Saima Jadoon left work after she had her second child. A contributing member to her household income, she now finds it difficult to manage her home budget. She runs her house on limited resources, yearning for what she describes as “the good old days.”

Ms Jadoon was working in the private sector, and initially turned to a daycare centre when she had her first child because there was no one at home who could look after her child.

Her eldest is now in school. Ms Jadoon says her daughter’s school fees and daycare expenses were manageable while she worked but with the birth of her second child, she had decided to leave her job because she could not afford to pay for daycare for two children.

“Our organisation didn’t provide daycare facilities to its female employees. I belong to a middle class family, and I was trying to improve my family’s standard of living with my job but it was impossible for me to continue because I couldn’t afford daycare.” She said if her organisation had provided daycare facilities, she wouldn’t have left.

Ms Jadoon’s is one of many such stories, where working mothers must choose between their work and their family because of a lack of policies on the part of the government to facilitate parents.

The dearth of daycare centres in the twin cities is a problem that faces countless working women in the area. Most private daycares are satisfactory in terms of service, but expensive. A good daycare can charge over Rs15,000 per month which does not include children’s school expenses.

Such daycares offer their services between 9am and 6pm. During this time, children can play, have lunch and do their homework. There are cheaper daycares but many do not meet hygiene standards or give children a satisfactory learning environment. There is no regulatory body that registers or monitors daycare centres in Islamabad.

Saba Naz, who continued working with two children, had to shift from G-10 to I-8 to be near her mother’s home, because she couldn’t find affordable daycare centres that met hygiene standards.

“Mother and sisters look after my children; they’re in safe hands but it’s not a substitute for a mother’s love and affection. I wish my office had a daycare where I could bring my kids and take care of them myself,” she said.

Officials from various other organisations that do not provide daycare facilities to their employees, expressed various reasons for why the service isn’t provided. They refused to reveal their organisations’ names, but suggested that the service may be too expensive to provide. Others claimed the lack of daycares in offices was because women wouldn’t pay attention to their work if their children were present.

Aurat Foundation coordination director Farkhanda Aurangzeb explained that the lack of daycare facilities was because current and previous governments had emphasised the political and economic empowerment of women while ignoring the basic components of empowerment. She said if the state wanted women to join the working class, it needed to address the challenges facing working mothers.

“White collar female workers can afford expensive daycares available in upscale sectors, offering the best services for their children. But the actual problem is faced by the middle class women, who cannot afford such centres and ultimately have to surrender their jobs or have to compromise on their child’s rights,” she said.

Ms Aurangzeb said Aurat Foundation provided daycare facilities to its staff, and added that public and private workplaces needed clear maternity policies, well organised return to work plans and daycare facilities.

Fawzia Ansari, the CEO of Bachpan, a private daycare centre in F-10, told Dawn: “Almost all the children in daycare are of working mothers. In Islamabad, we don’t have joint family culture, therefore working mothers need a safe and comfortable environment for their kids. We have age sensitive toys, music and movie room and secure indoor and outdoor play areas.”

The daycare is in an upscale part of the city, and is on the expensive side.

When contacted, Federal Ministry of Human Rights joint secretary administration Humaira Azam said: “Currently one or two public sector organisations have daycare centres, and our ministry is one of them. The present government is focusing on women empowerment, and our ministry has drafted a women empowerment package which will address the issues related to working women, like health, education, maternity policies and daycare centres.”

She said the package will be adopted in March this year, after which it will be mandatory for public sector organisations to provide working mothers with daycare facilities. However, the package will only address the challenges facing women working in the public sector.

An official from the human rights ministry said the draft for this package had been sent to the Capital Administration and Development Division for further recommendations. They have not made any recommendations to include the private sector in the package.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2016