Lorena left her family residence in 2015 and left everything behind, she didn't even have time to pack her bags. She walked out the door “with what she was wearing”, she had no other alternative to break with the sexist violence that persecuted her. She is 40 years old and for a long time she was mistreated by her ex-partner, the father of two of her children, with whom she had a two-decade relationship. “My children were so upset that they don't want to see me. “She took everything from me,” she says. She couldn't choose her clothes, her plans, or her company. He even spied on her at her workplace and she couldn't take it anymore. “When the psychological violence became physical, I had to cut my losses,” she explains. She became the owner of her life again, but she paid a very expensive toll. “It has affected my economy and my mental health,” explains the woman, who gives a fictitious name to avoid being located. Her precariousness marked her life for eight years, from the time she fled, until in 2023 she found stable work thanks to the La Caixa Foundation's Incorpora program, which provides employment for people in vulnerable situations.
After filing a complaint at the police station, Lorena was transferred in 2015 to a shelter for victims of gender violence, outside of Castilla-La Mancha, where she previously lived. She was only there for a few days, but three months later she returned to another protection center because she was in a very vulnerable situation. “I lost 35 kilos in two years and I was rethinking whether to continue moving forward without having my children, which was what I wanted,” she explains.
For eight years he had unstable jobs. “I was a warehouse operator, I worked in a factory and also in the field,” she says. She did not want to stay at her mother's house, located in the Castilian-La Mancha region, because she feared being located by her ex-partner, but in 2023 she had to do so when her parents needed to be cared for. She felt insecure because the restraining order was no longer in effect. So far, she has not seen her attacker again nor has she seen her two oldest children. But with a new partner and after becoming a mother again, she gathered enough strength to redirect her life and asked for help from the Incorpora program for job placement.
The project, which has the participation of 500 collaborating social entities and 16,417 participating companies, has provided 42,130 jobs to people in vulnerable situations in 2023. This is the highest annual figure achieved by the program since its creation in 2006. 54% of the insertions correspond to women, including 1,288 victims of gender violence. According to the INE, the female unemployment rate stood at 13.36% in the fourth quarter of 2023, more than three points above that of men.
Lorena came into contact with the Incorpora program in February of last year and in March she already had a job. She was offered personalized itineraries that combine skills training and empowerment workshops to regain lost self-esteem and confidence. She has achieved two job placements through the project. The first in a perfume and cosmetics factory and the second in Logisfashion, an international logistics operator specialized in fashion, which has several warehouses in Spain.
She was chosen among nine candidates from the job placement program, which previously carries out a pre-selection of profiles suitable for the position, after passing a three-day training process. “The team leaders saw that she was interested,” says the company's talent selection and attraction manager in Spain, Carmen Zamora. The project has 1,200 job placement technicians who offer personalized attention and follow-up to participants in the companies.
“They have adjusted to my preferences because I depend a lot on my little daughter's schedule,” says Lorena, who also asked for a job close to her place of residence because she did not have a car, although now she has been able to get one thanks to improving their employment situation. “My tasks are very varied. I can unload a truck, prepare orders or fold clothes. “I feel very fulfilled,” she adds. She appreciates the good work environment and the opportunity to learn. “I haven't been in front of a computer for 20 years, they have been very patient with me,” she explains.
Zamora assures that his evolution in the company has been very good. “He is a strong and positive person. “She is eager and she is always open to any challenge and learning,” she says after clarifying that she has possibilities for growth within the company. Lorena appreciates it, she appreciates that they comply with the business protocol for victims of gender violence. She knows that she has paid leave for any procedure motivated by her personal situation and financial aid if she needs to suspend the contract. Additionally, if she needs to change residence, she can choose to work in another company warehouse and if she requires it, they will pay for part of the psychological therapy.
“This job has meant a change in my life,” says Lorena. After having purchased a car, she dreams of having a house again to live with her young daughter and her current partner. Meanwhile, she resides with her mother, but has greater independence. “I know that you no longer have to support me like before, when I lived abroad, and you helped me with the shopping basket, the electricity bills or the rent for the room,” he says after celebrating his current stability: “I want to start now my life from scratch with a normal day to day life, without being from one place to another.”
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