Single-Parent Families

• Single parents families now make up 14.9% of families in 2019 conpared to only 2% in 1961
• 55% of single parent families have one child and just 13% have two or more children
• Around 46% of single parent families have their children in marriage
• The average age of a single parent is 38 years old
• Less than 2% of single parent families are teenagers
• 86% of single parent families are headed by women
• 21% of single parent families are from black or minority ethnic
• 68% of single parents were in paid employment in 2017
• The reasons for the rise of single-parent families are;

  • Decline in social stigma
  • Changes in women's positions
  • Changes in divorce laws
• Murray argues that non-traditional family types are to blame for the range of social problems, and proclaims 'the single most important social problem of our lifetime' is 'dependency culture' (benefits/socialised policies)
• Oakley says the negative reaction of the New Right to single parents is a response to the campaign for women's equality and the New Right is based on oppression of women thus it is a fundamental cause of gender inequality, also there is no evidence of dependency of lone parents