Women, families and work : how to help LQ's women residents into work and tackle the barriers they face

Women?s rates of employment are lower than men?s. Housing association residents' rates of employment are lower than those in other tenures. Thus women housing association tenants have high rates of out-of-work benefit claims and high rates of poverty. It is known that women housing association residents with children face constraints to employment, ranging from their own individual circumstances to shortages of services and problems with the jobs available. In this context, housing associations, including LQ, have increasingly become involved in providing information, support and training to help their residents both to get work and also to progress in it. The research aimed to better understand the constraints felt by LQ?s women residents with children making the transition to work, and the supports that could them make and sustain the transition. It also aimed to identify a range of practical ways in which LQ could support women residents to overcome barriers to work. It complements ?Real London Lives?, another research project carried out by LQ and its 15 partner housing associations which form the G15 group in London (http://reallondonlives.co.uk)