Child Care Worker and ECE Appreciation Day is a national day of action for our field.
October 8th is the 15th Anniversary of Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day here in Ontario, proclaimed in dozens of municipalities around the province.
This year it is also a national day of action for the early childhood education and care workforce. Child care advocates and supporters across the country are drawing attention to the need to build a national child care program, including better wages and working conditions for the child care workforce.
"Child care workers and early childhood educators are the key to quality child care programs. It is through the skilled work and dedication of these professionals that we will build a quality service. They deserve appreciation, respect and recognition, and that means better wages and working conditions." said Carolyn Ferns, Public Policy Coordinator of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.
Building a real child care system is also an essential part of addressing the gender pay gap, something that the Ontario government has committed to addressing. "Child care is the poster child for the gender wage gap. We need a real child care system to provide better support to mothers in the labour force, and we need a real child care system to provide better support to the largely female workforce that provides child care." said Ferns.
Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day activities will be taking place in child care centres across the province. On social media, child care advocates and supporters are showing support by sharing photos and stories of the great work that the child care workforce does every day.
At noon, the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care will launch the online gallery of their Portraits of Child Care project.
And at 5:30pm at Ryerson University a Vote Child Care 2015 panel event will discuss the importance of child care in the federal election. The Gender Pay Gap Pop-Up Bake Shop will draw attention to the wage gap between men and women in Ontario and offer a recipe for change.
A number of stories and blogs are also drawing attention to these issues, including:
- Low wages a major hurdle for daycare workers, Toronto Star, Oct 7 2015
- High quality child care needs a workforce to match, Child Care Canada NOW blog, Oct 7 2015
- Better wages mean better child care, Queerfemmemama blog, Oct 8 2015