An Anthropology Study: Why Single Mothers Have to Face Differences?

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue V, May 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

An Anthropology Study: Why Single Mothers Have to Face Differences?

S.D.Y. Jayarathne, W.T.D. Wijethunga
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Sri Jayewardhanepura, Sri Lanka

Abstract:- Family is a factory producing human personalities and it is a unit with the married couple and their children. In modern society, family faces a large number of changes. In the current special set up, one of the major problems that a family encounters is disorganization. Through it, the single parent family has been created. Single parent family is a family where only one of the parents, either mother or father, has to fulfill the financial, material and emotional needs of the children, without the help of someone else. The main objective of this research was to Study the economic problems faced by mothers in the single parent family. As the field of research were used Wennappuwa, Puttalam District, North Western Province, Sri Lanka. 150 single parent households and representing those, 52 households are being chosen at 30% of sample under systematic sample method. The research is fundamentally based on Primary sources and secondary sources. Out of the total sample, 63% of single mothers were found age group 35-40. From the subjects considered, 3/4th was Sinhalese. Tamils & Muslims were 9% and 15% respectively. From the women participated in the research, 1/3rd of them were widowed due to husband’s death. 30% were divorced and 20% were separated, but 17% of women were not legally separated. An interesting fact found with this is that 98% of women were married under 24, while 41% were married under 18%.63% of these women are employed, majority (56%) are employed in the private sector. Average monthly income was less than 20,000. 59% of these families reported that they suffer from debt burden. Finally it could be conclude authorities should be conduct uplift programs for single mothers in Sri Lanka.

Key words – Economic, problems, single mothers, single parenthood, family

I. INTRODUCTION

The human family is a universal social institution, the sociologists and anthropologists defined this in various ways. The family is not just a cultural thing but it is a universal institution (Murdock, 1949). Family is a factory producing human personalities and it is a unit with the married couple and their children. The most important function of the family is to provide the child with a social status and socialization process (Mead, 1964). Generally, a person born into society takes the membership of two families. Those are family of orientation and family of procreation (Cone and Pelto, 1967).

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