Women were an "afterthought" in last week's federal budget, according to Labor leader Anthony Albanese.
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His words echo those of Wollongong Deputy Lord Mayor Tania Brown, who last week called it "a budget for the boys".
In Wollongong to visit the Port Kembla steelworks, Mr Albanese said the Morrison government budget didn't come close to doing enough for women.
"Women were left behind by this budget - it was an afterthought," Mr Albanese said.
"We put childcare as one of the centerpieces of our budget.
"The childcare measure is an economic reform, it's about women's workforce participation, it's about lifting productivity but it could also have a positive impact on the third of the Ps - population.
"Our childcare initiative, removing the disincentive to work there now, will make an enormous difference to working families."
Mr Albanese's plan would see up to 90 per cent of the cost of childcare subsided and scrap the subsidy cap for higher income houses.
Cunningham MP Sharon Bird was also at the steelworks for the leader's visit and she identified affordable childcare as a major barrier to women's participation in the workforce.
"If you talk to people about childcare they will say 'I can't work more than two or three days a week because I end up paying more in childcare than I'm earning in income'," Ms Bird said.
The Cunningham MP felt the government's lack of attention directed towards women showed a deep misunderstanding.
"I think it just showed how deep and structurally this government doesn't understand the way women interact in our economy," she said.
"The fact that they think that the projects they announced - that women can take advantage of those as well - shows they don't understand the barriers that are actually there for women that are participating in the economy."
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