Women and profession

Single parents face many challenges - like all families, but the stresses are concentrated on one person. In addition, the target group of single parents is heterogeneous. Thus, the respective framework conditions such as educational level, migration background, separation, divorce, death of the partner, illness, domestic violence or debts very specifically determine the living situations of single parents, but also their children. They often have limited time to cope with the demands they face and not infrequently suffer from a lack of financial security and financial bottlenecks. To cope with this, single parents need additional care and support.

Special qualification measures and projects can be helpful for single parents. They are aimed at disadvantaged women who, for example, are in the family phase, have no or no professional qualifications and professional experience, are working in a mini-job, are employed on a temporary basis, part-time or are not self-employed to secure their livelihood, or want to improve childcare. The aim is to support single mothers in the development and implementation of their career plans in order to develop or build up a career perspective that will secure their livelihood.

On the one hand, projects for single parents are intended to help with integration into the labor market and, in doing so, also make an important contribution to combating poverty.

Mothers with children under the age of three often do not know how they will continue their careers after parental leave. Motherhood considerably restricts access to the job market and to training and further education. It is particularly difficult for young mothers who are raising their child alone and do not yet have a vocational qualification. There is evidence that poverty spirals are caused by the failure to build up career prospects in good time.

Important questions are: What is the best way to apply for a job? Where can I find childcare for my child? How do I continue with my child and career alone after separating from my partner? Advice centers and counseling services offer answers and advice on these and other questions.

Important contact points are

•  BeFF-Kontaktstelle Frau und Beruf (opens in a new tab): The Berufliche Förderung von Frauen e.V. (BeFF) provides support for mothers of all ages with educational and professional backgrounds and work experience.
•  Social enterprise ZORA gGmbH (opens in a new tab): ZORA is available to women with no or insufficient school or vocational qualifications.
•  FrauenBerufsZentrum (opens in a new tab) from the Sozialdienst katholischer Frauen and the Caritasverband Stuttgart.

Women often remain in mini-jobs or low-paid employment for a long time and are prevented from working by an inadequate childcare infrastructure, meaning that they remain in a difficult life situation for a disproportionately long time. Statistically speaking, women's participation in the workforce is increasing, but under increasingly precarious conditions.

These include atypical employment relationships such as part-time work, marginal employment, fixed-term employment relationships and/or temporary employment relationships with significant financial disadvantages and no opportunities for advancement. The aim is to support these women in finding jobs that pay a living wage. The following contact points offer support and services for this:

•  BeFF-Kontaktstelle Frau und Beruf (opens in a new tab): The Berufliche Förderung von Frauen e.V. (BeFF) looks after mothers of all ages with educational and vocational qualifications and work experience.
•  Social enterprise ZORA gGmbH (opens in a new tab): ZORA is available to women with no or insufficient school or vocational qualifications.
•  FrauenBerufsZentrum (opens in a new tab) from the Sozialdienst katholischer Frauen and the Caritasverband Stuttgart.

For many years, the  FrauenBerufsZentrum (opens in a new tab) advice center of the "Sozialdienst katholischer Frauen" has been helping women in difficult life situations as well as women who are unable to enter the job market on their own. The low-threshold advice center has been supported by the  Equal Opportunities Department since 2016. It is the only time-unbound and voluntary service of its kind for women furthest from the labor market and is primarily available to women both with and without benefits according to SGB II/III in Stuttgart.

The aim of the advice is to boost women's self-esteem and show them their options for gaining a foothold in the job market. Among other things, they receive support in preparing job applications and in finding contacts for family or financial problems.

The Network for Qualification and Training for Women is made up of representatives from various companies that promote women's careers, the administration, chambers, business associations and companies. Its aim is to support women in their vocational training and further education by informing companies about forms of more flexible training models and supporting them during the qualification phase. As a rule, two meetings are held each year.

The city administration, for example, offers various part-time  apprenticeships so that single parents and women who care for relatives can also gain professional qualifications. Information on this is available from the Main and Personnel Office in the  Personnel Development and Training Department.

The spokesperson for the network is  Julia Behne (opens in a new tab), Stuttgart Region Chamber of Skilled Crafts, Policy Department. The deputy spokesperson of the network is  Kirsten Plew. The  Equal Opportunities Department is responsible for coordination and public relations. To make an appointment for a consultation, please contact the department by  e-mail. For further inquiries, please use our contact form.

Further information can be found at the  Chamber of Crafts (opens in a new tab) and in the QuAF flyer.