All the single ladies

The following is the thesis statement that I hope will eventually help me obtain my Master's Degree. For all you single moms, this is dedicated to the sacrifices that you make every day.

The modern welfare system can trace its roots to the Elizabethan Poor Laws; however, as much as it has evolved and/or changed over the last five hundred years, today’s social welfare programs have taken on the same patriarchal overtones that continue to dictate policy in the United States. In early colonial America, poverty was not an indication of flaws in the character of the needy or society, but by the 19^th century, the idea of benevolent relief for the less fortunate had evolved into a common belief that being poor not only was an indication of a defect in character it had also become an imposition to the wealthy. Researching the welfare laws through the next two hundred years indicated a trend that this notion has become the heart of how the welfare system is set up today and further demonstrates that these laws have simultaneously ensured that the class system remains intact. As the number of female headed households has increased, the welfare system has not been modified in a way that reflects what is most beneficial to this particular family structure, but instead has been altered to such an extent that it almost ensures single mothers remain in poverty. There remains a popular public notion that today’s relief system is nothing more than an overly generous handout to the lazy which in turn has only exacerbated the stigma that is attached to single motherhood. In the last fifty years, the percentage of female headed households has almost doubled, yet the higher frequency has not lent to ease the shame that is attached to single moms any more than public assistance has improved the probability that these women will rise above the poverty level. The public assumption that welfare is a handout attests to the fact that the general public is ignorant of the ‘feminization of poverty’ and how living this way forces single mothers to live in unhealthy states of anxiety, often having to choose between obligation to their child’s needs and keeping the electricity on or a roof over their head.  This paper will explore the evolution of the United States of America’s social welfare policy while highlighting how it has contributed to the economic and social discrimination of single mothers with a non-widow status.