Liberalism: When will there be a head start?

The liberal ideology is based on equal opportunity. In society everyone has the same opportunity but they have to earn their position.  Mullaly (2007) said, “if one person has a 50-metre headstart in a 100-metre race, it is not likely that the other person will ever catch up” (p.98). This can be increasingly difficult for those individuals who face discrimination by certain gender, race, or religion. In fact single mothers are still one of the poorest groups in Canada and probably the most disadvantaged (Day, Young, Buckley, Brodsky, 2005).

Being a single woman can be challenging, but being a single mother can be extremely hard on an individual. Most women can experience burnout because they take on many responsibilities in order to make ends meet. “Women raising children on their own are almost five times more likely to be poor than two-parent families” (Townson, 2009, p.6).  Single mothers not only need to provide the care and lovingness to their children but they also need to play the instrumental roll because no one else is there to help.  Being only one person is tough to provide for both of these rolls and thus hard to get ahead in society.

Raising children can be difficult and overwhelming within a “traditional” family, imagine how challenging it can be for a single mother. Most mothers want the best for their children. Not every parent can afford to stay home with their children until they start school. This is where childcare can become a valuable resource for women. An article entitled Strengthening Women’s Equality through Childcare, (2009) discusses how childcare in Quebec has made such a positive impact on women since the province introduced a funded childcare program in 1998. “Quebec has seen the percentage of women in the workforce and enrolled in post secondary education become the highest in Canada.” Quebec was the first province to extend kindergarten to a full day and a province that introduced a lower cost for childcare. “1 in 3 Quebec children 0-12 have access to a licensed childcare space” (Prentice, 2007, p.275). Having daycare for children allows single mothers the opportunity of a full time job as well as being able to afford the costs of their children. The child poverty rate in the province has dropped by 50 percent in the past ten years (Angus, 2009). Having the opportunity of childcare allows mothers the equal opportunity to get a better head start in society, and potentially it will decrease the amount of single mothers in poverty.

One way to break this cycle of single mothers being the poorest would be to improve on our childcare programs in Canada. If childcare would be affordable for every individual that would give people the equal opportunity to be enrolled in education or the workforce. In the long run this could allow individuals to catch up!

-Samantha

References:

Angus, M. (2009). Strengthening women’s equality through childcare. Retrieved from http://www.cpj.ca/en/content/strengthening-women’s-equality-through-childcare

Mullaly, B. (2007). The new structural social work (3^rd ed.). Canada: Oxford University Press.

Prentice, S. (2007). Childcare, the ‘business case’ and economic development: Canadian evidence, opportunities and challenges. International Journal of Economic Development, 9(4), 269-300.

Day, S., Young, M., Buckley, M., & Brodsky, G. (2005). B.C government discriminates against poor single mothers. Retrieved from http://www.povertyandhumanrights.org/docs/denied_PR.pdf

Townson, M. (2009). Based on women’s poverty and the recession. Retrieved from  http://ywcacanada.ca/data/research_docs/00000055.pdf