Lone Parenthood

Question 1

Changes

Answer 1

Tripled since 1971, Britain has one of highest proportions of lone parent families in Europe
Most lone parents women

Question 2

Reasons for Increase

Economic

Answer 2

Greater economic independence of women due to job opportunities and welfare state support
Support from a husband is less necessary

Question 3

Reasons for Increase

Male Attitudes, Contraception

Answer 3

Improved + more available contraception and abortion, men feel less responsibility to marry or cohabit with unintentionally pregnant women
Fewer shotgun weddings as wider social acceptance

Question 4

Reasons for Increase

Reproductive Technology

Answer 4

Women can have children without a male partner
Sperm donors, IVF, surrogacy

Question 5

Reasons for Increase

Social Attitudes

Answer 5

Less social stigma attached to lone parenthood, women less afraid of social consequences

Question 6

New Right View

Overview

Answer 6

Blame generosity of welfare state policies, see LPF as root of societal decay

Question 7

New Right View

Murray

Answer 7

Generous benefits encourage women to have children they couldn’t otherwise support
Sign of decline of conventional family life + marriage - ‘promiscuous parasites’
Problems - blamed for crime, housing shortages, drug abuse, educational failure, and breakdown of society (lack of male role model)

Question 8

New Right View

Policy

Answer 8

Child Support Agency
Childcare Tax Credit - encourage lone parents into paid employment through help with childcare
National Minimum Wage

Question 9

Myths

Absent Fathers Create Problems, Such as Juvenile Delinquency

Answer 9

Juvenile delinquency likely in any household lacking adequate supervision
Home Office Report - no difference in crime rates between children of lone parent and 2 parent families
Social Justice Policy Group - Crime caused by range of factors
Poverty, not lone parents, leads to crime

Question 10

Teenage Girls Get Pregnant to Jump the Queue for Social Housing

Answer 10

Gingerbread - Average age of LP was 38, less than 2% teenagers
Economic and Social Research Council - 10% women weren’t in a regular relationship with the father/lived alone in social housing 6 months after birth
Silva - Media fuelled concerns over welfare of children, attempt to force women back into traditional roles, patriarchal challenge to careers

Question 11

Feminist View

Answer 11

See LPF as evidence that women can escape patriarchal relationships + achieve economic independence