Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 8 March 2022.
Turning, First Minister, to the situation facing women here in Wales on this International Women's Day, Chwarae Teg's annual 'State of the Nation' report showed that in 2021 Wales's gender pay gap, already significant, increased further. Women remain four times more likely to cite looking after the family or home as the reason for not engaging in the formal paid economy, and we see larger gender gaps emerge in terms of pay, employment and average hours for older women who are more likely to have caring responsibilities. Inequality in the economy will only be eradicated when women are able to enter and progress in work in the same way as men. With this in mind, do you agree that free universal childcare for every child, at the very least over the age of 1, should be a policy goal that we should set in Wales as part of our commitment to achieving genuine gender justice?