Feel-good assertions shouldn't trump facts

Auckland University post-graduate researcher, Christine Todd, argues in today's NZ Herald that single parent families are stigmatised, misrepresented and misunderstood in Social Stigma makes parenting alone that much harder. Stigmas exist however to reduce behaviours that are detrimental to the individual and society but in the modern world many stigmas have disappeared and we are both advantaged and disadvantaged by this.

Certainly to be a young and unmarried mother is now quite unremarkable. Some wear their pregnancy as a badge of honour often believing that impending fatherhood will bind her 'partner' to her. Clearly this is a misapprehension on her part.

But instead of dealing with subjective attitudes let's look at the facts.

Ms Todd says that only 3 percent of sole mothers are under 20 and almost 60 percent are Pakeha. One assumes she is referring to those sole mothers who rely on the DPB as there is very little known about those who do not. The statistics for the DPB that are readily available cover all recipients including other 'carers 'and 'women alone'. But the vast majority are female single parents.

While only 3.5 percent are aged 18 to 19 that is to be expected as DPB receipt occurs across a broad range of ages. What matters is that up to half of single parents currently on welfare began there as teenagers. In 2007 alone 2,252 teenagers received a sickness benefit for pregnancy or pregnancy-related reasons.

It is incorrect to claim that "almost 60 percent are Pakeha." In fact according to the Ministry of Social Development, at December 2007, only 38 percent of single parents on welfare were NZ European; 42 percent were Maori, 10 percent Pacific and a further 10 percent belonged to other ethnic groups.

Todd refers to "typical" single mothers on the DPB as being aged between 30 and 50 and separated or divorced. Very few women on the DPB are divorced. At April 2004 just under a quarter described their status at time of application as 'separated from de facto' ; 31 percent were 'separated' and 3 percent ' divorced'; the largest group, at 40 percent, were 'single' . (Of course the term 'separated' is also troublesome. It may describe a parting of ways shortly after conception or a parting of ways after many years.)

So as much as Ms Todd would like to dispel "stereotypes" there is a greater likelihood of a DPB mum being Maori and there is a greater likelihood of a DPB mum being single as opposed to separated. That is not to deny the existence of the group that she has been associated with during the course of her research. DPB recipients are a diverse group, some of whom end up on it through no fault of their own. But there is a large sub-group who have defaulted to it in preference to low paid work. They are not necessarily the conscientious parents Todd has dealt with and describes. 1990s research showed a child in a DPB home was four times more likely to be the subject of a notification to Child Youth and Family.

Here is the policy problem. Do we put more money and resources into single parent families - higher benefit levels and other forms of financial assistance - in an effort to alleviate their 'poverty' or do we look at ways to discourage the formation of such families in the first place? It seems that we cannot do both as the first course of action has been shown to draw more people into single parenthood and on to benefits.

Todd argues that policy makers have an obligation to meet the needs and values of single mothers. If that holds true policy makers also have an obligation to meet the needs and values of every other group in society, children for instance. Are their needs met by the state continuing to take the place of fathers? Few people would answer that question positively.

If women do not want to be faced with the "extremely difficult and exhausting" task of having to combine parenting and paid work they need to avoid putting themselves in that situation. There are an increasing number of people who feel disinclined to pay for problems that could have been avoided. They are struggling themselves to combine parenting and paid work but do not suggest it is somebody else's job to accommodate them.

One of the prime reasons for negative attitudes to DPB mothers is not that they are single and raising children but that they want other people to pay for their choices. But if we do not soon begin to reinforce personal responsibility as a value that should be embraced by all groups then as a society we will continue on down a pathway of increasing family disruption and dysfunction.