Investigating the Financial Circumstances of Separated and Divorced Parents: Implications for Family Law Reform

Abstract

The "re-discovery" of poverty among single-parent families headed by women (the majority of whom are divorced) raises a number of questions about the way in which income inequalities and poverty are explained. This paper presents findings of an analysis of the 1990 Canadian General Social Survey, Cycle 5: Family and Friends, regarding the financial circumstances of separated and divorced parents. The implications of the findings for income support policies and practices will be examined. Following a critique of the liberal political discourse within which the "feminization of poverty" debate has taken place, it will be argued that the way in which the issue of post-divorce family poverty is conceptualized is problematic, as is existing policy practice.