I grew up in a one-parent family before they were invented. In those days, a mother who was bringing up children on her own would fall into one of several categories, which were not spoken of in the same breath.
Widowed mothers, such as my mother, were regarded as respectable and to be pitied.
Unmarried mothers were regarded as wicked and to be despised.
Divorced mothers fell into one of a number of categories:
Those whose husbands had abandoned them for other women, especially younger ones, were to be pitied.
Those who had walked out on abusive husbands were also to be pitied.
Those whose husbands had walked out on domineering wives were regarded with suspicion. "It's her own fault," people might say.
Those who had abandoned a well-liked husband were regarded as pretty well as wicked as unmarried mothers.
In reality, all these women would have been in the same boat. They had children to bring up, but they also needed to work, usually full-time, to earn enough to meet household expenses. And, whereas my father had had a married man's tax allowance, my mother had only the single person's allowance. I think the attitude was that a man had to support his wife, who stayed at home and ran the household. The plight of single-parent households was not taken into account then.
My sister and I still have no idea how our mother coped. When she died, she had very little money to leave. All we know is that she did manage to get by, although it must have been far more difficult for her than we ever realized.
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