Creating submissive subjects: lone mothers and social assistance regimes in Canada

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The Lone Mothers: Building Social Inclusion project is a collaboration between researchers at five universities and community organisations in three research sites in Canada. The aim of this five-year longitudinal study is to examine the social assistance and labour market experiences of lone mothers. Drawing on qualitative interviews with lone mothers receiving social assistance in three Canadian provinces, as well as a focus group conducted with workers in the welfare system in Toronto, this article examines how women’s relationship with state policy and workers constructs and enforces a ‘submissive lone mother’ subjectivity and perpetuates neoliberal governance strategies.