- Conference
- 2022 Virtual National Women's Conference
- Date
- 13 October 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that within the UK approximately a quarter of families with children are headed by a single parent and of those single parents 90 % are female. Historically single parents have been demonized and discriminated against in a systemic way. This has led to a situation where single parents will face difficulties in work, around renting homes, when taking children for days out and in many other aspects of their lives. Yet, single parents are not named as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010
Single parents are now encouraged into work when their children are fairly young (and it is more likely that single mothers will have younger children). Despite this, single parents face more barriers within employment than people in two parent families and hiring practices are often unfavorable to their responsibilities. The struggle of juggling home life alone while working means that 22 % of single mothers need to claim out of work benefits again within a year of starting employment. Statistically single mothers are now just as likely to be employed as single women with no dependents, but they are more likely to live in poverty than any other adult group. On average single parent family incomes being 27% less than other families.
The Single Parents Rights campaign was started by a single parent who had found rules and policies were too often putting her at a disadvantage. This was clearly seen with rules around COVID and contact with others. The campaign is now backed by numerous charities and single parent groups. A recent study by the Single Parents Rights campaign found that 80% of respondents felt they had experienced discrimination and 96% of respondents felt single parents should be added to the Equality Act 2010.
.
Conference believes that single parents should be added to the Equality Act 2010 as a protected characteristic so that they can be given the same protection as other discriminated against groups. This will give single parents protection from discrimination inside and outside of work.
Conference there calls upon the National Womans Committee to work with Labour Link, National Committees and service groups to:
• Support and promote the single parent’s rights campaign
• Lobby the Government to implement single parent friendly policies and create a National Policy
• Check that UNISONs own policies, work practices, training etc. do not discriminate against single parents.