Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore how formal and informal supports were being experienced by single women and single mothers in Malaysia. Closely examining formal and informal support systems reported by single mothers and single women in Malaysia, participants generally reported good and were mainly satisfied with their informal support system. Informal support system comprised of mostly family members and friends. However, formal support system was still lacking and both single women and single mothers were more likely to report an “unfriendly” formal support system. Findings provide important policy and theoretical implications suggesting the need for a more gender-sensitive governmental policy and practice.
Highlights
Malaysia is seeing a rapid change to its demographic scenario
Participants were 200 single women 300 single mothers between the who were purposively sampled throughout Peninsular Malaysia
AND ANALYSES Single women and single mothers in Malaysia: a demographic overview As mentioned earlier in this paper, little is currently known about the socio-demographics of single women and single mothers in Malaysia
Summary
Malaysia is seeing a rapid change to its demographic scenario. The population is getting older with the life expectancy at birth of men reaching 72.6 and while that of women reaching 77.2 years old (Statistics Department, 2013). The mean age at first marriage for Malaysian women has increased to 28.6 years. As more women received higher education and enter the job market, Malaysia is seeing an increasing number of women becoming single mothers or remain unmarried. Single women and single mothers may be two different categories of experiences for women, many challenges they face may be similar or comparable. Given the normative view that a married family is a “normal’ family, it is very likely that family policies and programmes tend to veer towards the “normal” and ignore those who are single
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