Sydney Women’s Fund ‘Women’s Work’ is a research, advocacy and community education program addressing women’s financial vulnerability. Brought to life through an engaging documentary mini-series, Women’s Work is a digital resource to build women’s confidence in their relationship with managing money.
This project is to develop an accompanying online training and support program for women to improve their financial wellbeing and literacy. A four week webinar series, using the documentary as a resource, this project will help us create a structured learning program to explore themes raised in the documentaries and help women develop strategies and skills to secure their financial wellness at whatever stage of life they are in. It will focus on a train the trainer approach building first community worker confidence so they can engage positively with their clients in conversations about money, questions to ask and where to go for more help.
Sydney Women’s Fund Portrait III research revealed that women’s financial vulnerability is more wide spread than is understood and is the greatest risk to women’s safety and independence.
Sydney Women’s Fund ‘Women’s Work’ is engaging women and girls in a conversation about why it matters that they are in control of their money throughout their lives. Each episode unpacks how money stories are established in childhood that will affect a woman’s choices, family caring responsibilities, income and retirement. Women’s Work invites us to rethink our stories about money, why it matters and what women can do about it.
Already, audiences of Sydney Women’s Fund ‘Women’s Work’ have reflected on their stories about money and shared how the documentaries will change their behaviour and language they use when talking about money. With funding for this project, we want to engage more women in a conversation around money, empower them to learn more about how they manage their financial wellness and know their right to ask questions and learn more.
Sydney Women’s Fund has developed a Theory of Change for women’s financial wellness that will form the foundation for evaluating the impact of this project. Our research and learnings on addressing the issue of women’s financial vulnerability are well documented. A survey will be designed to gauge learnings and change in behaviour for participants following their engagement with the learning modules.
In addition, Sydney Women’s Fund will in 2021 conduct a primary survey forming the fourth instalment of it’s ‘Portrait’ series taking the pulse of Sydney women.
Sydney Women’s Fund programs addressing women’s financial vulnerability has already invested $400,000 in projects developing our understanding of this critical issue with funding for a range of projects provided by NSW Government, Ecstra Foundation and Sydney Airport. This has enabled Sydney Women’s Fund to develop: ‘Women’s Work’ documentary series; the ‘Women’s Work’ study guide for school students targeting senior years 10-12, focus groups with our charity partners to form a Theory of Change for women’s financial wellness; and an online education program targeting financial abuse in partnership with Sydney Airport and Marrickville Legal Centre.
It is what the MCC groups are all about: men being accountable for learning about and responding to inequality and, importantly, supporting women who have been leading the charge for decades. Like many men, I am a newcomer to these issues and am learning as I go.
Also known as Australian Women Donors Network (ABN: 28 141 197 471), Australians Investing in Women is a registered charity endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a deductible gift recipient (DGR1) under a special listing, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.