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| INTRODUCTION |
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| In 1989, single mom and activist Brenda Thompson, published the first Single Mothers’ Survival Guide. The guide recognized the economic, social, and political hardships experienced by single mothers and offered specific and practical information on how to cope when living in poverty in the metro-Halifax area. This is the online version of the fifth edition of the book. In the fall of 1990, NSPIRG began working in cooperation with Brenda Thompson, to create an expanded version of the original guide for single mothers across Nova Scotia. Since then, the book has been updated and redesigned several times. In this fifth edition, new information was added, chapters were updated and some parts rewritten, including a new section on cooperative and collective childcare. The graphics were changed and a new cover was added. Brenda Thompson’s experiences and observations as a single mother are still applicable 16 years later, as is evident from how little of her narrative needed to be changed. Although there have been some positive steps, the conditions single mothers in poverty and their children live under in the 21st century are slow to change. The strength that Brenda spoke of is still needed today. Examples of this strength are shown in the new and final chapter Single Moms Speak, the thoughts and stories of five single mothers living in Nova Scotia today. Rearing children with inadequate support is an achievement to be proud of. The travesty is that we must continue to create handbooks such as these, while our system perpetuates the impoverishment of women. Please feel absolutely free to reproduce this and pass it on to any single moms. Permission is not granted for resale. A limited number of hard copy Single Mothers’ Survival Guides are available free of charge to single parents through the NSPIRG office. Please call us or write to obtain a copy. Many womens’ resource centres and community organizations across Nova Scotia have copies of the Single Mothers’ Survival Guide. Please feel free to make copies of this guide and distribute it widely, but sale is prohibited. NSPIRG
appreciates donations for the Single Mothers’ Survival
Guide (each copy costs approximately $8 to produce). |
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| Published
©2006 by NSPIRG |
Written
By: Updated
By: |
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