Single parent

A single mother is a mother with one or more children and no husband. The definition of single mother may vary according to local laws of nations or provinces. But in typical cases, she may be so after her divorce, after giving birth to a child outside marriage, and after her husband died.

This phenomenon has become one of the serious social issues in advanced countries. A single father is less common, because after divorce, more often the woman gets the children, and in the case the mother has no (longer) a relationship with the father, it is even more likely that the child will stay with the mother; the father may even be out of view. A single father is considered much less commonly a social issue and gets far less support from governments.