Women are responsible for the vast majority of childcare in contemporary Britain. Describe the effects that this has on their use of space and suggest ways in which any negative ideas could be ameliorated.

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Women are responsible for the vast majority of childcare in contemporary Britain. Describe the effects that this has on their use of space and suggest ways in which any negative ideas could be ameliorated.

By Katie Clarke

Women are responsible for childcare for a variety of reasons. Often due to the costs of private childcare, a mother staying at home becomes logical. Many women struggle to find convenient well paid jobs so conclude that it is not worth working. Another reason why the woman is often responsible may be that the family see it as only natural that the woman in the family should take care of the children. “Women are perceived as having the sort of emotional qualities necessary to nurture families and run the home” (Valentine, 2001, pg 65). Also, maternal instincts are often assumed to grant women with greater ability than men when it comes to childcare. “Eco-feminists… see child-raring as a key experience that teaches women to be more caring and tender” (Rose, 1996, pg. 26). Finally, single mothers are often left with little or no choice than to raise their child alone and rely on childcare benefits provided by the state. “In the UK and North America at least, domestic work (housework and childcare for example) within the heterosexual family has often been assigned to women.” (Holloway and Hubbard, 2001, pg 91). For these reasons and many others women are often the sex ‘left holding the baby’. This report will look at how this can affect a woman’s use of space, and how the negative side of this can be changed.

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When a woman has no outside work, her domestic restraints can make her see her home as a prison. Mothers at home with babies crave for interactions with other adults and for time away from their home dwelling. This is where their home is no longer a place of comfort and rest but a place of domestic labour. Therefore, the structure of the nuclear family can lead to the home becoming a prison.  “A key observation here is that the separation of home from work cannot apply when the work of one member of the household occurs in the home place.” ...

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