BOLTS of bright and spotty quilting material are stacked along the walls of a room in Vanessa Jasper’s Bendigo home, a green table sitting in the centre.<\/p>\n
This is where the single mother-of-two is setting up her own business to bring new life to the dying art of quilting and share the power of creativity with others.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of slow stitching to it, which gives me the opportunity to calm, just reflect and sit,” Ms Jasper said.<\/p>\n
“The rhythm of the stitching gives you that time every day to be able to slow down and look after your own mental health.”<\/p>\n
Her business Green Table Studio, which sells fabric and offers advice on modern and improvised quilting, was born out of online workshops run by the Global Sisters charity during COVID-19 lockdowns.<\/p>\n
Global Sisters works with women across Australia to break down structural barriers to employment and improve their financial situations through business education and coaching.<\/p>\n
The not-for-profit this month received support from corporate donors and the NSW Government for its new program Solo Mums in Business, designed for single mothers who receive parenting payments.<\/p>\n
The three-year program hopes to give free business support to 300 women, helping them create flexible incomes through self-employment.<\/p>\n
“It’s incredibly difficult for solo mums to access flexible, secure and sustained employment when they are juggling family life, ” the charity’s chief executive Mandy Richards said.<\/p>\n
“The more traditional and full-time employment opportunities are largely out of reach, leaving them to navigate options that are generally casual, unstable and short-term by nature.<\/p>\n
“As a result, women who are solo parenting are more likely to circle back to social security payments by necessity of their circumstances.”<\/p>\n
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2022 Labour Force Status of Families showed 83 per cent of one-parent households with children and dependents were single-mother families.<\/p>\n
In one-parent families with children aged 15 and under, 67 per cent of single mothers were employed compared with 75 per cent of single fathers.<\/p>\n
Ms Jasper said the charity’s programs helped her come up with a five-year plan to expand her business and diversify her income as her sons get older.<\/p>\n
“Being a single parent can be quite isolating… so I saw it as a fantastic opportunity,” she said.\u00a0“It just kept me inspired.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BOLTS of bright and spotty quilting material are stacked along the walls of a room in Vanessa Jasper’s Bendigo home, a green table sitting in the centre. This is where the single mother-of-two is setting up her own business to bring new life to the dying art of quilting and share the power of creativity […]<\/p>\n