Single Mothers

Raising a child is the most challenging phase of one’s life, especially when it has to be done single handedly. Single parenting after divorce or unfortunate death of the other partner can wear out emotionally, financially and physically. Restructuring the life and at the same time bringing up the child, while handling the social remarks in Indian society is really disturbing. India is a land where the single mothers are always looked up as pity souls and get targeted.

The number of single mothers has grown phenomenally all across the world. Unfortunately there is no official information on number of single mothers residing in India.Government of India should collect and publish data on number of single mothers in India. It is responsibility of Ministry of Women and Child Development to assess the status of single mothers in India. But sadly no such survey ever gets done and thus no data available.

Lack of a safety affects most single mothers. Women who don’t have a support system, left home after being abused or those who were abandoned find themselves working hard to make ends meet. Financial independence is the biggest challenge. Besides being the sole earning heads, they have to take care of their children and manage a home single-handedly. Researchers have found that the more time children spend in poverty, the greater the adverse impact on their cognitive and academic achievement. Poverty in early and middle childhood may have a greater impact on academic achievement than poverty in adolescence.

For the insolents, married or unmarried, with kids or without kids, girl or woman, nothing matters. All what men want is just to satisfy their animalism. Chances of being trapped in case of single moms or females are quite high as people find them feeble. Even if they try to voice their opinions or issues, they’re kept shut by imposing a tag of ‘shameless female’ in India.

Supporting single mothers toward economic self-efficiency and lifting the burden of poverty is one of the best ways to ensure the well-being of children and their successful transition to adulthood. Education and job training for these women is critical, as is parenting skills training. Providing single mothers by mastering any skill will help them generate a livelihood. The single mothers should be linked with the existing work oriented vocational training programs for women implemented by NGOs/companies or vocational training programs especially focusing on single mothers should be initiated to be able to generate livelihood opportunities for single mothers.

Single mothers shouldn’t be treated as the way they are presently in our country. Creating healthy environment for the children of single mothers should be on focus. The society should stop treating these mothers as a “shameless” being and “desperate” souls. They deserve respect as any other women in the society, as any other female.