Instead they argued for progressive employment policies. But their findings should still be questioned. It is not good enough to ask whether a parent works. It is also necessary to examine the quality of the childcare. There were far fewer quality council or workplace nurseries in the 1970s.
Many studies show that good quality childcare can improve children's chances.
Good nurseries encourage interaction and the development of skills that benefit children socially, physically and, later, educationally. Research by Elizabeth Harvey at the University of Connecticut in 1999, for example, found no long term difference between children whose mothers worked full time in their first three years and those whose mothers did not. Another study, from Canada in 1998, concluded that women working benefited children by bringing in income and improving living standards. The childcare options that were available in the 1970s bear little resemblance to the terrain that working parents encounter today. Quality childcare is key, particularly in the first three years of life when a child's cognitive and language development is crucial.