single mothers slammed by male welfare reforms

A survey of 20,000 women has found that the male dominated Coalition government's welfare reforms will have a devastating effect on the mental health of single mothers.

Medical editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Julie Robotham, reports that "the first large-scale Australian survey to examine the links between women's family circumstances and their psychological wellbeing" found that "[r]egardless of whether they had children, women without partners were consistently more likely to be clinically depressed, taking antidepressant medication or admitting to suicidal thoughts", but "compared with single women without children, lone mothers came off worse on all the same measures".

"Half of the younger single mothers were measurably depressed, and one in 10 was taking antidepressant drugs, the University of Newcastle study, published [March 20, 2006] in the Medical Journal of Australia, found."

"They were twice as likely to be experiencing suicidal thoughts, and three times as likely to have deliberately hurt themselves in the previous six months compared with women who had a partner but no children."

The study, delivered as "the Federal Government prepares to introduce tougher welfare tests for single mothers", suggests that "precarious finances might be a big contributor to the distress experienced by women bringing up children alone".

With such a devastating impact on women nurturing the future of the nation, nothing could be more certain than the incompetence of men to make policy in relation to women.

The only solution to safeguard women from such malevolent incompetence is government comprising women's and men's legislatures presided over by an executive of elders accompanied by courts of women's and men's jurisdiction.

March 23, 2006