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Lone Parents in the 1970s and 1980s: Discussion
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Participant 1
Lone parent poverty is still more about the state of poverty the child is living in.
Professor Hilary Land
The debate in the 1960s was more about the entitlement of children to an adequate standard of life. It was not that a deprived childhood would lead to widespread social problems as children will underachieve, lack qualifications and end up unemployed or as criminals, which is the case now.
Participant 2
What can be said about the change in the way the state supports never-married single parents in gaining qualifications? In the 1970s, the grants for never-married mothers at university were withdrawn, only for one year.
Professor Hilary Land
Individuals underachieving at school prove more likely to become lone mothers before they reach the age of 21. Although there exists more childcare support now, the emphasis is wrongly placed on driving lone mothers into low-paid employment, perpetuating the cycle. The emphasis ought to be on childcare and education. Parenthood is often considered to make men more responsible and mature. The same is true with women. Some lone mothers have been saved by the birth of their child and are now driven to achieve and acquire an education.
Kate Green
Lone mothers become acutely aware of their responsibilities when they have children to provide for. This is something to incorporate into social policy.
Participant 3
Council rent rates rising and cuts in housing benefit have contributed to the poverty trap.
Professor Hilary Land
It is another example of the invisibility of lone mothers in work. When lone mothers lived with their parents, the amount of childcare required to hold down full-time employment was concealed.
Participant 4
How do you see this situation developing in 10 or 20 years' time?
Professor Hilary Land
I would hope to see an affordable, available childcare system. Our long-hours work culture is divisive and destructive to family life. Hopefully we will follow EU working regulations. Part-time employed lone parents are at a huge disadvantage. The social wage is important to lone mothers; creating transport, childcare and an adequate environment for lone parent families can only be created through collective responsibility and state provision.
Participant 5
Perhaps we should invert our analysis and view the question from the perspective of the child. It is a question of a child's housing, education, emotional support, transport and quality of life. Should we not consider that the state should guarantee a quality of life that is high enough, regardless of the parental situation?
Participant 6
Are you suggesting a Department of Parenting supporting children regardless of parental status?
Professor Hilary Land
You cannot ignore the presence of the parent. You cannot separate the child's welfare from the parent's.
Participant 5
The parent's welfare would improve as a consequence of focusing on the rights and entitlements of the child as the key independent entity. Examining the needs of the children would highlight areas with poverty or housing issues, etc.
Participant 7
There was benefit support that enabled lone mothers to retain contact with the labour market pre-1986. Now the structure of benefits seems to dissuade lone parents from employment. It appears that at present the only way forward is for lone mothers to work above 16 hours a week to secure tax credits. Was there a better process in the past and could we reconfigure policy to provide the suitable fiscal support and restructure the family?
Professor Hilary Land
Nearly 60% of lone parents in the 1970s were receiving support from extended family. 30% were dependent on Local Authorities, which was means-assessed and local.
Participant 8
How many never-married mothers were from ethnic minorities?
Professor Hilary Land
Families and Their Needs, a government study by Audrey Hunt, drew some results by examining lone parents in the borough of Haringey. Studies of ethnic groups are normally small and specific in nature.
Participant 6
What can be done for children?
Professor Hilary Land
A universal benefit. Children's claims on the state are far more contingent on their parents now than decades ago. Children under five used to have free orange juice, milk, vitamins, greater access to public areas, without requiring adult supervision. This affects access to skills and opportunities. We have to stop thinking entirely as individual consumer/citizens, and try to achieve through collective action. As children are dependent on parents, so are those parents dependent on the state.
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