Gender Disparities in Active Duty Air Force Parents’ Childcare Access: Pre-Pandemic Costs, Utilization, and Career Impacts

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221094646
• Author: Erika L. King,Hla Myint,Tawney R. Gardner,Morgan R. Mitchell,Kristin A. Beitz
• Date: 01 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221094646

Armed Forces & Society

2023, Vol. 49(3) 776 –797

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X221094646

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Article

Gender Disparities in

Active Duty Air Force

Parents’ Childcare

Access: Pre-Pandemic

Costs, Utilization, and

Career Impacts

Erika L. King1, Hla Myint1, Tawney R. Gardner1,

Morgan R. Mitchell1, and Kristin A. Beitz1

Abstract

Past reports indicate that enduring Department of Defense (DoD) childcare

shortfalls may disproportionately affect women, but details regarding gender effects

are unknown. This exploratory study sought to uncover the military childcare

system’s pre-pandemic state by analyzing two Air Force (AF) survey datasets—the

2017 AF Community Feedback Tool and 2020 AF Childcare Survey—to examine

gender gaps in active duty AF parents’ childcare access, cost and utilization, and

perceptions of childcare impacts on career progression and retention. Results reveal

that women—particularly those in the lowest ranks with less time on station—

report more difficulties accessing childcare than male counterparts. Furthermore,

fathers paid nothing for childcare and relied on spouses for childcare at higher rates,

while mothers paid for care, relied on DoD childcare programs, were on DoD

waitlists, reported childcare-related career impacts, and reported childcare affected

their retention decisions at higher rates. Policy recommendations to improve

childcare across the force are discussed.

1The Army-University of Kentucky Master of Social Work Program, San Antonio, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Erika L. King, The Army-University of Kentucky Master of Social Work Program, Army Medical Center

of Excellence, 3630 Stanley Rd, San Antonio TX 78234, USA.

Email: erikalee123@yahoo.com

1094646AFSXXX10.1177/0095327X221094646Armed Forces & SocietyKing et al.

research-article2022

King et al. 777

Keywords

military, childcare, gender, women, retention, parents, diversity

The current pandemic has forced inadequate childcare systems into the limelight, as

existing deficits were amplified amid school and daycare closures (Camera, 2020;

Carson & Mattingly, 2020; Kalluri et al., 2021). These concerns were unique for

military members, who experienced reduced access to informal childcare assistance

they may have called upon in a crisis (e.g., family members) due to infection risks

associated with travel, age, or underlying conditions, as well as Department of

Defense (DoD) pandemic-related travel restrictions (Congress of the United States,

2020).

Prior to the pandemic, one study uncovered gender differences in military parents’

unmet childcare needs, revealing that active duty Air Force (AF) new mothers had

twice as many unmet childcare needs as active duty AF new fathers (King & Salas-

Wright et al., 2020). But few other studies have examined military childcare broadly,

and no recently published work has examined gender differences in military mem-

bers’ access to quality childcare, childcare costs, childcare resources, or how child-

care has or will affect career and retention decisions. Furthermore, although some

studies have highlighted the disproportionate impact faced by working mothers in

the civilian sector during the pandemic (Power, 2020; Sevilla & Smith, 2020), if and

how gender gaps have changed in the military due to the pandemic are unknown.

As a pre-pandemic understanding is needed to enable future study of the pan-

demic’s effects and may be useful in measuring effects of policy changes, this paper

sought to uncover the pre-pandemic state of military members’ childcare by gender.

Specifically, this paper examines gender differences in active duty Air Force parents’

childcare access, cost, and utilization, as well as members’ perceptions of how child-

care has affected their career progression and will affect their retention

decision-making.

Why Military Childcare Matters

Historically single men were preferred for U.S. military service, but permissions to

be married and have children evolved, particularly during times of war, to allow men

with families to be drafted and serve (King & Dinitto 2019; Holm, 1992). Although

military women were not permitted to be mothers throughout much of U.S. history,

the adjustment from the draft-and-release force to the All-Volunteer Force (AVF) in

1973 prompted women’s increased military service and eventually their expanded

permissions to be pregnant and parent while serving (King & Dinitto 2019; Holm,

1992). Despite DoD efforts to develop and improve childcare programs since the

adjustment to the AVF, women continue to depart the service at higher rates than

their male peers at mid-career—the 4- to 10-year time-in-service point—when many

contemplate starting a family (King & Snowden et al., 2020; DiSilverio, 2003).