Dr Jessica Gagnon, University of Sussex Presentation for the British Sociological Association conference 2016 The Times Higher article https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/children-of-single-parents-marginalised-in-higher-education

1. 'Bastard' daughters in
the Ivory Tower:
Illegitimacy and the
higher education
experiences of the
daughters of single
mothers in the UK
Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter: Jess_Gagnon

2. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
Overview
 Historical understandings
of legitimacy
 Contemporary
representations of
legitimacy
 Legitimacy within the data

5. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
Corroding the nation
Mothers bringing up children without a
resident man have long been seen as
transgressing various boundaries and
denoting the state of the nation in some way.
… Lone mothers have been regarded as
members of an underclass, spawning anti-
social children and corroding the nation.
Edwards and Caballero (2011:531)

6. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
Expectations of daughters
You're from a single mother parent family. You're not going to amount to much.
Sandra
Anita
Amber
[According to the media] if you come from a single parent family you’re
more likely to take drugs, not get an education, be an alcoholic. And I
sit down and think: I’m in education and not an alcohol or drug addict.
Audrey
There’s kind of an assumption that their children are damaged if they
don’t have a mom and a dad. … If you’re supposedly damaged it would
imply that you wouldn’t be able to get on as well in life.
It does have an impact, because if you're constantly told like, if the media says that
you're a scrounger and you're no good, then you can … take that on board.

7. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
Norms in higher education
I think there’s a certain ‘sameness’ to a lot of people
in the university system and the further you are from
the ‘same’ the harder it is.
Marlys
Kiersten
I’ve pulled myself up but because people now don’t see me
… like my friends like they don’t know my family. … Being in
university, sort of, it’s more of a middle class thing and
that everyone else … was sort of from a nuclear family,
so I think that was more why, whereas if I were at home I
wouldn’t, I wouldn’t be, I wouldn’t be afraid to say it.

8. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
The you that you want to be
That's the brilliant thing about that first day [at university] --
when you know nothing about anybody. You can be who you
want, and that isn't about class. That's about you as an
individual. So, you can dress how you want. You can talk about
what music you listen to. You only reveal a certain amount of
those things about you. … There's nothing related to your
background about that. … You shape the person you want
people to think – and it's not a lie, it's just the you that you
want to be. … Like, the single parent thing didn't come up for
me for a very long time at Uni. … You just try to present
yourself in the way you want people to see you, I guess.
Amy

9. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
Pretend to fit in
Respectability. … I’m from a working class
background and single parent family and I think
it’s kind of interesting for me to look around me
and see how I’m not the norm there. … It’s
been interesting for me to try and almost
pretend that I’m from the same background as
everyone else, like just to try to fit in, to strive
to be a part of that.
Vera

10. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
You don’t seem damaged
When people find out that I just have my mum,
they normally can’t comprehend. … They’re like:
‘Oh, I didn’t realise. You don’t seem … messed up.
You don’t seem damaged. You don’t seem
fucked up.’ … I’ve even got the comment like:
‘Oh, but you seem middle class’ … So middle class
people don’t have single parents? … How can you
be so narrow minded to think like that?
Holly

11. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
The pressure
It's more of the pressure again, because … it's almost like
we're staking a claim on our position in university. It's
like, if we fail, it means the next … generation of [children
from] single parents … that want to come to university,
won't. If we haven't managed to do it, will they have any
sort of hope of doing it? … If we fail exams … they're like,
‘Oh, single parents. That's who's to blame’. … If we don't
get it right, they're not going to give other people
chances. It's quite hard, you know, to represent your
background. I personally don't know anyone else on my
course that's from a single parent family.
Katie

12. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
I’m not broken
I can't win. If I am successful I have bucked a trend, well
done [Jeanette] they will say 'Haven't you done well'. As if
somehow coming from a single mother I must be
mentally sub-normal. If I fail no one will really bat an
eyelid. It's 'no wonder' they will say 'it’s to be expected'. It
becomes an issue no matter what I do, where I go. When
people ask you about your parents and your obliged to
correct them, saying parent, dropping the S. Then the
silence, the pity, their desperation at not knowing what to
say. … I'm not broken, I don't need fixing.
Jeanette

13. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
People like me
I started university doubting that ‘people like me’ are good
enough, are worthy to become teachers, are worthy to make a
difference. I finish university knowing that I’m as worthy and able
as any other person. … Yet sadly, I finish university also proving
‘them’ right. My story reifies the neo-liberal narrative that if you
work hard, if you make sacrifices and that if you ‘want’ to then
anyone can achieve, no matter their background, their
problems or their financial status. What’s sad is that that
narrative is wrong, without benefits and the social safety net I’d
have never achieved, never met my potential and certainly wouldn’t
be considering a Masters/PhD route. … I entered the system and
university feeling like an intruder, feeling like I shouldn’t be there,
feeling like I should drop out, feeling like I wasn’t able.
Erica

14. Dr Jessica Gagnon Twitter @Jess_Gagnon
Thank You!