Suchergebnisse

The authors conducted exploratory interviews with eight older single mothers. Results suggested that current media representations of "single mothers by choice" may oversimplify the experiences of many women by ignoring the context of gender relations within which both women and men's decisions regarding contraception, pregnancy, and parenthood "produce" single motherhood.

This comparative case study of 3 services for teen mothers demonstrates how social service agencies engage in social problems work not only by drawing on and reproducing public representations of social problems, but also by mediating, interpreting, and even contesting these representations in their routine practices for dealing with clients. The authors' analysis demonstrates how 3 agencies dealing with the same social problem enacted 2 public discourses about teen mothers by addressing their young clients variously as mothers, problem teenagers/problem mothers, and potential social activists. The authors conclude by suggesting that agencies reflect critically on the margin of maneuver they may actually have in defining their clients and addressing the complexity of their clients' concerns.

This article examines two Canadian social service agencies, both of which are progressive and feminist in their orientation toward teenage mothers. It discusses how the staff and young women view men and considers the possibilities and challenges of working with young women in relation to the men in their lives.

The issue of responsibility looms large in the public discourse about teen mothers, but it is also a central concern for teen mothers themselves. This article draws on exploratory interviews with teen mothers to contrast their insider with outsider views about what taking responsibility for the baby entails, to show the context in which their views make sense, and to argue that outsider views be revised to take into account these insider considerations. Outsiders recommend measures to hold fathers financially accountable for their children, to make teen mothers live with a parent, and to make teen mothers work rather than assistance from welfare. From the perspective of teen mothers, however, taking responsibility for the baby often means avoiding rather than seeking financial dependence on unreliable fathers of the baby, claiming rather than delegating their role as mothers, and staying on welfare rather than working at an unreliable job.