When Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced his free childcare plan in this week's Budget, he said 'it is the right thing to do for many women'.
In those 10 words he summed up how our so-called equal society is in fact anything but.
In the main it's women who are still classed as the primary caregivers and face endless pressures to do that - and more.
Despite being told we can do anything and be anything we want to be, when it comes to having children, it's still mostly women who take a step back from their careers.
Read more: Plan for 30 hours free childcare for under fives goes 'down like a lead balloon'
I'm not talking maternity or paternity leave here, I'm talking about those early years of a child's life, where a couple has to decide whether paid childcare is best the option, or one of them needs to leave work or go part-time because it's the only way they can afford to make ends meet.
And all too often it's a no win situation for women to be in.
Work full-time and not only do you lose precious time with your kids, but you're often judged to be putting your career before them. Leave work and you're a sell-out who gives nothing back to society.
Work part-time, which often becomes full-time in a desperate attempt to keep up with workload and convince sceptical colleagues you're still worthy of a job, and you're left feeling like you're not able to give your all to ANY of it.
Yes there are some dads who have dropped their careers, or reduced their hours, to look after their children, but they're still few and far between. And those who do aren't judged in the same way women are. If anything they're celebrated for going against the norm and stepping into the shoes so often filled by females.
What mum hasn't been to a playgroup with a token dad in the corner, being patted on the back for his efforts. 'Daddy daycare' and all that. There's a reason Kevin is the lone dad in Motherland, because that's the sad reality.
Salaries are an obvious factor in any family's decision to return to work and only last week it was reported that the UK's gender pay gap has widened, with women earning 14% less than men and the rising cost of childcare forcing many of them out of work altogether.
What Mr Hunt announced this week was to give working parents, who work a minimum of 16 hours a week, access to 30 hours free childcare for one and two-year-olds.
But the scheme is being staggered, starting with 15 hours for two-year-olds from April 2024, and it won't be until September 2025 when the full support is fully in place - something that has angered parents who say the help is needed now.
Defending the rollout, the Chancellor said: "We are going as fast as we can to get the supply in the market to expand. But it is the right thing to do because we have one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world and we know it is something that is a huge worry, for women in particular, that they have this cliff-edge when maternity leave ends after nine months, no help until the child turns three and that can often be career ending.
“So I think it is the right thing to do for many women, to introduce these reforms and we are introducing them as quickly as we can because we want to remove those barriers to work.”
The fact he mentions women's careers ending and not men's speaks volumes. And the way in which women are viewed by Mr Hunt and the wider society is surely one of the biggest barriers of all.
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