Founded in September 2026, Women’s Opportunity Lab is a social initiative that promotes urban women’s employment by improving access to childcare in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Our approach combines research with support. We will listen to women about how childcare shapes their choices, and then will fund and arrange care that lets them act on opportunities they were previously forced to decline.
We plan to survey a number of women from marginalized and underserved households to understand how childcare responsibilities and existing care arrangements affect their opportunities and decisions outside the home. Drawing on these findings, we will publish a white paper examining the economic and opportunity costs of limited access to childcare, including foregone employment, education and healthcare. It will also make the case for affordable childcare as a way to expand women’s economic choices. These findings will help us design a childcare provision. Based on them, we plan to organize the Bring It Home Fundraiser—a virtual fundraising event to raise 1.5 lakh rupees—with the goal of improving childcare access for women from undeserved, marginalized women. The proceeds will be used to establish a fund to support many women to finance an agreement with our NGO partner.
With the support of our NGO partner, we will work towards offering free 12-hour creche access for children of women who are a part of our initiative under our Child Care Creche Collective (4-C). We will also offer direct childcare grants to women, which they can use to cover the childcare-related costs associated with the opportunities they chose to pursue. These opportunities can range from a job to a training programme, or even a regular access to something which had previously been out of reach for them.
Overall, our initiative treats childcare not as a private burden but a socially managed good that does not constrain women’s time and security. By combining evidence with direct and lasting support, Women’s Opportunity Lab aims to turn women’s ambitions into real, lasting economic choices.