Single-Mothers: Paid & Unpaid Work

Single-mothers: Paid & Unpaid Work

Poverty in Canada impacts our most venerable citizens in our society, women and children. Even as the statistics on low, income families have decreased in the past years, there is still a wide gap between single-mothers income level and two-parent families with one income. As well, our children are usually unable to provide for themselves, this leaves the responsibility, as noted by our society, to the caregivers of the family. Since before WWI it was the Mother who has been viewed as "the caregiver". This parent is responsible for the household duties and the upbringing of the children within the home. In prior years, when a woman's marital status changes, and she becomes a single parent, as a result of divorce or because she never married, then she not only has the household responsibilities and caring for her children, but she is required to take on the role of what was considered to be the man's job or role in the family unit, which is providing for their family financially. Overtime, women have fought for equal rights making it socially expectable for women to work in the workplace. However, this forces many mothers to have paid work and unpaid work which goes without being recognized. Society needs to be aware of how hard it really is to not only be a mother but a single-mother. Society devalues the unpaid love and care which women have to provide for the family to keep a well rounded class statue. In our world today, there are still a large number of single-mothers who tend or need to rely on government assistance, in order to keep their families together and surviving.

Pat, a single-mother, states that still in today's society, "Strangers in the grocery store gave me the evil eye or talked about my purchases; people I barely knew called me an irresponsible parasite for letting the government support my babies."# Welfare assistance seems to be the only hope for many single-mothers. As well, their level of education, for many single-mothers has contributed a growing problem which has limited the single-mothers opportunities in the workplace and has forced these mothers to stay on welfare for longer periods of time or forever. The welfare cheque only covers the bare necessities for families. This not only hinders the mother, but can causes several problems socially, emotionally and physically for the children. Children suffer, as they are not able to participate in the extra curricular activities because their mothers are unable to financially afford the cost of the activity. They are teased at school for not having nice cloths or other school items. The mother begins to feel as though she has failed at being a good parent. Activities need to be set up at community sponsored centers where children can participate for free. This will provide the mother with a chance to relax from not only working paid work but also the unpaid work which the single-mothers have to do to provide their children with a caring and loving family.

It is not as easy for a single mother to provide for her children in the same way that a two-parent family with one income provider can. A single mother usually makes a lower wage and works in a job that is low, income level such as most part time jobs. Currently, women are paid on average 72 cents for every dollar that men receive for the same job. There has been a great deal of improvement over the past few years on how much money women actually earn compared to men. The real problem is that although society is saying that women are equal to men they still are not receiving the same pay for working the same work. Men are, also still dominating the work force in most of the higher paying jobs. Income insecurity and mutual obligation requirements can leave mothers having to choose between their children's emotional and physical needs and the family's economic survival.# As well, there are many emotional risks for a low, income families with two parents who have only one income provider. In many cases, the parents will get a divorce, which contributes to more single-mothers in our society. Children also will witness their parents fighting and then going through the horrible stage of divorce, which may sometimes cause serious emotional problems which the single-mothers are left to deal with.

Even though today's society has realized that to be a single-mother is not an easy accomplishment, we still seem to stereotype them as bad people. The difference in the last few decades or previous century is that society now recognizes and supports the fact that there are a lot of single-mothers that make up our society and that we are willing to support this type of family unit. A lot of single-mothers are independent women who have divorced their husbands because they have been sexual, physically, or emotionally abuse by them and because of this people think badly single-mothers? Helping single women survive the changes in life style , which has been at times imposed upon them, needs to be acknowledged and supported by our society. Society need to recognize the provisioning work which mother have to do in order to keep their family organized. Realizing that single-mothers have a tough time in society is also an improvement for our society. In the past, a single-mother was considered a problem situation that was even looked down upon by others. But this problem is slowly being noticed as a problem that everyone needs to address and work to improve. Confronting the situation is a step forward helping the situation of single-mothers everywhere. Every adult is an expression of endless parental hours of feeding, soothing, changing, washing, teaching, helping and protecting, and as old age and illness strike, there is again a need for many hours of care provision. There is a dependency on other authority figures to provide for them financially, and this may result in a cycle of dependency that is hard to break. In many cases, it is the single-mothers themselves that need the help from surrounding sources either emotionally or financially.#

Women, who are lucky enough to have a full time job, are sometimes still not able to earn enough money to provide for basic living expenses for their family and themselves. In 1998 women spent 15.2 hours on unpaid housework ( not counting childcare) per week compared with 8.3 hours for men.# It is very hard to balance a family as well as a job when there is only one income and one parent to provide care and love to the children. Welfare assistance becomes the only option, even though this type of assistance does not provide sufficient resources, in terms of income, for a family to exist upon. Maintaining a balance between paid work and family needs is even harder