Total media coverage Kutubna 2024-2025

Kutubna Cultural Center in Dubai held the first session of their brand new programme called ‘Mothers/Work’ on April 23, for mothers who want to return to work. The ‘bootcamp’ includes four sessions that are spread across this month and next month, and mothers can drop their children at the in-house play area before attending these sessions. “The main goal is for women to learn how to have the career they want and how to present their applications more effectively so that they can get interviews and ultimately, jobs,” explains founder and director, Shatha Almutawa.

“We will be looking at job announcements, Linkedin profiles, CVs, cover letters, resumes, and we will do some practice interviews as well where the women can get to know each other and give feedback,” she says, adding that Eman Al Yousuf, who oversees hiring and volunteer programmes at the Emirates Literature Foundation, is expected to be there at the last session of the bootcamp. Six women attended the first session. “The women can also look forward to working very closely with me… I will be talking about how we choose candidates at the centre and why we picked them,” says Almutawa, adding that she will conduct such programmes in the future depending on the demand.

Organising such programmes was not the primary goal of the centre — in fact, Almutawa started the centre last year to highlight Khaleeji authors and literature, music, art and culture through its workshops and bookshop. As the mother of a toddler, she was excited about hiring other mothers at the centre. “But when I did the interviews, they would say, ‘I’ve never worked and I’ve only taken care of my children’ or ‘I have no experience and I don’t know anything about work’. But we develop so many skills while taking care of our children and we need to recognise that we can be valuable members of the team that we could join.”

As someone who is in a position to hire people, Almutawa explains that a gap in one’s CV never bothers her as long as candidates are able to demonstrate an ability and willingness to learn new things and pick up new skills. “They should be able to explain what they can offer, and also be clear about the kind of position they need — it’s a matter of presenting what you can do,” she adds.