Over the course of the 1990s, lone motherhood has become a major political issue in Britain--but what is the problem actually about and to what extent is it new? This timely study, written by three leading experts in the field, examines the changes that have befallen the pathways leading to lone motherhood--changes in ideas about marriage, divorce, and never-married motherhood. The evolutionary policy histories relevant to lone mothers in housing, social security, and employment are also studied. The findings detailed in these pages illustrate both the complexity of the issues and the extent to which policies have reflected society's changing definitions of this phenomenon.

Women's lives have changed dramatically over the course of the twentieth century: reduced fertility and the removal of formal barriers to their participation in education, work and public life are just some examples. At the same time, women are under-represented in many areas, are paid significantly less than men, continue to experience domestic violence and to bear the larger part of the burden in the domestic division of labour. Women in 2000 may have many more choices and opportunities than they had a hundred years ago, but genuine equality between men and women remains elusive. This unique, illustrated history discusses a wide range of topics organised into four parts: the life course - the experience of girlhood, marriage and the ageing process; the nature of women's work, both paid and unpaid; consumption, culture and transgression; and citizenship and the state.

This book analyzes how poor eighteenth-century London women coped when they found themselves pregnant, their survival networks and the consequences of bearing an illegitimate child. It does so by exploring the encounters between poor women and the parish as well as London's lying-in hospitals and the Foundling Hospital. It suggests that unmarried mothers did not constitute a deviant minority within London's plebeian community. In fact, many could expect to find compassion rather than ostracism a response to their plight. All poor mothers, left without the support of their child's father, shared similar strategies of survival and economies of makeshift.

In today’s society, women - having entered the workplace in growing numbers worldwide - are increasingly expected to earn wages whilst still being primarily responsible for raising children. While all parents confront the tensions of this double burden, for lone mothers, the situation can be especially acute as there is no other adult to share responsibilities and no access to a male wage. The revealing essays in this volume address a range of the dilemmas lone mothers routinely face, whilst also distinguishing important situational differences, and considering other social perspectives. It asks: * How can governments help without undermining their ability to enter the workforce? * Should the state indefinitely support lone mothers? * How should we measure the success of a policy? * What roles do ethnicity, race, religion, class and sexual orientation play? The impressive range of contributors to this volume speak from numerous contrasting perspectives. Here they study a variety of international settings such as Sri Lanka, the US, Germany, England and Norway, and in so doing, they allow the reader to draw powerful conclusions by comparing such issues and potential resolutions in varying countries and contexts. This book was previously published as a special issue of Feminist Economics.

Based on a long-term study of the policies of several European nations' lone mothers, this te×t reveals the contrasting attitudes in Europe towards lone mothers, and how they have been categorized and treated. Also e×amined is the role of men as both carers and cash-providers.

This book examines women’s experiences of motherhood in England in the years between 1945 and 2000. Based on a new body of 160 oral history interviews, the book offers the first comprehensive historical study of the experience of motherhood in the second half of the twentieth century. Motherhood is an area where a number of discourses and practices meet. The book therefore forms a thematic study looking at aspects of mothers’ lives such as education, health care, psychology, labour market trends and state intervention. Looking through the prism of motherhood provides a way of understanding the complex social changes that have taken place in the post-war world. This book will be essential reading for students and researchers in the field of twentieth-century British social history. However it will also be of interest to scholars in related fields and a general readership with an interest in British social history, and the history of family and community in modern Britain. 'A fascinating survey of women's experience of motherhood', 'eminently readable', 'a solid and thoughtful study', 'an outstanding piece of oral history', and 'ambitiously wide ranging'. The judging panel for the Women’s History Network Book Prize, 2013.

Covers the stories of unwed mothers and one of the voluntary organization that supported them throughout the century: The National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child (which renamed itself), The National Council for One Parent Families, (and is now, after a merger, called Gingerbread).