Manitoba is a province of inequity. For those that are single men or women, Manitoba represents a multitude of opportunities to get ahead. There are no shortage of jobs, despite what some people in the media and politics would like us to believe. All one has to do to confirm this is look of the HRDC website or in the weekend edition of the Winnipeg Free Press. The job opportunities may not be ones ideal, or their first pick but they are there non-the-less. For two income families, again Manitoba can represent a promise of a decent life. Low property taxes and home values in comparison to other large cities and again an abundance of jobs represent affordable living opportunities and career advancement. Daycare may be an issue, but generally speaking private daycare exists and is within the means of most dual income earning families. Private daycare may not be a desired expense but it is doable. And then there comes the single parents.
Single parents, moms in particular are the at the bottom of the barrel of opportunities in this province. Private daycare on a single income is simply not possible and the wait lists for licenced subsidized daycare are in most cases years long and as a rule are only available to those working a regular day job and are completely unavailable to those who work shift work. We have in our province an unfathomable amount of women and thus children living in poverty and often times living on Welfare. Unfortunately we live in a society that re-victimizes victims and refuses to acknowledge that it is largely our social structure that has caused this to be so in the first place.
Take for instance a woman who is the sole supporter of 2 children for whatever reason. How she got to be a single mother is irrelevant. Lets just say in our example that one of her children has issues with behaviour as many children living in poverty unfortunately do. No lets say this mom has never been on welfare and fights every day to stay off of it but has no education past high school and cannot find a daycare centre willing to take her child with behaviour issues. What does she do? Get a job many would say. Sure that can be done, but with no daycare who watches her kids? She can get her kids on as many daycare wait lists as possible but what happens when her kids end up school age and she is limited even further in available daycare centres. Another question is what kid of job is she actually going to be able to get with only a high school education? More than likely it would not be a Monday to Friday day job that would be compatible with daycare hours even if she could get a daycare spot for her child with behaviour issues.
So, now we will say she has found daycare and a regular job and has beaten the odds substantially. What happens when her daycare will not take her children because they have a temperature, or the flu? Obviously she stays home, losing pay for the missed day but due to our daycare regulations still having to pay for the daycare spot her child is not using. What happens to her job if her child ends up with more than one cold in the cold and flu season? Will she be lucky enough to have a caring and compassionate boss? More than likely given her lack of skills she will risk losing her job as unskilled workers are a dime a dozen in our province and can readily be replaced.
A common argument in a case like this would be to say she should go back to school. Most single mothers have neither the time, money, or credit rating to facilitate going back to school. To be able to upgrade ones education one must be able to support themselves while in school. For a single mother giving up even one days pay from work is painful and the thought of having to give up significantly more is not a possibility. Savings are not likely to be an option as it is virtually impossible to save money when you live paycheck to paycheck and are never more than a paycheck away from homelessness. Credit to obtain student loans government or bank is nothing but a fantasy for most as many impoverished single parents have killed their credit ratings at some point in the past either through payday loans or credit cards that could not be paid off. Please note that in alot of cases these debts would be racked up on items like groceries and bus passes not TVs and cars.
Now what? We have a province that is so severe in its inequitable treatment of single parents that many are on and stay on welfare because it is the only sure way to keep from starving and most single mothers despite the attitudes of the haves in this province do not wish to be on welfare and really do want better for their children. Increases to daycare funding and regulation of daycare centres acceptance policies for what children they take are key here, as are better access to training opportunities that will gain women employment in jobs they can actually work, i.e. day jobs compatible with daycare. All the job training in the world would be worthless if the mother in our above example were not able to coordinate daycare and work. Regulated hours that daycares can be open to include shift workers and people who start work earlier is also necessary. Many jobs start before 7 am but most daycares in Manitoba open after 7. Most importantly however is needed a shift in our collective consciousness in this province away from one that blames single parents for their situations to one that supports getting them to a point where they are self sufficient and self reliant.
The next time that you hear in the news the statistics about women and children in poverty in Winnipeg, think a little deeper about what has put them there. Change begins with thought versus knee jerk reactions based on societal beliefs.
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