As you can see from the video above, the issue that I will be talking about today is single mothers living in poverty, and I will be looking at this issue through a feminist lens. Poverty among single mothers is an issue here in Canada, and it is an issue that can also lead to multigenerational poverty. Single mothers in Canada are 21 percent more likely to be poor than others, (Canadian Women's Foundation, 2008). Other than the obvious cause, that a single mother might live in poverty due to the fact that her income would only be half of what a family would make with two employed parents, I believe that single mothers are more likely to be poor than others because child care is too expensive, and women are more likely to spend more time doing unpaid work than they spend doing paid work, (Canadian Women's Foundation, 2008).
One of the main reasons that I believe single mothers are more likely to live in poverty is that child care is too expensive in Ontario, and therefore unaffordable for mothers living on the social welfare system. The Universal Child Care Benefit in Canada pays $1,200 annually per child, but daycare can cost parents over $11,000 a year, (Kenaz, 2008). This means that single mothers are only receiving one tenth of the cost of daycare a year from UCCB, which is unsustainable. If single mothers cannot afford child-care for their children, it makes it almost impossible to find work, because they cannot leave their children at home alone, and they cannot take their children to work with them. If single mothers cannot find work because they cannot afford child-care, this makes it extremely hard to rise out of poverty, because they have no choice but to stay on the social welfare system. Child care is unaffordable in Ontario for single mothers living in poverty on the social welfare system, (Kenaz, 2008), which keeps these women living in poverty, and can lead to multi-generational poverty as well.
I also believe that single mothers are more likely to live in poverty than others because women are more likely to spend more time doing unpaid work than they spend doing paid work, (Canadian Women's Foundation, 2008). This means that women are spending more time doing unpaid work, which are family responsibilities such as cleaning, care-giving, cooking, and running errands, than they are spending doing paid work for an employer that would bring in money to sustain their families basic needs. Single mothers have the lowest incomes of all family types due to their responsibilities as caregivers to their families, (Synnott, 2010). I find it unfair that in this day and age, the social norm still looks at women as the sole care-givers to their families. I think that men should be held just as responsible for doing the household chores and helping raise the children. Single mothers have a worse situation because they don't even have a partner that would have the option to help, they are forced to do it completely alone. The way our society views women is contributing to the poverty of women and single mothers.
The two main reasons I have described that lead me to believe single mothers are more likely to live in poverty are a) child-care is too expensive, and b) women spend more time doing unpaid work than paid work. Over the course of my different blogs, I have come to learn that children living in poverty can lead to multi-generational poverty. This means that single mothers living in poverty could lead to their children living in poverty as well. Single mothers living in poverty in Canada is very sad and unfortunate, but unless funding is increased to assist or the social norm is changed, the issue is not going to be resolved.
References
Canadian Women's Foundation. (2008). The facts about women and poverty; Commonly Asked Questions about Women and Poverty. Retrieved from
Kenaz. (2012). Invisible moms: Single Mothers and Child Poverty in Canada. Video. Retrieved from
Synnott, R. (2010). Single mothers, poverty, and higher education. Proquest Dissertations and theses, 2010. 14-15. Retrieved From
-Lyndsay
I currently live in geared to income housing, and have had the honor of meeting amazing people struggling to survive. Stereotypes aside, most of my neighbors are single mothers. The struggles they face are female oriented struggles such as child care, employment surrounding child care hours, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for job training. Due to the poverty experienced by these women, many of the children will also have limited options when it comes to their futures, and as a social worker I hope my experience can empower and lift families out of the seemingly never ending cycle.
ReplyDeleteLarissa C
Your blog makes me wonder if men would be so strapped for cash as single fathers. Don't get me wrong here. I do believe that monoparenting, accomplished by either gender, must be very difficult to do with only one source of income. However, my point is that it is often said that men make more than women do in our society. In fact, the Institute for Women's Policy Research recently conducted a study and they discovered that women "have lower median earnings than men...".
ReplyDeletePRNewswire. New Study: Men Earn More Than Women Within Nearly All the Most Common Occupations. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-men-earn-more-than-women-within-nearly-all-the-most-common-occupations-147751375.html
~ Valerie
Larissa!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. I too have lived in geared-income housing and have also had first hand experience in witnessing the issues that these people faced. I also grew up with a single mother, and I agree that most of her struggles were family oriented. I can tell from your post that you have an open mind and you will make a great social worker, good luck!
Valerie!
Heyy Val! Thanks for your comment. I have also researched and the statistics state that single fathers do in fact generally make more money annually than single mothers, which is why I chose to focuss my blog on single mothers living in poverty. It would have been interesting if I had tied in the single father aspect to my blog, but I did not think of it at the time. As a child who grew up with a single mother living in poverty, I figured that this issue would be a great topic to blog on.
-Lyndsay
It is important to look at this from the perspective of child care workers as well, as they are too providing a business in order to retrieve funds to support their families. Maybe the Canadian government needs to look into the option of providing funds for child care to pay these workers so that single parents may have an option to be provided free health care. This would create less dependence of single parents on social welfare and assistance, as many would be able to find work or retain the jobs they already have in order to provide for their families, while not having to worry about unaffordable child care costs. The Canadian government does not do much in supporting those who wish to lift themselves out of poverty and provide for their families. These single parents cannot do so when having to stay home and care for their child.
ReplyDelete- Kara
Hey Lyndsay,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading you blog, and the statistics about single women, attempting to raise a child really caught my attention. I was not aware that the numbers involved in daycare. Comparing that to the amount of money you get from the government and the amounts not even coming remotely close makes me wonder what is going on in our society. Why on earth is day care so much and why are single parents receiving such little help from the government? It is so difficult to try and get ahead in life, and receiving little to no support from the government makes it nearly impossible to escape the cycle of poverty.
Christine-NRC
P.S. I really like your video :)