| Abstract: | The work involved in looking after children may be paid or unpaid, at home or in institutions outside the home. The main emphasis of this article is on mothers as unpaid care workers for their own school-age children. It describes the nature of child care in general terms, but looks especially at school children and their specific dependencies. In particular it focuses on one public intervention towards children and the ways in which this affects their mothers: namely, the state requirement that children between certain ages should be educated, together with the provision of schools to meet this requirement. This provides a starting point for a discussion of ways and means of extending care provision for school-age children and releasing mothers from their marginalised position in the labour force. |
