ABSTRACT
In Britain, lone motherhood1 is not a neutral nor an apolitical status; it evokes strong moral evaluations and therefore easily becomes a political symbol. Although the historical status and treatment of British lone mothers has varied over time (Lewis 1995; Song 1996), they have almost continually been at the centre of public debates about the state of society in general, but more particularly of'the family' and the role of women. Most recently, political and media attention has focused on the doubling of the number of lone parent families in Britain over the past two decades (reaching around 20 per cent of all families with dependent children, over 90 per cent of whom are headed by a lone mother), on the growth of unmarried mothers as a proportion of all lone mothers, and on their increasing reliance on Income Support (the social assistance benefit) rather than on paid work (Burghes 1993).
