Let’s incentivise businesses to provide flexible working arrangements that support single mothers! That’s Ruth’s Brilliant Idea, and it’s one she says will benefit families, businesses, and the entire community.
Read Ruth’s proposal, then leave a comment below!
I’m trying to look for a new job as a single mother of two very young children (one and five year olds) as the whole management changed at my previous workplace. The new management doesn’t know me well and refused to provide me with flexible work arrangements that can work with my situation. When I was looking up new jobs, most employment similar to what I did before is full time employment. Only very few roles pop up that are part time and of reasonable travel distance to where I currently live. All the roles require at least some onsite working days so commute to work need to be considered as well.
Current Problem/Situation
It is almost impossible for a single mother to compete with another candidate who doesn’t require support from workplaces.
I also found most part time jobs out there are low paid roles such as support workers, childcare educators etc. it’s very hard to find part time jobs that fit my tertiary education and my previous work experience.
There are still widespread discrimination towards mums (not just single mums) who try to return to work due to their need for flexibility. I have to intentionally hide information about me having been on parental leave on my resume etc.
Impact on Single Mothers
It makes me and other single mothers significantly disadvantaged in the job market due to our caring responsibilities for our children. Single mothers have to pick up ’scrap jobs’ in order to make ends meet. This feeds back into a vicious cycle and negatively impacts single mothers and their children in the long run financially.
Proposed Idea and Benefits
Government should introduce policy and legislation that give workplaces incentives to provide employment opportunities to single mums. At the moment such flexible work arrangement is purely based on how accommodating a workplace is. There is no systemic support to help single mothers access employment and address the many barriers faced by single mothers compared to someone who doesn’t have such caring responsibilities.
Government needs to set up an initiative or introduce policies to address the inequality faced by single mothers in the job market. I can see many job ads nowadays advertising the company/organisation provide x weeks of paid parental leave in order to attract potential candidates. So there is no reason why companies and organisations can’t offer flexible work arrangements for single mother if they are encouraged to do it.
Government should address this issue as they addressed employment barriers faced by people with disabilities and First Nations people
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