Smart Works UK received funding from the Archewell Foundation for a 2022 UK Female Unemployment study

Since 2019, Meghan  has been Patron of the UK non-profit Smart Works UK,  an organization that assists women to re-enter the work force in providing a dressing and coaching service designed to help clients present themselves - as themselves - in job interviews.

Today, Smart Works released the Smart Works Female Unemployment Index 2022 . This inaugural report examined the challenges women face in trying to move from being unemployed to re-entering the work place. The information in the report is based on the opinions of the clients who have received services from the one of several Smart Works locations throughout England and Scotland. 

The findings in the report will act as a bench mark for comparative purposes in future years. 

Key findings included:

• Mothers typically remained unemployed for longer than women without children showing that there remains a prejudice in hiring women with children.

• The availability of affordable child-care would help more mothers go back to work.

• Being unemployed and the whole hiring process knocks the confidence out women across the board - that is women needing to work for financial stability and women who wish to work for other reasons such as self-fulfillment. 

• The main reason Smart Works clients wanted to find a job was to help them have a sense of purpose and identity. 

• Smart Works clients credit the services that they receive from the organization as a major factor in their ultimate success in finding work and in boosting their confidence. 

At the end of the publication is an acknowledgement thanking everyone who helped, including a thank you to Meghan and Harry's Archewell Foundation for their financial contribution to help fund the report.