Mother-Headed Single-Parent Families: A Feminist Perspective

Abstract

A disproportionate number of women who head single-parent families are black and poor. Subjected to the interactingforces of sexism, racism, and classism, their major problem is economic. Ideologies about women's "place"restrict women from active, participatory roles (as family heads and as workers) and relegate them to the category of "Other." The mother-headed single parent family is the Other of family forms. This article elaborates on the ideologies of women's place and the effects of the Other status on the economic plight of mother-headed single-parent families: low wages, dependence on welfare, and difficulties surrounding child support.