roles they are likely to assume in the future. These early perceptions can shape their aspirations, self-esteem, and opportunities throughout life. Beyond shaping the self concept, behaviors, and future opportunities of young children, inequities in the roles of men and women play as caregivers for young children affect the household environment including economic status of families and can hinder the nurturing care that young children receive.
To break the cycle of gender inequality, gender-transformative policies and programming are essential. These approaches go beyond equal access to services—they actively seek to challenge and transform harmful gender norms and power imbalances that limit the potential of girls and boys alike—and the women and men who care for them. Initiatives that promote positive gender balance may include:
- Enacting comprehensive policies that support both women and men as caregivers.
- Supporting women’s access to decent work by providing quality childcare and early learning services.
- Engaging fathers and male caregivers to promote shared caregiving responsibilities.
- Training educators and caregivers to recognize and counteract gender bias.
- Empowering communities to support gender-equitable practices from the earliest years.
When national ECD policies and programs are designed with gender equity in mind, they not only improve child development outcomes but also advance women’s rights and men’s caregiving roles, stimulate economic growth, and reduce inequalities, creating a virtuous cycle of opportunity and well-being. According to the International Labour Organization, for every $1 invested to close the childcare gap, it could bring a $3.7 return plus create 300 million jobs and reduce the gender gap in earnings by 12 percentage points.
This thematic page was developed to help practitioners, policymakers, and stakeholders advance gender equality from the start of life. By investing in gender-transformative ECD, recognizing and rewarding the value of unpaid care work, and engaging fathers as equal partners in caregiving, we can ensure that all children—and their caregivers—have the opportunity to survive, thrive, and reach their full potential.
Why it Matters
Investing in gender equality from the start of life benefits everyone. When women are empowered and fathers are engaged in caregiving, children thrive, families are healthier, and societies become more equitable. Recognizing, reducing, and redistributing unpaid care work—and challenging harmful gender norms early—lays the foundation for lifelong well-being, inclusive development, and a more just future for the next generation.
Resources
The well-being of young children is deeply intertwined with the empowerment of their mothers and female caregivers. When women are denied opportunities for education, employment, and decision-making, their children—especially daughters—are more likely to experience poor health, limited learning, and restricted life chances. The unique challenges of women and girls differ across contexts and groups as gender norms intersect with other elements of identity including ethnicity, disability status, education level, etc. compounding or alleviating inequities. This must be considered when developing policies and programs that respond to the interlinked needs of women and children.
Globally, unpaid care work is a major barrier to women’s economic participation and access to decent work. Key facts include:
- In 2018, 606 million women were unavailable for employment due to unpaid care responsibilities, compared to just 41 million men, according to the International Labour Organization.
- Mothers of children aged 0 to 5 had the lowest employment rates globally—just 47.6 percent, far below the rates for men and women without young children.
- Women also spend two to ten times more time on unpaid care work than men, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
This imbalance not only limits women’s economic independence but also reinforces gendered expectations that caregiving is a woman’s responsibility. To address this, unpaid care work must be recognized, reduced, and redistributed—a critical step toward gender equality in both the workforce and the home. This is particularly critical in the current post-COVID context where there has been backsliding on gender equality. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Gender Gap Report, it will take 123 years to reach gender parity.
Engaging fathers and male caregivers in the early years is a powerful yet often overlooked strategy for advancing gender equality. When fathers are actively involved from pregnancy through the early years, there are multiple benefits, according to the report, Men’s and Father’s Engagement in Nurturing Care, released by the International Step by Step Association.
- Children develop stronger stronger cognitive, emotional, and social development skills.
- Mothers experience better health and reduced postpartum depression.
- Families enjoy more equitable relationships and reduced domestic violence.
- Boys raised by engaged fathers are also more likely to support gender equality and less likely to engage in violent behavior.
Moreover, father engagement helps redistribute unpaid care work, enabling women to pursue education and employment opportunities. This shift not only benefits individual families but also contributes to broader societal progress by challenging harmful gender norms. However, persistent barriers—such as gender stereotypes, institutional biases, and inadequate parental leave policies—continue to limit men’s involvement in caregiving.
Promundo and Plan International have developed a package to support implementers in increasing male engagement in nurturing care and ECD that is available in multiple languages.
Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development produced a thematic brief on men’s engagement that has recommended actions for policymakers and program designers, illustrated with case studies.