Dear Mama: Single Motherhood During the Coronavirus Pandemic Nicole Mejia Course: Interdisciplinary Senior Seminar Professor: Maria Kromidas, Community and Social Justice Studies Student: Nicole Mejia Essay: Dear Mama: Single Motherhood During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Assignment: Students in this course were tasked with developing a project that is intended as the culmination of their undergraduate education and representative of their political, professional, and personal interests in their fields of study. Students choosing to write a traditional
academic thesis selected their own topic aligned with the broad course theme (Spring 2021 theme: Radical Care), and developed the project through a series of steps throughout the semester.
Abstract
the need for community, it is crucial for expecting parents, especially single parents, to organize a community of people to rely on that can help in areas like childcare, tasks or errands, or someone to simply offer mental and emotional respite and overall assist with daily processes. Many of the issues confronting single mothers’ pre and during the pandemic are the lack of resources available to them that assist in childcare services, housing, employment, health, nutrition and financial relief.
This thesis explores single mothers’ professional, social and emotional struggles as they navigate the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on in-depth interviews with three single mothers and conversations with two others on their experiences during the pandemic, I compare women’s stories of these women in terms of their support networks. I put these women’s experiences in dialogue with scholarship that describes the impact that the pandemic has had on the ability of mothers to maintain a family, work, and social life balance. I demonstrate that support networks, or the lack thereof, to single mothers are of decisive consequence, and argue for the importance in mobilizing such systems before one is set to enter the journey of parenthood. As the coronavirus pandemic has drastically amplified 23
