A New York Times opinion piece took a look at an interesting idea: universal affordable high-quality child care. From the piece: “By the time American women are 40 to 44, 86 percent of them are mothers, and unless they are affluent — or have a retired but still energetic grandma who’s willing to pitch in full time when the kids are little — the child care crisis hits families hard. How hard? As any parent can tell you, child care is one of the biggest costs a family faces.” In Iowa, the average cost per year for an infant is $9,485, middle of the pack in comparison with other states, but higher than Nebraska, Missouri and South Dakota and lower than Minnesota, Illinois and Kansas (see a report from the Economic Policy Institute). That being said, infant care as a share of rent is 116 percent. More here from the piece on the effect on female employment. “The child care crisis has a huge effect on women’s employment. It keeps women at home who need and want to work. When women miss work because jerry-built arrangements fall apart, they can be fired — it’s perfectly legal. Lack of stable, affordable child care is one of the reasons women’s work force participation has stalled despite women’s increased education and the growth of fields where many women work, such as health care.” Read the piece