Francesco, let me start by saying that this is a hugely important issue for our country, and the kind of advocacy you've had on this issue, both at this committee and more broadly in the House of Commons, really has brought this issue to the forefront. We know that demographic challenges specifically are going to be one of the biggest issues we face in the next generation, and we know that for your daughters and for so many other women in this country, young women, their participation is going to be critically important to ensuring we are successful.
Thinking about that specific issue, we know that we have a 9% lower workforce participation rate among working-age women than we do among working-age men, and as we think about ways to make sure that our economy is successful, we need to think about how we can enable people to be in the workforce, if they choose to be in the workforce, so all of our measures that we put in our first budget and in our second budget that have addressed this issue have been geared to making it more likely that women are going to be successful in the workforce.
This starts with the way we took a look at child benefits, which was, of course, a very important first step by giving significantly more child benefits to lower- and middle-income families, knowing that helps women in particular, especially single women. In this budget there are a number of things that are going to make an important difference. The focus on early learning and child care by putting significant funds into early learning and child care is going to make a difference for families. The biggest burden of child care often falls on the woman, in many cases, as the primary caregiver. Enabling women to have better child care options is going to help with workforce participation.
We've moved forward on a number of other things. You heard me in my remarks talk about making parental leave more flexible, recognizing that different families have different needs and enabling people to make the right choice for their family. Looking at things as specific as how we can help women entrepreneurs to be more successful can make a difference in terms of allowing people to see their potential opportunities in the workforce. All of these things are part of a broader plan on dealing with what's critically important, enabling women to be successful and, at the same time, having a really positive economic impact.
Thank you again for your question. It's one that is central to our government's efforts.