In the 1940s, Britain’s nascent welfare state was designed around male financial responsibility for their families – unmarried mothers were intentionally disregarded.
Despite media reports that single parents might find relying on welfare payments more appealing than working, analysis shows they are better off working and more than half in Australia are.
A bloc of conservative countries is mounting a new push to enshrine “family values” in the UN’s Human Rights Council. What they really want is rather more sinister.
Welcome to the The Conversation’s Election 2013 State of the Nation essays. These articles by leading experts in their field provide an in-depth look at the key policy challenges affecting Australia as…
Single parents are being left to their own devices.
Flickr/stephanski
In most countries children in lone parent families are at increased risk of experiencing poverty. In 2011, the proportion of lone parents below the poverty line in EU countries reached 33.5%, compared…
Single mothers on welfare need support for further education, not a cut to government payments.
Single mother image from www.shutterstock.com
Unpopular Government cuts, introduced last year that have pushed more than 100,000 sole parents onto lower support payments, has left many families reeling with single mothers experiencing particular disadvantage…
Single mothers such as Michelle Daly have high aspirations for their children. Reducing their payments won’t help achieve them.
AAP/Lukas Coch
New legislation was passed last week to move single parents off the parenting payment, and onto the Newstart Allowance once their youngest child turns eight. Advocates for this change suggest that the…
The sooner we understand the risk factors that make children vulnerable to obesity, the more traction we can gain to reduce this number.
D. Sharon Pruitt
In Australia, girls in single-parent families are at a higher risk of being overweight or obese than children in dual-parent families. This fits with recent research findings from the United States showing…