This document discusses the challenges faced by single mothers in Africa from a cultural and religious perspective. It examines case studies of single motherhood arising from situations such as death of a spouse, divorce, rape, or personal choice. Traditionally in African societies, single mothers face stigma and lack of support. The presentation aims to offer coping strategies and encourage social integration of single mothers. It shares lessons from the presenter's personal experience as a single mother and another case study, emphasizing the importance of education, family/friend support, determination, and building an internal strength and positive mindset to overcome challenges.

1. Single Motherhood
The African Perspective
Presented By: Adenike
Adeyanju-Osadolor
Regional

2. Single Motherhood
•
This presentation attempts to illuminate some
of the challenges that single mothers face in a
patriarchal and cultural/religious pluralistic
Africa
•
Some real life case studies will be examined.
•
Lessons learnt from personal experience
would be shared with a view to offering some
suggestions towards developing coping
strategies to surmount these challenges as
well as encourage social integration of single

3. Single motherhood can arise out of
•
Life’s experiences – death of spouse, divorce,
rape etc.
•
Choice – younger upwardly mobile women are
making such choices – choosing to keep
unplanned pregnancies or simply wanting
children without the boundaries set by
marriage. It is an option for freedom and
independence.
Single Motherhood

4. Single Motherhood
•
It knows no barriers of age
- Women of any age can become single
parents.
- In HIV/AIDS devastated communities in
Africa, many grandmothers were forced into
single parenting of their grandchildren and
young girls became heads of households

5. The African Experience
•
Traditional African societies hold strong views
about single parenting
– If she’s a widow, she’s dispossessed of all her
entitlements and abandoned to her fate. If she’s
lucky, and she hardly ever is – the husband’s
family takes care of her children. If childless, she’s
on her own.
– In cases of divorce, rape, and even personal
choice, she’s stigmatized
•
Whichever way you look at it, there is no win

6. Case Studies
•
My Experience
- Dispossessed and abandoned
- What helped? – education, support of family and
friends, determination to succeed,
resourcefulness…
•
Amina
- Taken care of by family by religious standards
- But she becomes a property to be acquired by

7. Sharing Lessons Learnt
•
A single parent will face all sorts of challenges
– financial, social and psychological etc.
•
She will need to deal with a lot of different
emotions such as anger, fear, sadness,
frustration, shock, regret, self pity, bitterness,
loneliness etc.

8. Sharing Lessons Learnt
What buffers are available to the single mother?
•
External
• Education
•
Education empowers – it opens doors to decent
employment that financially empowers the single
mother to be able to meet the needs of her
child/children
• Advocacy
-
Stigmatization and exploitation of single mothers based
on culture and religion need to pave way for an
acceptance based on human right and dignity.

9. Sharing Lessons Learnt
•
Internal
– This is the most important resource a single
mother must have.
– The change we want to see must begin with us.
While the society takes its time towards
attitudinal change and social orientation towards
them ( especially in the African setting), single
mothers have to take matter into their own hands
to ensure, and perhaps force this change.
– How can they do this?

10. Sharing Lessons Learnt

Be strong and positive.

Find a support system.

“all birds fly higher and faster in
formation than any individual bird will fly
alone …”

Do not be a superwoman.

Make time to relax.

11. Cheering News
•
A new study, published in the Journal of
Happiness Studies, has revealed how mothers
who have children while single tend to be
happy with their situation.
•
Although many of the women questioned in
the research faced financial problems, lack of
support and feeling that they were
disapproved of in society, the study found that
having a child did not prompt unhappiness
among single mothers.

12. Last Words
“Before I got married, I had six theories about
bringing up children; now, I have six children
and no theories.”
- John Wilmot