Kinship Strategies and Self-Sufficiency Among Single Mothers by Choice: Post Modern Family Ties

Abstract

This article discusses findings from an on-going study of 50 single mothers by choice: women aged 21 to 50 when they become mothers, who are self-supporting economically, and who have chosen to become mothers as unmarried women. The interviews include women (both heterosexual and lesbian) who vary widely by race and social class. We argue that this group of women demonstrate ways of maintaining economic self-sufficiency—relying neither on the state nor on a male “provider”—through creative efforts at networking, resource sharing, and non-economic exchanges. We find that the route the women take to motherhood (adoption, known donor pregnancies, anonymous donor insemination, or “accidental” pregnancy) has a strong impact on the makeup of specific kin relationships between the mothers, their children, and others; yet all the mothers strategically forge or foster close ties which enable them to raise their children independently.