Lone mothers’ experiences of poverty in Finland - a capability approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT The poverty of lone mothers in Finland was examined using three qualitative data sets and by implementing a capability approach (CA). The most valuable function for lone mothers, as they saw it, along with surviving monetary poverty was raising their children as good citizens. When mothers succeeded in raising ‘good citizens’, they felt they lived in a socially valued way and had achieved something that was significant in the eyes of others. The article explores the task (in CA terms functioning) of raising a good citizen by examining five capabilities that emerged from the mother’s narratives. These were: 1) social security’s role in enabling capabilities, 2) neighbourly activity as a collective capability, 3) time-autonomy and monetary independence as contrasting capabilities and 4) the capability to go beyond difficulties. The act of raising a good citizen enabled capabilities for younger generations. This was inter-generational in nature: parents did their best to invest in their children so that they would have more opportunities than the previous generation had.