From Welfare to Work - Challenges Single Mothers Face
From Welfare to Work: The Challenges Faced by Single Mothers
Parents are always subject to difficulties in their lives, be it financially, emotionally or socially. Canadian single mothers, more specifically poor ones, face a greater difficulty in providing adequately for their families due to the challenging and often disheartening experience of attempting to go off of welfare and find work. They face negative social stigma from others (Edwards & Caballero, 2011), and are subjected to gendered wages, with female lone parents earning an astounding $12,000 less per year than male lone parents in 2009 (Statistics Canada, 2009). Their job prospects are almost nonexistent due to prejudice in the workplace, offering low paying, part time, unstable shiftwork. The pressures from the government on single mothers to move off of welfare and find employment are strong, as they urge mothers to start contributing to their economy again only months after their baby is born. Their support for these women, however, is incredibly weak. The Canadian government does not provide adequate aid to their single mothers on welfare, which pushes them further into poverty, and causes psychological damage. This creates a circle of unending poverty and mental illness that is very hard to break, and makes it even more difficult to gain employment. Thus, due to negative social stigma, poor job opportunities, job instability, susceptibility to mental disorder and gendered pay (amongst other things), single mothers face a very difficult struggle to end their dependence on government support and become independent, fully functioning members of society.
In 2005, Statistics Canada reported that there were 1,132,290 female-headed single parent families across the country (Statistics Canada, 2006), about five times the amount of male-headed ones. The prevalence of single mother families is due more to social issues and gender norms than psychological issues, with
Parents are always subject to difficulties in their lives, be it financially, emotionally or socially. Canadian single mothers, more specifically poor ones, face a greater difficulty in providing adequately for their families due to the challenging and often disheartening experience of attempting to go off of welfare and find work. They face negative social stigma from others (Edwards & Caballero, 2011), and are subjected to gendered wages, with female lone parents earning an astounding $12,000 less per year than male lone parents in 2009 (Statistics Canada, 2009). Their job prospects are almost nonexistent due to prejudice in the workplace, offering low paying, part time, unstable shiftwork. The pressures from the government on single mothers to move off of welfare and find employment are strong, as they urge mothers to start contributing to their economy again only months after their baby is born. Their support for these women, however, is incredibly weak. The Canadian government does not provide adequate aid to their single mothers on welfare, which pushes them further into poverty, and causes psychological damage. This creates a circle of unending poverty and mental illness that is very hard to break, and makes it even more difficult to gain employment. Thus, due to negative social stigma, poor job opportunities, job instability, susceptibility to mental disorder and gendered pay (amongst other things), single mothers face a very difficult struggle to end their dependence on government support and become independent, fully functioning members of society.
In 2005, Statistics Canada reported that there were 1,132,290 female-headed single parent families across the country (Statistics Canada, 2006), about five times the amount of male-headed ones. The prevalence of single mother families is due more to social issues and gender norms than psychological issues, with
References: Baker M. (1997). Parental benefit policies and the gendered division of labour. Social Service Review, 71(1), 51-71. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30012606 Baker, M Beach, J., Friendly, M., Ferns, C., Prabhu, N. & Forer, B. (2009). Ontario. Early childhood education and care in Canada 2008; 8, 67-80. Breitkreuz, R