In Spain, there are approximately 2 million households that can be counted as single parents. The majority of them are 81.4% were led by women raising children There is no help other than his own resources.
This situation leads to these … Mothers will suffer greater barriers. Difficulty accessing the labor market Have experienced discrimination or difficulty saving money. One of the key conclusions of the Adecco Foundation’s 13th Annual Single Parents and Employment Report, which surveyed 353 unemployed women in single-parent households, is that job insecurity increases the risk of poverty.
Rocio is a single mother. A little over 20 years ago, he came to Spain from Ecuador to take a job there. A few years after arriving, he had to his daughtercurrently 16 years. She is one of many mothers who have had to make all kinds of ends meet to raise their children. He has experienced all kinds of situations like those described in the report, which are not foreign to him. After being unemployed for a while, he found work and now, he tells the ABC, has been “professionally well” for about five years. Achieving this stability required great sacrifices, but she was able to move forward thanks to a variety of resources and support from the FAMS association, which supports single-parent families and reports situations of discrimination.
“I have been working as a seamstress for over 10 years.I started as a cleaner and gradually worked my way up. It took me a long time to get to where I am now.]summarizing his work history. But with just one salary, he has to pay for his and his daughter’s living expenses, housing and food, and many other expenses. Most of your salary goes towards rent. And basic things around the house. “There’s a little left, but it’s for food.”
“Basically, most of my salary goes towards rent and things around the house, so I’m doing well financially.”
difficulty making ends meet
Adecco’s report focuses on the labor side, highlighting the barriers women head in single-parent households have to face. 48% claim to have experienced discrimination63.2% cannot find a schedule that suits their situation, 49.9% cannot afford care services, and 38.9% lack a family support network.
Rocio knows all these situations well. Unemployed, she turned to social services to find someone to take her daughter to school. He explained that he was denied this service due to his unemployment status, which took away his time to focus on looking for better opportunities. Once she got a job, she asked for help again, saying, “At that time, I didn’t have much income, so I was turned down.” The solution was to spend most of the day away from my daughter.: «I fed her breakfast at 7 a.m. and then I picked her up after school until 6 or 7 p.m. So That gave me time, but she was at school for hours.». As highlighted in the report, one of the post-adoption barriers is reconciliation.
He was able to receive minimum living income and other assistance when he needed it. Now he receives a check for his child, which in his case is 58 euros.
Difficulty accessing the labor market
The youngest child, who is 16 years old, is becoming increasingly independent, but she was only 5 years old when her mother started working. Reconciling Rocio was one of her biggest challenges. «When I ran out of days, I told the manager that he would deduct my allowance from my vacation days.. At the end of the year, I would sometimes find myself owed many days of work to my company. It’s time to make adjustments. He says he hasn’t had a day off for years.
Mr. Rocio maintains the idea that it is difficult to get a job. “everytime They asked me if I had any family responsibilities. It’s the first time they see you as a woman. I told them not to worry, so as not to miss the opportunity. Sometimes there was part-time work, which didn’t suit me, but it worked,” he explains.
“They always asked me, do I have any family responsibilities? ‘I told them not to worry, so as not to miss any opportunities.’
He admitted that there were times when he had to lie in interviews because he needed the job. Now, with the perspective that time has given her and the new measures approved for single mothers, she points out that she would have handled some situations differently.
Complex personal and professional situations. The bullying experienced by minors was also distinctive and had an impact that went beyond psychological. She was forced to stop paying rent for several months due to an agreement with her landlord. “I paid 500 euros, so now.” I’m paying off that debt little by little.but there are only a few left. However, he asserted that he could not complain because “it is what it is”, pointing out that he was lucky that “I never lacked food on my plate”. He also makes sure to send a message of hope to those going through similar situations: “One door closes, another opens, but it’s hard to see the other door.”
“When I was young, I didn’t understand and thought I had to obey, but that was it. Now He sometimes sees me frustrated due to financial reasons and is working on the issue of being overwhelmed. And he wants to work, he wants to help.. “I tell him it’s not his time and he should focus on his studies and health,” he says.
“My daughter is currently dealing with the issue of feeling overwhelmed when she sees me frustrated and wanting to work because of my finances.”
Regarding these issues, Adecco’s Begoña Bravo said in the report that these types of problems “reveal the structural weaknesses of single-parent families. survival strategy».
expenses they have to face
The Adecco report also shows that the factors that put the most strain on the budget are housing (85%), food (59.3%), leisure (57.5%), children’s education (55%), clothing (54%) and essentials (53%). In this sense, the report warns that “the difficulty of assuming associated costs increased by 12.5 percentage points compared to 2023, from 40.6% to 55.0%.” Rocio acknowledges all these situations.
Similarly, the report found that single-parent families Vulnerability level is twice the national averageThis also means increased exposure to poverty and social exclusion. In this sense, poverty and exclusion in female-headed households leads to difficulties in meeting daily expenses, with 95% having difficulty making ends meet.
About The Author
