Gender Disparities in Active Duty Air Force Parents’ Childcare Access: Pre-Pandemic Costs, Utilization, and Career Impacts

Abstract

Past reports indicate that enduring Department of Defense (DoD) childcare shortfalls may disproportionately affect women, but details regarding gender effects are unknown. This exploratory study sought to uncover the military childcare system’s pre-pandemic state by analyzing two Air Force (AF) survey datasets—the 2017 AF Community Feedback Tool and 2020 AF Childcare Survey—to examine gender gaps in active duty AF parents’ childcare access, cost and utilization, and perceptions of childcare impacts on career progression and retention. Results reveal that women—particularly those in the lowest ranks with less time on station—report more difficulties accessing childcare than male counterparts. Furthermore, fathers paid nothing for childcare and relied on spouses for childcare at higher rates, while mothers paid for care, relied on DoD childcare programs, were on DoD waitlists, reported childcare-related career impacts, and reported childcare affected their retention decisions at higher rates. Policy recommendations to improve childcare across the force are discussed.

The Impact of Motherhood on Women’s Career Progression: A Scoping Review of Evidence-Based Interventions

“…To ensure poorer mothers are not being even more marginalized, we recommend governmental interventions to focus on providing protections against job loss, as well as fair treatment and mechanisms for transitioning contract workers to permanent roles. Another important issue that should be government-level regulated is breastfeeding, with public policies including the creation of lactation spaces [32,72]. Legislation for equal pay is also important to guarantee that mothers are being fairly compensated for their work and to avoid deepening the gender pay gap, as shown by Bear and Glick [46].…”