The Status of Single Mothers

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There is a stigma associated with women that are supported by government aid, especially single mothers. The women on welfare are often treated poorly because people think they are ‘working the system’. Tax payers feel as if the single mothers on welfare perpetuated their own poverty by having children that they cannot support, just for a bigger welfare check. They often assume that these women do not work and just live off government handouts. I know of mothers that fit this stereotype; adults still living in their parents houses, rent free, with several children from multiple fathers. The women I know do not work and they are hardly good parents. They fit the description of the stereotypically single mother on welfare; they are lazy and selfish and trying to get more aid than they actually qualify for.

There are experts who have extensively studied the relationship between women and welfare. These experts have educational backgrounds in political science, economics, sociology, women and gender studies and law and policy. The authors that most effectively deal with the problem of societies condemnation of women on welfare have studied in the fields of women’s studies and sociology; Joanne Goodwin, Diane Purvin and Kathleen Mullan Harris, Charles Reich, respectively.

Joanne Goodwin’s research and teaching interests are in 20th century U.S. history with a specialization in women and gender history. Her major publications include: Gender and the Politics of Welfare Reform the Encyclopedia of Women in American History, 3 vols. which she co-edited. Goodwin earned her Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Michigan (Goodwin).

Kathleen Mullan Harris is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of N...

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...c.edu. Aug. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. .

Harris, Kathleen Mullan. "Work and Welfare Among Single Mothers in Poverty." American Journal of Sociology 99.2 (1993): 317-52. JSTOR. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. .

Purvin, Diane M. "At the Crossroads and in the Crosshairs: Social Welfare Policy and Low-Income Women's Vulnerability to Domestic Violence." Social Problems 54.2 (2007): 188-210. JSTOR. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. .

Purvin, Diane M. "Diane M. Purvin." LinkedIn. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. .

Reich, Charles A. "Individual Rights and Social Welfare: The Emerging Legal Issues." The Yale Law Journal 74.7 (1965): 1245-257. JSTOR. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. .

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