Single-Parent Families and Institutions in the Global South and North

The phenomenon of single-parent families is increasingly addressed by research. It is still significantly gendered and interferes with many trajectories of vital life domains (Bernardi & Mortelmans 2018) because of the systemic inequalities and discrimination that single mothers meet in their everyday life. However, important aspects to be studied are not only how the individual resources of single parents affect their and their children’s well-being, but also how institutions and policies affect their and their children’s trajectories (Maldonado and Nieuwenhuis 2021).

As the literature mainly focuses on Western countries, the need is to expand research to other countries and world’s regions for different reasons: first, to improve a better understanding of the phenomenon in contexts which are different from the Western ones; second, to analyze common elements and diversities among different countries and socio-cultural contexts with a comparative approach; third, to develop reflections through a global perspective which could provide insights and suggestions for evidence-based policies.

This session addresses the role of institutions in shaping the trajectories of single-parent families in the global south and north contexts and invites empirical and theoretical contributions which focus on how institutions support or neglect this kind of family and its members. Welcome are papers which take into consideration the institutions appointed to deliver economic support or elaborate policies, but also papers that focus on different kind of institutions (e.g., the judicial ones) from different angles and through diverse methodological approaches.