There is still a long way to go before women achieve true parity. The gap varies from country to country, but shortfalls are still very apparent. A substantial number of women are under represented across Europe, and this is significantly higher among women with migrant background. In 2017, the share of females among all international migrants reached 52 per cent in Europe - women migrating not just as partners and dependents, but also as independent agents in search of work and opportunities. Yet, once they arrive, they are often marginalised and face well known transversal gender related challenges: -Those women in leading positions are significantly lower paid than men in those roles -Male dominant environments can be a challenge for some of women's progress -Women can also face challenge and lack of support from other women -Women and girls are often discouraged from what are considered non-female roles and positions -Rate of pay often lower for women, as proven in recent gender pay gap articles in the news -Work-life balance as women often take on the home maker, caregiver roles in addition to work -Fewer career opportunities NOW breaks boundaries for boosting a key strategic partnership. The project will create a transnational network – UK, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece, France, Spain, Iceland and Portugal - of valuable support through peer learning, share experiences and discuss emerging good practices. This will create a unique and dynamic community of practice to address how key challenges are experienced and will tackle advancement with a multifaceted and flexible approach, targeting to empower women with migrant background, enhance their leadership aspirations and competences and provide venues for networking and integration. NOW has a strategic focus on migrant women’s advancement into leadership roles and take ownership. Main objectives are to: - Produce a collection of women leaders’ role models to share biographies, give real-world examples and inspire migrant women - Develop a multilingual MOOC and a CoP offering flexible learning and resources on leadership and an exchange path with other migrant women, leader women and mentors - Develop a bespoke mentoring cycle programme to equip future mentors in providing continuous mentoring support to migrant women in career development planning as well as in navigating the complex challenges they face every day, in the workplace - Implement pilot trials and mentoring cycles - Engage associated partners, stakeholders and decision- and policy-makers, through dissemination and scaling actions to mainstream and deploy NOW. NOW will generate a circular benefit effect and impact by involving directly over 450 participants, including the final beneficiaries (migrant women), end-users (mentors) and key-stakeholders in project activities (role models, Local Advisors Groups and multiplier events). Besides specific envisaged impacts for each one of these target groups, a cross impact for all of them, and also at local, regional, national, EU and International levels of the NOW project is to increase the understanding in how to better support the roll out of national and transnational strategic objectives and goals that underpin this agenda already looking at 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and EU Commission objectives related to migrant women integration, education and empowerment. After the end of the project, partners are committed to continue the NOW’s community of practice and deliver further training and mentoring initiatives not only to migrant women but also to any women to support their advancement into leadership roles and take ownership.
With NOW, we wanted to: - Enhance access to training and mentoring to migrant women, despite their starting point, thus amplifying their social inclusion - Heighten the personal development and professional profile of migrant women, by increasing their self-empowerment and self-leadership - Improve migrant women’s awareness and confidence in using digital tools - Boost the upskilling and continuous professional development of adult educators on mentoring, leadership, interculturalism and gender equality - Develop new career opportunities for mentors - Enlarge participating organisations’ portfolio with newly effective AE approaches, methodologies, resources and tools - Gain tacit knowledge in the barriers and gaps that still exist and on how to develop a bridge that enables migrant women to achieve to their highest abilities within the current and future landscape - Expand participating organisations’ local, national and transnational network, increasing cooperation and opportunities
We applied for this project because, in Europe, data shows that female migrants are less likely to be employed than male migrants and face gender gaps. The gap varies from country to country, but shortfalls are still very apparent. Often, once they arrive, they are marginalised and face well known transversal gender related challenges: -Those women in leading positions are significantly lower paid than men in those roles -Male dominant environments can be a challenge for some of women's progress -Women can also face challenge and lack of support from other women -Women and girls are often discouraged from what are considered non-female roles and positions -Rate of pay often lower for women, as proven in recent gender pay gap articles in the news -Work-life balance as women often take on the home maker, caregiver roles in addition to work -Fewer career opportunities The NOW project addressed these challenges by building a transnational network of eight countries – UK, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece, France, Spain, Iceland and Portugal. By sharing our experiences, national contexts and know-how, we have created a unique and dynamic community of practice to empower not only women with migrant background, but also a pool of mentors to support their professional advancement.