Leading business women and academics plan to advise the upcoming Tax Summit that childcare is the biggest and most directly related cost to earning income and should be eligible for a tax rebate.

Childcare remains the second biggest expense after the mortgage for Australian families, and Rosemary Howard, executive director and conjoint professor at AGSM said it should be firmly on the agenda at next week's summit.

Howard said that by addressing this issue, Australia could enjoy the a rise in national productivity, and added, "It makes economic sense. If laptops, cars and mobile phones are all tax-deductable, why isn't childcare?"

According to a 2009 Goldman Sachs report, Australia's Hidden Resource: The Economic Case for Increasing Female Participation, appointing more women to high level leadership roles would potentially boost economic activity in Australia by as much as 20%.

Howard said the cost of childcare is prohibitive and it affects not only low-income families but well-paid women in executive roles. "The lack of financial support for working families, in the form of childcare incentives, is an impediment to women's participation in the workforce, particularly when it comes to advancing women into leadership roles and at board level," she said.

Rosamund Christie, program director for the Women in Leadership program at AGSM agreed. Christie said "Tax-deductibility of childcare ought to be a right. Our economy depends on a fully functioning workforce and - however it gets that - it should be supported,." she said.

Additionally, Judith MacCormick, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Australian School of Business, said that Australian is using an out-dated business structure, and this is the underlying roadblock toprohibiting governmental tax breaks.

"We are working from a 150-year-old model that was suited to the industrial era and that's also very hierarchical. It is simply not possible to provide adequate care for young children while also performing work duties," MacCormick said.

Key statistics:

  • Women are poorly represented at the top of the business ladder, holding 11% of the top ASX 200 board appointments.
  • Research highlighted by the Productivity Commission in July 2011 shows that a 1% increase in early childhood education and care fees leads to a 0.3% reduction in the employment rate of mothers with young children and a 0.7% per cent decline in hours worked.

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