The term single mother refers precisely to any woman who has had one or several children out of wedlock. It is thus generally denominated a type of single-parent family, in which a woman carries out the upbringing of the children and the management of the home without the company or support of a couple, by own decision or circumstances of their environment. It can also refer to the mother who is not united or married to her partner.
Maternity in solitude.
Lonely motherhood has been a constant throughout the history of mankind since traditionally the recognition of the son depended on the male. The studies carried out by ECLAC in 2001 speak about the problem of men who tend not to use contraceptives, to restrict their use by women and who engage in multiple sexual experiences but are unaware of their responsibility in unwanted pregnancies. In such cases, the mothers, often adolescents, are left exclusively in charge of the responsibility during the different moments of the birth and the upbringing of the children.
In many countries the recognition of the child continues to be a discretionary right of the father, even in those that the law protects children born out of wedlock. Currently, in many societies there is a legal body that eliminates discrimination against "single mothers" and their children, and even some countries have institutionalized assistance programs for households where women are the heads, which include state aid, scholarships for children, bank loans for women to start small and medium enterprises, and others.
Maternity without marriage.
Since the 70s in some countries, such as France or the Nordic countries, there has been a decline in the number of marriages and, at the same time, an increase in the number of births in unmarried couples, that is, mothers whose marital status continues being the single. According to INE data, more than a third of births in Spain are single mothers, although not all of these births take place within the framework of single-parent families, as many of them are recognized by both parents despite not having contracted marriage. .
