How Child Care Subsidies Strengthen Women’s Bargaining Positions Within Families

Women face five general impediments in their quest for economic equality with men. First, women value, or demand, children more than men. Second, women are more averse to risk than men. Third, women are generally more impatient than men. Fourth, custom is a strong determinant of gender roles. Fifth, in the event of divorce, women with children are less likely to remarry than both women without children and men. Within families, these impediments reduce women’s bargaining power relative to their male partners. Child care subsidies can help reduce the impact of these impediments, and therefore help women in their quest for economic equality. The present paper uses game theory to analyze the role of child care subsidies in women’s quest for equality. Empirical studies about child care policies across countries concludes that in 2021 the United States ranked among the bottom three of the 41 wealthiest counties in its child care policies. The topic of U.S. child care policies is an important issue in the document Project 2025, which forms the foundation for many of the policies being pursued in President Donald Trump’s second term. The document indicates that a major policy goal is to restore “the family as the centerpiece of American life” and to protect America’s children. The theory developed in the paper is applied to analyze the rhetoric and reality of global child care policies, with special attention to those in the U.S. The analysis suggests that U.S. child care policies being pursued in 2025 will harm many American women and children, especially those from low income families. The U.S. policies are also at odds with recommendations to protect children that have been developed by United Nations agencies.