Supporting diverse new motherhoods for work inclusion

Dates

Monday, March 6, 2023 - 16:00 to 17:00

Location

Online - To register email oubs-cvsl@open.ac.uk with Supporting diverse new motherhoods for work inclusion (in the subject line)

This webinar aims to explore how communities and policies can support the work inclusion of new motherhoods. Recent studies revealed that women and men tend to have different employment pathways and career changes after childbirth. Less than one in three mothers in the UK with dependent children aged 0 to 3 years stay in full-time employment (ONS, 2022). For those who remain in employment after childbirth, women are less likely to progress at work than their male counterparts. Recently, the voluntary sector has noticed a worrying situation for many parents whose living standards and job prospects are likely to deteriorate because of the current cost-of-living crisis. Also, ethnic minority mothers in the UK were more likely to experience disadvantages in the workplace than White British mothers. Understanding the experiences of diverse new motherhood and how communities have taken initiatives to support them and encourage work inclusion is crucial. 
 
Agenda

16:00 - 16:15 Introduction & New motherhoods project. Wenjin Dai (The Open University)
16:15 - 16:30 Speaker: Frohar Poya (European Network of Migrant Women)
16:30 - 16:45 Speaker: Monica Hingorani (Project ‘Talent25’: Creative Families)
16:45 - 17:00 Questions and discussions 

About the speakers:
         

Frohar Poya is the Research & Outreach Lead of the European Network of Migrant Women (ENOMW). ENOmW is a migrant-women-led platform of NGOs that works for the rights of migrant women in Europe and helps shape social policies and design action programmes addressing migrant women's specific needs. Frohar has over 15 years of research background with migrant and refugee communities and currently leading the HumMingBird H2020. Apart from research, she has also worked as an independent freelance heritage and oral history trainer delivering training to refugee and migrant communities in the UK and at present involved in the RIDE, Mums at Work project that concentrates on migrant women’s access and participation in the EU labour market.  

Monica Hingorani is a PhD candidate with the 'Talent 25' research project. Talent 25 is a twenty-five-year action research project engaging with families from areas of Leicester characterised by high levels of economic deprivation. Through her in-depth Creative Families ethnographic study, she is engaging with 11 young children under five years and their wider family members to explore and analyse family stories of everyday early creativity. Monica has held national, regional and local professional roles in education and family services and is a qualified teacher. She holds several Board positions, including Chair of Highfields Community Association Governing Body (a £5m community anchor organisation in Leicester), Early Education Trustee (British Association for Early Childhood Education) and Board Director at Leicester Vaughan College (Cooperative University). 

Dr Wenjin Dai is a Lecturer in the Department of Public Leadership & Social Enterprise at The Open University Business School. Her research interests include diversity, leadership and ethics, and she explores context-grounded meanings and lived experiences using ethnographic and arts-based methods. As a new mother herself, Wenjin is the project lead for ‘Supporting diverse new motherhoods for work inclusion’ with Dr Francesca Calo and Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo.