October 12th, 2023Classic ‘win-win’: the inside story of WomenCAN
Words: Eve Lamb. Image: Supplied
Former corporate lawyer, Mikaela Stafrace, (pronounced Staffarachi) is clearly passionate as she discusses her role as founder and CEO of WomenCAN Australia. The highly motivated change-maker will be guest speaker at the upcoming U3A AGM taking place in Daylesford on October 16.
Mikaela will share insights into why this not-for-profit, that helps disadvantaged women secure and retain good paid work, came into being, the work it’s doing now, and the difference it’s making.
Training and peer support are key aspects of what WomenCAN Australia does to help disadvantaged women secure good ongoing work.
It teams up with training institutions and employers to give free training and guaranteed jobs to women and girls who need them, but might otherwise miss out.
In the process, Mikaela says, it saves scarce taxpayers’ funds as the cost of its activities is “significantly less than Centrelink payments while the benefit is significantly more than that provided by Centrelink”.
In fact Mikaela says the numbers are currently being professionally crunched to work out just how much WomenCAN is saving the taxpayer.
Mikaela say women whom they particularly aim to help include refugees or asylum seekers who may need to retrain after fleeing oppressive and dangerous regimes. Sometimes simply learning to drive and gaining a licence is a key enabler for such women.
Other groups that may be assisted include women aged over 45, women who have fled domestic violence and those whose working lives have been disrupted by chronic illness.
In the four years since it started this organisation has changed lives and our wider society for the better.
“It’s now around 800 that we’ve helped and that includes 333 women who are now fully employed and 479 that have trained or are training towards securing work,” Mikaela says.
“A big sector of our cohort are women who have escaped domestic violence and are now getting back on their feet and coming into the healing process. We have some women who are exiting the justice
system.
“We only focus on five areas of high labour demand, providing peer support in five vocational areas, because we know there’s work there.
“That’s in aged care and child care, in transport, horticulture and commercial cookery, trades and, one for next year will be, cyber security. There’s a big need for data analysts and the like. Not the techies and the computer engineers, but data analysts.”
WomenCan Australia has a head office in South Melbourne but in the four years since it started it’s helped women in both metro areas and regional areas including the Castlemaine and Kyneton areas.
“I’d like to speak about the story of WomenCAN in terms of our journey and how we began and what we’ve achieved,” Mikaela says ahead of her upcoming Daylesford talk. “We’d rather that there was no inequality and that every woman had as much chance as the next person but that unfortunately is just not the case.
“None of us know each other’s stories and it can be incredible what a difference one offer of employment or one act of kindness can make.”
The AGM is at 10.30am with Mikaela’s guest speech set to start at 11am. Members of the public are welcome, but to help determine whether the venue is the town hall or the senior citizens building, those planning to attend should first email their RSVP to Hepburn U3A at info@u3ahepburnshire.com
