Since the end of 2021 Risingholme, Christchurch’s long established and TEC-funded ACE provider, has run three Work Readiness for Women Courses in collaboration with Dress for Success Christchurch. This is an international organisation which helps women become economically independent by providing clothes and skills for work readiness.

Lenore Wright is the Community Engagement Coordinator at Risingholme. She says they saw a need:

“We could see that there is an ‘invisible’ group of women in the community, such as stay-at-home mums or women who were under-employed, who are not represented in the routine employment statistics. We wanted to offer a programme for these women, and we were keen to partner with others.

“Then we found that there are two initiatives, one national and one local, both designed to increase women’s participation in meaningful work.”

The national initiative is ChristchurchNZ, which is the city’s sustainable economic development and city profile agency. Recent research carried out by this local agency found that there are about 20,000 women in the region who are either unemployed or underemployed. With the current employment squeeze the agency wants to change that, so ChchNZ recently launched a Women in Work PowerUp campaign encouraging women to get work more suited to their skills and aspirations.

The national initiative is the Ministry of Women’s Affairs Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine Women’s Employment Action Plan. The goal is to support all women in Aotearoa – particularly Māori and Pasifika and other marginalised women, to fulfil their potential by getting more skilled and higher paid employment.

The Work Readiness for Women courses are run for two hours a week, for five weeks. Findings from ChristchurchNZ’s focus groups, found women prefer smaller groups for their career planning and learning, and not necessarily a one-on-one approach.

Ginny Rhodes is the Executive Manager at Dress for Success and for her the best thing about the Risingholme course was the collaborative approach.

“Collaboration is the key to everything for me, there’s often just too much duplication and it is so exciting to work with a provider that we haven’t worked with before and extend our reach to a group of women who perhaps can’t access a careers adviser. By working together, we can have a bigger impact and reach more women.

”We sat down with Risingholme and worked out what we would include, starting with the confidence-building and goal-setting activities and then moving on to the tangible tools like writing a cv and doing and interview. Then – ‘right I’ve got the confidence, I’ve set my goals, and have my plan, now where do I look for a job’.”

Some of the women who came on the courses were between jobs, some were not happy with their jobs, and some were not working.

An outline of what participants would learn was advertised, but when the group came together, they were able to change the programme to meet their specific needs.

Ginny says that in all of the courses the shift in the women’s confidence has been huge. “That’s the biggest thing. The other thing is that they feel ready to enter the job market – a job market that might have changed a lot since they last looked for work.

“The other good outcome for the women on the course is that they are connected to Dress For Success. All of them keep their appointment during which they are provided with appropriate clothing for their interview as well as a further boost to their confidence. So they have the appropriate clothing for the next step forward.”

In fact the Work Readiness for Women evaluations showed that many of the women were, within a short time, successful at getting interviews and proceeding with their plans.

Women want flexible and purposeful work that provides a sustainable income and allows them to support whānau to thrive and live to their full potential.

Both organisations plan to continue the collaborative programme which supports the focus of ChristchurchNZ’s Power Up Your Career Campaign.

Risingholme continues to be responsive to the needs of the community, with career courses planned for beyond 2022.

“Just being in an environment with other women that are championing women can do wonders for your confidence.”