Single mothers in Australia:Supporting mothers to seek work

Marilyn McHugh · Jane Millar

12 citations0/0 files storedRePEc: Research Papers in Economics

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Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics Work-Family Balance Challenges Social Policies and Family

Abstract

The rapid increase in the numbers of sole parents in Australia - and their high risk of poverty - has meant that these families have become a focus of increasing concern. This paper explores the issue of sole motherhood and employment, with a particular emphasis on examining the relationship between social security policies and current discourses on the role of women in Australian society, including the perspectives of sole mothers themselves. The paper is part of an edited collection (Duncan and Edwards, forthcoming), covering nine countries ranging from Ireland (where the vast majority of sole mothers are not employed and where the expectation of policy is that such women should stay and home to care for their children) to Sweden (where almost all sole mothers are in employment and where public policy is explicitly designed to support them) and the USA (where most sole mothers are employed despite low levels of public provision for working mothers). Other countries in the collection include the UK, Japan, Germany and France. As other comparative work has shown, variations in sole mothers’ employment rates across countries cannot be readily explained (Bradshaw et al., 1996). The distinctive approach adopted in this book is that the national case studies each explore the processes by which sole mothers combine paid work and mothering. The paper brings together an analysis of the dominant political and popular discourses about motherhood; of the nature of the state welfare regime; of the constraints and opportunities of local labour markets; and of the formal provision and support offered by social security, child support and child care policies. This provides a context for understanding how different groups of sole mothers negotiate their social identity as mothers and as workers.

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References

1986The Working Class and Welfare. Reflections on the Political Development of the Welfare State in Australia and New Zealand, 1890-1980 1993POVERTY, TNEQUALTTY, AND FAMTLY LIVING STANDARDS IMPACTS ACROSS SEVEN NATIONS: THE EFFECT OF NONCASH SUBSIDIES FOR HEALTH, EDUCATION AND HOUSING 1991Income Transfers in Ten Welfare States 1995The use of replacement rates in international comparisons of benefit systems 1991Sisters in Suits: Women and Public Policy in Australia 1989Family Size Equivalence Scales and Survey Evaluations of Income and Well-Being 1991Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism or Four 1993A Man's Town: Inequality Between Women and Men in Rural Australia

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