The Consequences Of Single Parenthood

Single parenthood, be it a single mother of father, is a life commitment and long struggle that many are faced with. Often times the stereotype and narrative of being a single parent is told by single mothers. Either being forced into their situation were few options else are available, or the parent willing chooses single parenthood for their benefit as well as their child. Overwhelmingly though, single mothers don’t really have a choice in their status as single mother’s, they are victims of consequences beyond their control. In the case of my mother, Jessica DeGrauw, she did not have children with the intent or desire of being a single mother, but was forced into the situation when the relation between her and my father was no longer healthy. …show more content…
More often than not in situations of single parents, the parent is a woman, with only a seventh of single parents being fathers. Inside this statistic, single mothers are more likely to have attended college. This is striking considering the fact that these mothers “have higher poverty rates, lower incomes, lower employment rates, and lower wage rates,” (4). Women earned less, for working the same amount as men. On record, single mothers in 2009 earned only 70% of what single fathers did; mother’s $25,172 to a father’s $36,085. In comparison, two parent homes earned nearly triple that of single mothers in 2009. As well as the rate of poverty of single mothers are five times that of the rate of two parent households. Wage rates of parents working full-time for example, concerning single mothers ($549 a week) are below that of married mothers ($705 a week). Even further below those is the rate for married fathers ($939 a …show more content…
My mother, my grandmother, and many other single parents, struggled to make ends meet, and through this struggle they sought out help from one of the places we all rely on. Our government. Unfortunately, as decades pass, and national as well as world politics change, single mothers consistently are given the short end of the stick. More than half of single mothers were victims of circumstances such as divorce, separation, or loss of their spouse. A quarter of those women did not have reliable employment, and received significantly less than their married counterparts. Single mothers are more likely to poor, and living in extreme poverty as well as facing hardships in secure the most basic of things, food. Considering these striking statistics, one would hope that more than half of these families would be eligible for food stamps and TANF assistance. This is unfortunately not the case. Less than a quarter of single mothers have access to health care. Access to child care and education are significantly impeded after all these costs are considered