From mother to mother
Attainment of motherhood is a beautiful, life-altering event, but as Olesya Kashaeva realised, it comes with its hindrances. As soon as a woman becomes a mother in Russia, she loses 60 percent of her income, while government child allowances do not cover the minimum subsistence levels for a mother and her child. Moreover, a woman can only leave her child in a nursery school from the age of three years, meaning that many mothers do not have the opportunity to work full-time. Since women become mothers earlier in Russia than in the EU, the percentage of 20–24 year-old women who are not working, studying or participating in any professional training courses currently constitutes 14.4 percent of the female population (in the EU this is 10.6 per cent), according to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service in the Higher School of Economics.
Kashaeva decided to initiate the "Mother Works" project, as a charity, to provide both support and employment for mothers. Sensitive to the specific problems that women face, it offers them an opportunity to gain a new specialisation, enables them to obtain a remote job or part-time job, and helps them launch their own businesses.
Today, around 10 educational programmes have been established by "Mother Works." Young women can access additional professional education, obtain a study grant, find a remote position, or get help preparing for an interview. Third party companies can contact "Mother Works" in their search for qualified candidates. In this case, the project team acts as a guarantor of a mother's skills.
Currently, the project is based around co-working and an educational centre, and working groups operate via a social network and a sewing studio, "Mothers Themselves."
In total, there are 3,500 women involved in "Mother Works," of whom 70 percent believe that their financial position has improved thanks to their participation in the project.
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