Single parent
In the United States, 83% of single parents are mothers. Among this percentage of single mothers: 45% of single mothers are currently divorced or separated, 1.7% are widowed, 34% of single mothers never have been married. Although decades ago, having a child outside of marriage and/or being a single mother was not prominent. Census information from 1960 tells us that in that year, only nine percent of children lived in single parent families. Today four out of every ten children are born to an unwed mother.
Parental portrayals in the media
“Mommy wars," as introduced by Nina Darnton in a June 1990 "Newsweek "article, represents the media-staged tensions between stay-at-home mothers and working mothers. Stay-at-home mothers criticize working mothers for abandoning their children and homes to build a personal career, while working mothers resent stay-at-home mothers both because of the time and attention they are able to devote to their children, and because of the notion that a mother is only "good enough" if she can devote all her time and attention to the children and household. Susan Podnieks argues that the "mommy myth", as well as the supposed battle between working and stay-at-home mothers, are circulated by news media and talk shows, sparking debates about the proper sphere of women. As a result, the general public believes that "there is a bitter war in the suburban cul-de-sacs of the United States between the complacent minivan-driving stay-at-home moms and the overachieving soon-to-be-burnout working mothers who still think they can have it all." This leads to grouping mothers into rigid and rival categories, leading them to feel insecure about their mothering, and in turn leading them to devalue other mothers in order to elevate themselves.