ABSTRACT
In many countries, families headed by lone mothers are at the centre of debates on rising social inequality. The inequalities between different family forms are intertwined with gendered inequality. Lone-parent families, most often headed by the mother, are at a bigger risk of being poor than two-parent families are. Lone mothers have a double role as the breadwinner and primary carer in the family, and the combination of these two roles can put them in an economically vulnerable situation, and they often need to turn to the social security system for social benefits. This chapter presents a critical analysis of the Finnish income benefit system from the standpoint of lone mothers after the system was transferred from municipal social work to the National Social Insurance Institution (Kela) in 2017. There have been assessments of how the reform has negatively affected the income of economically vulnerable people, but less is known about people’s own views and experiences of the reform. Poverty is often defined in terms of flows of income and consumption, but economically vulnerable people themselves have different criteria of wellbeing and deprivation.
