Who We Support
Global Sisters operates in Australia, a high income country with increasing; income inequality, child poverty rates, single mum headed households and older women without superannuation or assets and at risk of homelessness. Our welfare system is broken and counter-productive. It was designed for a different era, is punitive and not achieving welfare to work outcomes. Women are being pushed into low paid, unstable employment that does not recognise their circumstances or provide the opportunity for long term financial sustainability. Self-employment is given minimum consideration in federal employment policy and strategy.
The size of the market is difficult to quantify as we are in fact creating the market by making business possible for women. Broadly, our target group is women who are unemployed or under-employed due to systemic, structural barriers. They may be excluded from mainstream employment or rely on casualised, unstable employment that is not “decent work”- both circumstances that keep them in poverty or means they are unable to achieve long term financial stability. These are the women, their families, and communities that Global Sisters seeks to focus its support on. Global Sisters has a special strategic focus on female sole parents and older women (50+), in urban, regional and remote areas.
55k
women are ‘discouraged job seekers’, ABS
350k
or 48% of Newstart Allowance recipients are women, DSS
1.4 Million
women are financially excluded, CSI/NAB
1.8 Million
under/unemployed & only 250,000 jobs available nationally
Target Group
Our Sisters are diverse. They can be single mums, women receiving Government benefits, over 50’s, regional women, survivors of domestic violence, or from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. They share a common thread: due to systemic barriers, they have experienced exclusion from economic participation and decent work, and are financially vulnerable. Self-employment is not seen as a viable option for them, and therefore the majority of our Sisters (86%) start with us at the earliest stages of business ideation- which makes our foundational business programs essential.
A key part of the scale strategy is our refined focus on sole parents, carers and older women. These groups are simultaneously the most excluded and underserved in the sector, a significant section of society and desperately in need of support and wanting to generate income. This is where Global Sisters believes we can have the greatest impact. By focusing on single mums, we will assist in breaking generational poverty. By focusing on women 50+ we aim to prevent mature age poverty amongst women.
250,000
Single mums
are on parenting payments, DSS
Women
over 65
are the fastest growing homeless demographic
Our Sisters
