The Politics of Childcare Provisioning: A Geographical Perspective

Abstract

Childcare has been an important site of analysis for feminist geographers over the last twenty years. This paper will offer a review of work to date in geography which focuses on childcare. The review is organised under three themes; the changing policy landscape around childcare and its implications for service provision, the spatial politics of access to childcare and the (re)production of childcare as 'women's work'. Given the breadth of work in these areas, and reflecting the contexts in which much of this work has been conducted, the debates highlighted speak to concerns raised in liberal welfare regimes. In the process I argue that there remain pertinent areas where geographers are well placed to contribute and signal some new questions which need to be asked around the politics of childcare provision today. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.