Summary of Main Points
Single mothers with low income usually experience a lot of challenges in post-secondary education in terms of accessing child services. Limited financial capability makes child care unaffordable while most institutions do not provide daycare services for single-mother students. This reduces enrollment and completion of post-secondary education by a lot of the single mothers since they are unable to balance academic and parenting responsibilities. This greatly impairs the social mobility of single mothers since they tend to lack sufficient skills to apply for higher-paying jobs. Since parenting responsibilities affect academic commitments, it is also important to investigate how the crucial aspect of parenting, accessing healthcare services for the children, is affected by learning as well as how it affects learning. While enrolled in learning institutions, there is usually little time left to attend to healthcare needs. Due to the financial constraints that the single mothers experience purchasing health insurance covers for their children also becomes a challenge. Lastly, single mothers tend to develop mental health problems related to anxiety, stress, and depression due to overwhelming responsibilities that are conflicted by financial constraints.
Before the completion of the research project, I was not aware of how the intersectional perspective could be applied to single mothers as a socially disadvantaged population. The research project helped to make the challenges experienced by single mothers apparent.
I was also able to understand the research process as an important tool that is used to investigate problems that exist within the society to identify and understand problems that plague the society. The research process may also help by attracting the attention of important stakeholders who have an interest in the resolution of the problem forming the scope of a research project.
The research project helped to illustrate the intersectional perspective by highlighting the plight of single mothers with low income. The research investigated how class and gender social markers influence the kind of experiences which are encountered by single mothers with low-income levels. The outcome of the research process revealed that single mothers with low-income levels are disproportionately disadvantaged in terms of their experiences.
From the completion of the research project. I was able to understand the importance of the intersectional perspective. The main importance is that it helps to highlight vulnerable populations in terms of the disproportionally disadvantaged experiences. For example, single mothers with low-income levels have little rates of degree attainment.
The research helped to understand the experiences of single mothers with low-income levels. They are disadvantaged in terms of their capability of attaining social mobility. Due to poor education experiences especially when trying to balance parenting and education, they end up with poor education outcomes which limits the kind of employment that they are eligible for. They also disproportionately experience higher levels of mental health issues such as depression.
By presenting an intersectional perspective, the research helped to initiate a discussion on social policy and social change. The social policy serves the purpose of identifying human needs for their fulfillment. In terms of social change, groups with special needs such as single mothers can benefit through social policy. For example, post-secondary learning institutions can consider providing childcare services for single-mother students who have enrolled in various programs.
The research helped me to develop an interest in the topic of single mothers, especially in the context of higher education. Single mothers should have equal chances of pursuing academic and career goals through enrolment in programs offered by the various learning institutions. To facilitate their success, specific needs need to be addressed.