Who cares?: ‘Working mothers’, childminders and childcare

Childcare is central to women’s ability to participate in paid work. Drawing on empirical research conducted with middle class ‘working mothers’1 in an Irish suburb2, this article examines these women’s childcare arrangements and their relationships with the women who mind their children in the context of the State’s childcare policy and provisions. The failure of the State to regulate small scale childminders maintains childcare as a predominantly private affair, which can result in childcare being precarious for childminders, ‘working mothers’ and children.