Cultural Implications of Single Motherhood: An Attempt at Comprehension in the Light of Feminist Theology

Abstract

The reality of single motherhood is all glaring that it does not require a formal affirmation. What needs an immediate clarification is whether any woman living alone with a child should be qualified as a ‘single mother’? De facto, yes: they are mothers without a partner. But in most cases, they are “unmarried mothers”: women who have children out of marriage setup, or whose earlier marriage(s) has broken up. These women are not the object of our study. They have been there all along, and their joys and sorrows are best discussed under the umbrella of “single parenthood”. In the strict sense that will be used in this article, single mothers are women who decided, under certain circumstances not to marry, AND to raise a family of their own.1 These women make such decisions within the general scheme of life choices, and live the consequences within the society.