The lack of good quality and affordable childcare services in the country are responsible for parents inability to contribute effectively to the labour workforce.
This was highlighted by the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Mereseini Vuniwaqa while officiating at the International Women's Day celebration at the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation office.
Vuniwaqa says a small number of working parents in Fiji currently use a childcare service and the services that do exist are largely unregulated.
She says the "Tackling Childcare" report by the International Finance Corporation found that the most common way childcare responsibilities impact employees at work includes distraction during the day, leaving early or coming in late to work and being absent from work.
Vuniwaqa says from the report, an average of 4.6 percent of workdays are lost every four weeks and this equates to 11.1 percent every year if an employee is late, absent or distracted due to childcare responsibilities.
She says these issues are costing employers as much as $550,000 every year.
The Minister adds the government set up a task force in 2019 on early childhood care under the National Coordinating Committee for Children to address the development of a national policy and regulation framework for safe and quality early childhood care services
FCEF Chief Executive Officer Kameli Batiweti says today's commemoration event demonstrates that we as a community can jointly move the needle on progressing the scale on addressing gender equality in the workplaces.
