Women and lone parenthood : an account of the experiences and feelings of divorced and separated lone mothers.

This thesis is the result of research undertaken for the Doctoral
Programme in British Policy Studies at the University of Sheffield,
which consisted of one year's taught courses, and two year's research.
It is an inter-disciplinary piece of work, drawing on both
sociological and social policy literature and deals with women's
experiences of marriage, and then lone parenthood, which forms the major
part of the thesis, Most of the content is reproduced from and arises
from interviews conducted with women while doing fieldwork associated
with the research, The thesis illustrates how despite the negative
aspects of lone parenthood, such as financial deprivation and loneliness,
there are still postive aspects, and women make gains that they would
not. give up easily,
In addition, dependency is one of the issues covered in the thesis;
during marrriage, and as a lone parent, both on the state and on the
family. It is suggested that what are in fact occurring are
relationships of interdependency rather than dependency, and that
despite having negative connotations, being dependent on the state
and/or the family, can in fact be part of the process of becoming
independent,
The thesis then seeks to allow women's own experiences to be heard
as far as possible in their own words. From this it is learned that
women and their children can gain from lone parenthood, although they
could achieve more with additional support and encouragement from the
state, and that the negativity surrounding the concept of dependency
needs to be challenged.