SOCIAL INNOVATION

Social mantra: Empowering low-income single mothers in Peru through formal and flexible employment and parenting support

Social Problem

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Single mothers (SM) are significantly more likely to live in poverty compared to partnered mothers (Kramer, et al., 2016; Brady & Burroway, 2012; Hübgen, 2020; Crosier, Butterworth, & Rodgers, 2007). A crucial factor that enables families to escape poverty is full-time employment (Kramer, et al., 2016). However, if it is difficult for mothers with a partner to balance motherhood and paid work (Coombe, et al., 2019), it is even more difficult for low-income SM who lack a partner to share responsibilities and cannot afford childcare services. Consequently, they are forced to decide between working or taking care of their children, impeding their route out of poverty.

Besides the financial constraints, single mothers face psychosocial challenges that detrimentally impact their health (Callaghan, et al., 2021). They encounter high rates of physical and emotional exhaustion due to their parenting circumstances. These include a lack of resources, underemployment, negative community perceptions and stigma, as well as a lack of social services and external support. These factors are reinforced by gender inequalities, which are particularly salient in patriarchal societies (Callaghan, et al., 2021).

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In Peru, 7.8% of households are headed by a single mother (INEI, 2019). Most of them are exposed to poverty and inequalities because of their

low level of education

73.2% of them do not have a post-secondary education, while 5.7% do not have any level of formal education (INEI, 2019).

lack of essential services,

Regarding access to essential services in their households, 36.1% cannot access public sewage, 24.2% do not have running water, 14.6% do not have electricity, and 79.8% do not have access to the internet (INEI, 2019).

and limited access to the labour market.

A significant 23.4% of SM are out of the workforce and not actively seeking employment due to various constraints (INEI, 2019), and those who are working face a high rate of informality in the employment market, with 78.8% of working women being in informal employment (INEI, 2022).

2. Root causes

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In 2023, as part of her master’s degree dissertation, to understand the challenges faced by low-income SM in Peruvian society one member of our team conducted qualitative research in Ayaviri, Puno, Peru. Three data sources were considered: mothers (including SM, former SM, and mothers with a partner), experts and people close to the beneficiaries. The theorical framework used was the intersectionality framework that maintains that individuals are affected by multiple systems of oppression that impact them in different ways (Sosa, 2017).

There are four main systems of oppression that affect our target population.

The first one is their socioeconomic status. In Peru, 29,0% of the population is poor. The level of poverty increases for the people whose mother tongue is a native language or who live in rural areas. Puno is one of the poorest regions of the country, with 41,6% of its population living in poverty. (INEI, 2024)
The second system of oppression considered is gender. Peru has a strongly patriarchal system, with high rates of violence against women and gender inequalities (Alvarado & Vilchez, 2015). In 2022, 7% of women in Peru reported having suffered from domestic violence at the hands of their partner or ex-partner (INEI, 2023). Puno presents a high rate of violence against women, being ranked fourth among the regions (62.2%).
Nevertheless, gender solely cannot explain the oppression experienced by all women (Sosa, 2017). Even among women, there are factors that exacerbate their situation. Hence, the third system of oppression is motherhood. In the labour market, being a mother is penalised. This motherhood penalty translates into less access to employment and lower earnings (Harkness, 2022). The motherhood earning gap is sometimes even larger than the gender gap (Baker, 2010).
The last system of oppression that will be considered is single parenthood. For SM the motherhood penalty has a more detrimental impact, because they don’t have a male breadwinning partner. SM face not only a motherhood penalty but also the absence of earnings from a male partner. Even if the father continues to financially support his children, these payments rarely offset the loss of his earnings within the household (Harkness, 2022).

Intersectionality claims that the final effect is not just a mere multiplied effect of these several categories occurring at the same time; rather it is a new and different form of discrimination (Sosa, 2017). That is why these new types of discriminations deserve a tailored response because they cannot be covered by the combination of laws and policies that address single categories of subordination.

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After the data collection carried out through participant observation and interviews; and the data analysis, 3 root causes that lead to 5 challenges were identified.

Absence of public support

SM face nationwide limited access to quality public services, especially in rural areas. Furthermore, there is no specific public policy focused on this population group. Even worse, the country cannot provide services that improve their current situation, such as adequate legal support to pursue child support from the fathers or a national care system to alleviate their caregiving burden.

Strongly patriarchal society

Within Peruvian society, the responsibility for caregiving primarily falls upon women.

Additionally, motherhood is perceived as sacrificial, creating heightened expectations surrounding the roles of mothers, particularly for SM. Paradoxically, despite these expectations, SM are undervalued, facing negative social perceptions and discrimination.

Furthermore, the interviews highlight that SM have experienced violence from their ex-partners. Moreover, even after separating from the fathers of their children, SM continue to endure abuse, as these men abruptly deny them much-needed financial support.

High informal labour market

Informal employment is a significant problem in Peru (76,8%) (INEI, 2022), and this is clearly reflected in the access to employment for SM in Ayaviri. None of the interviewees reported ever having a formal job. On the contrary, they all described poorly paid and unstable jobs.

There is also a high level of unawareness about what constitutes a formal job, mainly due to the scarcity of formal jobs in the region. Puno has an informal employment rate of 90.4% (INEI, 2022), which is further exacerbated in the case of women due to lack of public and private initiatives and gender discrimination.

Challenges:

Lack of parenting knowledge
Emotional and financial abandonment of their children’s father
Emotional challenges of single motherhood
Struggles to balance work and motherhood
Access only to informal jobs

3. Current solutions

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Currently, SM in Ayaviri have three main sources of employment: informal salaried jobs, informal self-employed jobs, and temporary jobs offered by the National Programme Trabaja Peru. SM in Ayaviri can only access informal jobs, which are of two types: working for others or self-employment, being street vendors the most common. Apart from these options, the National Programme Trabaja Peru has also been mentioned in the interviews. The aim of this programme is to create temporary employment for the working-age population who are in poverty, extreme poverty, or have been partially or fully affected by natural disasters or emergencies (MTPE, 2022).

Nevertheless, these current solutions do not consider the whole complexity of being a single mother in a society such as the one of Puno. Our solution does.

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4. Our Solution

We have designed Benedicta Ayllu (empowering low-income single mothers in Peru through formal and flexible employment and parenting support), a holistic approach to enhance the well-being and quality of lives of low-income single mothers and consequently, of their children.

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Benedicta Ayllu is a textile for interior design social enterprise that provides

Technical training on knitting and weaving, to produce luxury alpaca textile pieces for interior design purposes.
A formal and flexible job, giving single mothers the employment stability they need.
Two social programmes: one focused on single mothers’ self-esteem and the other focused on parenting.

Addressing four of the challenges identified.

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This strategy canvas, developed considering five value drivers and the competitors, shows us how Benedicta Ayllu, stands out in four value drivers: income, parenting support, steady employment, and training.

5. Mission and Vision

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Our mission is to offer single mothers in rural areas: i) employment that adjusts to their needs by providing economic stability and the opportunity to balance work and motherhood; and ii) a supportive community where they can access emotional well-being and parenting programmes.

Our vision is a society where every single mother has access to decent work and embraces their parenting journey with blissfulness, confidence, and pride, providing both herself and her children with a good quality of life.

6. Why is it unique?

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Benedicta represents every single mother: a resilient woman eager to flourish and offer her children opportunities to thrive. Ayllu means community and family in quechua and that is what we offer to them, a family that supports their economic independence, holistic well-being and parenting journey. Benedicta Ayllu is not just a source of income for low-income single mothers, it is an innovative enterprise tailored at their needs and dreams that revalue the Peruvian textile art in high-income European countries.

7. UN Goals

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We address 6 UN goals.

GOAL 1: No Poverty, by providing low-income single mothers a route out of poverty.

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being, by designing self-esteem programmes for their mental health and parenting programmes that cover health and nutrition topics for their children.

GOAL 5: Gender Equality, by fighting against motherhood penalty and supporting the balance between formal employment and motherhood.

GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, by enabling our target population to access formal and flexible employment opportunities for the first time.

GOAL 10: Reduced inequalities, by reducing the poverty rate not only between partnered mothers and single mothers, but also between women and men in rural areas.

GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, by manufacturing high-quality, durable textile pieces using environmentally friendly processes.

8. Stakeholders support

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Our stakeholders are

Beneficiaries: Low-income single mothers with at least one minor child, from Ayaviri, Puno, Peru.
Customers: Both male and female individuals interested in Peruvian textile art and supporting vulnerable populations. The initial market will be the United Kingdom, with the intention of expanding to other high-income countries in Europe.
Commercial partners: Designers, textile artisans associations, alpaca breeders associations, trade shows organizers in the United Kingdom, Ministry of Culture (Ruraq Maqui), and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism.
Donors and impact investors
Social programmes partners: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (Women Entrepreneur Networks), local partners to help us identify the target population in the area and mental health specialists.

9. Learning curve

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Our research and designing journey gave us the following lessons so far:

Fieldwork was crucial to deeply understand the beneficiary’s context, challenges, and desires. No solution can be proposed without understanding the context of the social problem one wants to address.
While we have identified a need to address mental and emotional issues and a lack of parenting knowledge in every interview conducted, it is not possible to address these challenges without providing a source of fair and steady income to our target population.
Social problems are complex, so defining our scope and areas of intervention will enable us to create a more meaningful impact and to clearly measure and communicate it.

References:

Alvarado, B., & Vilchez, R. d. (2015). Single, Divorced, or Separated? Factors That Impact the Lives of Women Who Are Heads of Household in Lima, Peru. SAGE Open, 1-9.

Kramer, K. Z., Myhra, L. L., Zuiker, V. S., & Bauer, J. W. (2016). Comparison of Poverty and Income Disparity of Single Mothers and Fathers Across Three Decades: 1990–2010. Gender Issues, 33, 22-41.

Brady, D., & Burroway, R. (2012). Targeting, Universalism, and Single-Mother Poverty: A Multilevel Analysis Across 18 Affluent Democracies. Demography, 49(2), 719-746.

Hübgen, S. (2020). Understanding lone mothers’ high poverty in Germany: Disentangling composition effects and effects of lone motherhood. Advances in Life Course Research, 44, 1-13.

Crosier, T., Butterworth, P., & Rodgers, B. (2007). Mental health problems among single and partnered mothers. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 42, 6-13.

Coombe, J., Loxton, D., Tooth, L., & Byles, J. (2019). “I can be a mum or a professional, but not both”: What women say about their experiences of juggling paid employment with motherhood. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 54, 305– 322.

Callaghan, M. A., Watchiba, D., Purkey, E., Davison, C. M., Aldersey, H. M., & Bartels, S. A. (2021). “I Don’t Know where I Have to Knock for Support”: A Mixed- Methods Study on Perceptions and Experiences of Single Mothers Raising Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 1-26.

INEI. (2019). Características de los hogares de madres y padres solos con hijos/as menores de 18 años de edad. Lima.

INEI. (2022). Producción y empleo informal en el Perú. Cuenta Satélite de la Economía Informal 2007-2021. Lima

INEI. (2024). Perú: Evolución de la pobreza monetaria 2014-2023. Informe técnico. Lima

Sosa, L. (2017). Intersectionality in the Human Rights Legal Framework on Violence against Women. At the Centre or the Margins? Cambridge University Press.

Harkness, S. (2022). The Accumulation of Economic Disadvantage: The Influence of Childbirth and Divorce on the Income and Poverty Risk of Single Mothers. Demography, 59(4), 1377-1402.

Baker, M. (2010). Motherhood, employment and the “child penalty”. Women’s Studies International Forum, 33, 215–224.

MTPE. (2022). Trabaja Perú. Memoria Anual 2021. Lima.

Benedicta Ayllu

Organizer:

SOCIAL INNOVATION