Ukraine’s Childcare Gap Crisis Pushing Mothers Out of Work

The study surveyed 3,639 parents across Ukraine and found a striking gap between mothers and fathers with young children.

Ukraine's struggle to rebuild its economy is unfolding alongside a quieter crisis inside thousands of families, where mothers are finding it difficult to return to work because reliable childcare remains limited, expensive or simply unavailable. A new study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, 'Access to Early Childhood Education and Care and Women's Economic Empowerment in Ukraine,' shows that better childcare could unlock far greater participation by women in the labour market, though the researchers say childcare must be backed by family-friendly workplaces, paid leave, stronger equality protections and changes in attitudes toward caregiving.

The study surveyed 3,639 parents across Ukraine and found a striking gap between mothers and fathers with young children. Only 35 per cent of mothers with children aged up to six were employed, compared with 94 per cent of fathers, while employment among mothers with children under two dropped to just 13 per cent, showing how quickly women's ability to remain in paid work can shrink when care responsibilities intensify.

Mothers Are Reshaping Their Jobs Around Childcare

Women who remain economically active often adapt their work around childcare rather than choosing jobs that match their skills, income needs, or career plans. Self-employment is becoming more common among mothers with babies, and around 40 per cent of employed mothers with infants work fewer than four hours a day, often spreading those limited hours across six or seven days to fit employment around feeding, childcare, and household routines.

Nearly half of these mothers work from home, with some doing so without formal contracts or access to social protection, leaving them exposed to unstable incomes and weaker employment rights. The report describes these working patterns as "rational responses to constrained options," reflecting how women often take whatever arrangement allows them to remain economically active while still carrying most of the responsibility for young children.

Ukraine's childcare shortages existed before the full pressures of war emerged. Childcare coverage for children under three stood at only 18 per cent, around half the OECD average of 36 per cent, while rural communities faced even fewer options. More than one quarter of rural mothers with children aged three to six reported using no childcare services at all.

War Has Deepened an Existing Childcare Shortage

The conflict has placed further pressure on an already stretched early childhood education and care system. By early 2025, roughly 7,000 kindergartens still needed shelters to be built or repaired, while total enrolment in early childhood services had fallen by about one third since 2021, reducing the number of families able to depend on formal childcare during working hours.

Staffing problems are also making recovery difficult because low wages and workforce shortages are affecting recruitment and retention across the childcare sector. Parents who can access public kindergartens are largely satisfied with them, with more than 80 per cent of mothers using these services giving positive assessments, suggesting that Ukraine's biggest childcare problem is not necessarily the quality of available services but the fact that too many families cannot access them.

Childcare Investment Could Strengthen Ukraine's Recovery

Expanding childcare could deliver significant economic gains at a time when Ukraine faces labour shortages and the enormous task of reconstruction. ILO estimates suggest that every dollar invested in closing the country's childcare gap could generate USD 6.52 in returns through higher lifetime earnings for mothers, while universal childcare investment could support the creation of nearly 177,600 jobs by 2030, most of which are expected to be filled by women.

Childcare services alone will not remove every barrier: Many women still face low wages, rigid working hours and discrimination connected to motherhood, with more than two-thirds of women surveyed believing employers hold negative attitudes toward hiring mothers with young children. Parental leave also remains heavily concentrated among women, while fewer than 10 per cent of eligible fathers take paternity leave.

The report calls for state-funded paternity leave, broader childcare subsidies, stronger protections against workplace discrimination and more flexible employment arrangements that allow parents to combine work with family responsibilities without sacrificing income or career development. Ukraine's reconstruction creates an opportunity to build a care economy that treats childcare, decent work and gender equality as connected parts of economic recovery, giving more mothers the freedom to work while helping the country rebuild the workforce it will need in the years ahead.