A nationwide system that gives families access to low-cost, high-quality childcare would start to dismantle the “architecture of discrimination and difference” that limits women’s full participation in the workforce, including glass ceilings, glass walls and sticky floors, says a leading expert.

Rae Cooper, a professor of gender, work and employment relations at the University of Sydney, says the loss of women from the workforce due to child-rearing responsibilities in their mid-to-late 20s trapped them in junior roles in occupations and sectors with a prevalence of low-paid precarious jobs that lack career paths.