One in four mothers is now a single parent, having made a ‘lifestyle choice’ to rely on benefits rather than a partner, according to a report.
More than half of mothers with children under 13 have never married or lived with a boyfriend and find it ‘rewarding’ to stay at home supported by state handouts, it said.
The British Social Attitudes survey also found that most single mothers preferred to live without a man because so many are too feckless to support them.
Researchers called for more efforts to encourage young men to take jobs so that more young mothers will choose living with a reliable breadwinner over a life on benefits.
Geoff Dench, a fellow of the Young Foundation research group, said: ‘The existence of state benefits as a source of economic security seems to be encouraging young mothers not to bother with male resident partners.
‘Current policies structured around helping single mothers to become selfsufficient workers are misconceived.’
He added that the proportion of lone mothers had risen from 10 per cent to 25 per cent in the past 20 years.
The report said there is growing evidence that ‘lone motherhood is less a result of relationship breakdown, more a lifestyle choice’.
The analysis was based on findings from British Social Attitudes, the annual Governmentbacked survey of opinions and lifestyles that has been run every year since the early 1980s.
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March 4th, 2010 at 1:00 pmNigel says:
With reports such as this it becomes clearer that modern feminism represents the views of middle class women in dual earner “partnerships” completely ignorant of their less well off sisters and hostile to ordinary men. A wake up call unlikely to be headed.