Grants for two ‘living labs’ to reinforce women’s economic resilience
Two of the research hubs within the strategic theme Institutions for Open Societies have recently received grants to facilitate their research. Both the Gender and Diversity Hub and the Future of Work Hub will be able to set up living labs, thanks to funding from the NWA’s ‘Women’s Economic Resilience’ round of grants.
The two ‘living labs’ will soon begin working to improve the economic resilience of economically vulnerable women. A living lab is a setting that replicates real-life conditions in order to conduct research and experiments. In a living lab, researchers and social partners co-create with the target group itself to experiment with sustainable, innovative solutions to complex problems.
Many mothers start working less after the birth of their first child, but few fathers do the same.
Facilitating involved fatherhood
Over the course of the project ‘Samen veerkrachtig: Naar een gelijkere verdeling van arbeid en zorg via betrokken vaderschap’ (Resilient Together: Towards a More Equal Division of Work and Care via Involved Fatherhood), researchers Belle Derks, Mara Yerkes and Chantal Remery from the Gender & Diversity Hub will collaborate with colleagues from the Verwey-Jonker Institute, Amsterdam MC and other social partners. Together, they will focus on one of the most important turning points in the development of working women’s economic independence: the birth of their first child. Derks: "Many mothers start working less after the birth of their first child, but few fathers do the same. In this living lab, we will cooperate with parents, obstetricians and employers to develop interventions that facilitate fathers’ involvement starting from pregnancy, in order to enhance women’s economic independence.”
The goal is to create upward career mobility.
Helping to move from benefits to work
The project ‘Werken doe je niet alleen: Een systeemverandering om moeders met een uitkering naar werk te helpen’ (Nobody Works Alone: a Systematic Change to Help Mothers on Welfare Find Work) will develop systematic interventions to guide mothers receiving welfare benefits to find long-term employment. In the process, researchers Tanja van der Lippe, Eva Jaspers, Eva Knies and Thomas Martens from Utrecht University’s Future of Work Hub will join forces with partners TNO, Atria, WOMEN Inc., Arbeidsmarktregio Midden-Brabant, the City of Tilburg, Feniks, Vebego, Divosa, and the UWV. Van der Lippe: ‘The guiding principle is ‘The Motor’, a chain-based approach in which jobs are opened up for mothers receiving welfare benefits. The goal is to create upward career mobility by training vocationally educated female employees for other positions in the same sector or other sectors, to free up their jobs for mothers on benefits. Local partners are vital in this project.’
Forging together
Derks and Van der Lippe have noticed that the hubs are clearly beginning to bear fruit as junctions where research and real-world practice come together to address urgent social issues.
Over the next few months, the living labs will be forged together into a single large project, to gain a bird’s-eye perspective on how the results from the individual living labs can be placed within a larger social and scientific context.