Stigma and resistance: The social experience of choosing sole motherhood in Canada 1965–2010

• Draws on interviews with 29 Canadian women who decided to parent as sole mothers through adoption or childbirth;
• Discusses the impact of stigmatization on participants between 1965 and 2010;
• Differences in experience aligned with age, race, sexual orientation, poverty or reliance on social assistance;
• Differences also varied over time and according to religion and local, professional or occupational culture;
• Perceived stigma was based on sexual history, welfare dependency, a lack of parenting capacity and social exclusion;
• Coping strategies included isolation, secrecy, passing, and attempts to minimize assumed disadvantages;
• Resistance included more direct and explicit contestation of assumptions about familial norms.

SynopsisThis article draws on interviews with 29 Canadian women who decided between 1965 and 2010 to parent as sole mothers through adoption or childbirth. The authors examine participants' experience of stigma and social sanctions and explore how perceptions of stigma changed over time. Although the analysis largely reflects the experience of relatively well-educated women, most of whom were white and heterosexual, differences in experience did align with participants' age, race, sexual orientation, poverty or reliance on social assistance and also varied according to religion and local, professional or occupational culture. Different sources or kinds of perceived stigma included stigma based on sexual deviance, irresponsible choices and welfare dependency, a lack of parenting capacity and social exclusion due to father absence. Different forms of resistance to stigmatization are also examined including isolation, secrecy, passing, attempts to minimize assumed disadvantages and more direct and explicit contestation of assumptions about familial norms.