People have some very strong feelings about caucuses. Namely, whether they are actually democratic or not. There’s a lot of important stuff to unpack in that discussion, especially when it comes to race, gender, and physical access, but one point that’s slowly getting more attention is how people with children are supposed to make it work. Affordable child care impacts all parents, but in a society where child care more often than not falls on a woman, caucuses can feel anti-mom. Not to mention, some people of any gender are single parents. On the flip side, bringing young children into something as long and chaotic as a caucus may be unpleasant for everyone involved, even if there are some accommodations. So, what to do? This year, volunteers for Sen. Elizabeth Warren are offering free child care to some attendees, as reported by CNN.
Volunteers will provide free child care to some families in the Iowa City area on the evening of Feb. 3. Sign-up information, which parents or guardians can complete online, asks for the standard babysitting info, like the child’s age, bedtime, allergies, or other health issues. It also asks that families give permission for kids to stay up past their bedtime or watch a movie or video.
“Accessibility and opportunity are important to our campaign, and we do everything we can to make sure everyone who wants to can volunteer and participate on caucus night,” Warren’s Iowa communications director, Jason Noble, said to Bloomberg.
Staff columnist Lyz Lenz recently wrote about the Iowa caucus child care issue over at The Gazette, arguing, “In 2020, 100 years after the 19th Amendment was passed, Iowa’s mothers are still effectively disenfranchised from caucusing.”
Whether child care falls on both parents or just one, the burden doesn’t begin and end with simple responsibility. Child care can be expensive, especially if one or two people in a household are missing night shifts or gig economy work to caucus, to begin with. Child care can also be expensive if you have more than one child at home, or if your children have certain medical needs or disabilities.
Of course, caucuses are tough, if not totally inaccessible, for some people who aren’t parents. For example, people who work more than one job, live with certain disabilities, or seniors might feel the barrier of entry for a caucus is simply too hard. As The New York Times recently noted, even people running for the nomination have a hard time hyping up caucuses.
The free child care idea is getting a lot of support on Twitter.
Earlier today, Warren also tweeted about her proposal for universal child care.