paying or informal jobs that offer flexibility to balance paid and unpaid work, at the expense of a pay gap (Alfers 2016, ILO 2018). Mothers can also have reduced career prospects due to productivity losses associated with multitasking and taking care of children at work. An estimated 40 percent of mothers in developing countries bring their children to the workplace or provide childcare while working (World Bank 2012b, UN Women 2015). Those who cannot take their children to work have no choice but to leave them unsupervised or to rely on family members, including other children. In a sample of low-income countries, 46 percent of children aged 5 or below were either left alone or in the care of their siblings under 10 years old for at least an hour per week (Samman et al. 2016).

The potential long-term consequences of inadequate childcare support on women’s well-being, as well as the well-being of their children, has led development practitioners to draw attention to a “hidden crisis in care” (Samman et al. 2016). Across 66 countries representing two-thirds of the world’s population, women spend on average 3.3 times as much time as men on unpaid care work (Gromada et al. 2020). Yet, 35 million children below primary-school age lack access to childcare, 80 percent of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (Devercelli and <mark>Beaton-Day 2020).</mark><sup>2</sup> As more women enter the labor force out of necessity or choice, the need for childcare will likely grow. In addition, the increasing trend of migration from rural to urban areas and the nuclearization of households are likely to impede access to extended support networks, leading to further increases in the demand for caregiving in urban areas. Without institutional support or access to informal care arrangements, the double burden on mothers could grow, especially for those who cannot exit the labor force or afford professional childcare services.

This paper examines the relationship between availability of childcare and three outcomes: (i) female labor force participation and employment; (ii) time spent on market work, unpaid work, and other activities; and (iii) likelihood of performing (and time spent on) childcare as a secondary activity. The paper uses the Dhaka Low-Income Area Gender, Inclusion, and Poverty Survey that was conducted by the World Bank in 2018. Focusing on the sample of ever-married women ages 15–49 years, the paper identifies a substantial motherhood penalty, especially for women who have young children (ages 0–5 years) but do not have access to childcare support. Further, time-use patterns show that mothers of young children spend less time on market work, more time on unpaid work, and less time on leisure or other activities, as well as spending more time on childcare as a secondary activity. Mothers of young children who have

> 2 It is estimated that children living in low-income countries are 5 percentage points less likely to have access to childcare than those living in high-income countries. The difference may be even larger, since these estimates exclude parents who are already out of the labor market due to unmet childcare needs (Devercelli and Beaton-Day 2020).

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