Location:Home » Caribbean » Gender Studies » Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice: How Women are Choosing Parenthood Without Marriage and Creating the New American Family
Product Description A remarkable number of women today are taking the daunting step of having children outside of marriage. In Single By Chance, Mothers By Choice, Rosanna Hertz offers the first full-scale account of this fast-growing phenomenon, revealing why these middle-class women took this unorthodox path and how they have managed to make single parenthood work for them. Hertz interviewed 65 women--ranging from physicians and financial analysts to social workers, teachers, and secretaries--women who speak candidly about how they manage their lives and families as single mothers. What Hertz discovers are not ideologues but reluctant revolutionaries, women who--whether straight or gay--struggle to conform to the conventional definitions of mother, child, and family. Having tossed out the rulebook in order to become mothers, they nonetheless adhere to time-honored rules about child-rearing. As they tell their stories, they shed light on their paths to motherhood. A unique window on the future of the family, this book offers a gold mine of insight and reassurance for any woman contemplating this rewarding if unconventional step.
Um, yeah...not one of the top books on the issue... September 18, 2008 This book is written in two seperate parts. I did not read the part for "single by chance" as I am going the choice route. This book was lame. REALLY lame! Not up to date on the subject. Also clearly written for a certain group (caucasian) of women. Does not speak to everyone--didn't speak to me at all. Would not recommend this book. There are SEVERAL better options out there!!
The New American Family = Not a good idea April 9, 2007 3 out of 59 found this review helpful
This book tells only one side of the story. For example, there are some facts:
1. "A survey of 108 rapists undertaken by Raymond A. Knight and Robert A. Prentky, revealed that 60 percent came from female-headed homes, that 70 percent of those describable as "violent" came from female-headed homes, that 80 percent of those motivated by "displaced anger" came from female-headed homes."
2. Ramsey Clark in 1970, in his celebrated book "Crime in America", wrote, in discussing the male juvenile criminals who are a threat to the public, that "three-fourths came from broken homes."
The dirty little secret of this "single motherhood" phenomenon is that it doesn't produce better children than the old-fashioned family. Most criminals come from fatherless families. The poorest households are those with one parent. Children of a single mother achieve less in life than the rest, they have less sanity and they have no models of male responsibility so they tend to repeat the circle. A child needs a mother and a father (no, not an uncle, a grandpa or the guy next door but a daddy).
I know that some women are not able to get a lifetime partner who helps them raise the children. But if this happens, it's best to remain childless. Please ladies, grow up. The world does not revolve around your reproductive wishes. Everybody have wishes that cannot fulfill. Don't make pay innocent human beings for your selfishness.
Dan Quayle got it wrong! December 23, 2006 9 out of 10 found this review helpful
...and so much for "Leave it to Beaver". The traditional family structure of the days of Eisenhower are officially over. Hertz makes it very clear that Mothers by choice who are single can do a fine job of child rearing. That furthermore, not only are these Mothers not anti male, they often go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that there are male figures in the lives of their children.
For anyone who wants to understand this phenomenon in further detail, this is a fascinating book. I would recommend it to James Dobson, but I don't think he would be open to its thesis.
It is not a "How to Do it Book," it is a quality sociological analysis using extended interviews to tease out many stories that outline the diverse patterns of single Motherhood that can produce a happy family and well adjusted child.
One caveat that Hertz makes clear from the beginning. This is an analysis of women who fall in the broadly defined middle class. The story of young urban teenagers, often minorities who become single Mothers by some mixture of choice and neglect would almost surely produce a very different set of stories. It would be interesting if Hertz might do a study in the future that compares social class as it intersects with "Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice."
More of a research paper December 4, 2006 8 out of 12 found this review helpful
As someone who is currently single and trying to become a mother, this is not a book I would recommend. I was looking for something a bit more practical and this read more like someone's thesis. Also, I didn't identify with many of the women profiled. Their reasons or the reasons given for choosing this path just didn't ring true for me.
The one part of the book I enjoyed was hearing the different stories about how the women explained the "fathers" to the children. That was very helpful since I've been struggling with the story that I will tell.
Single Motherhood November 17, 2006 2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Add another one to Hertz's Fan club! Her writing style and explanations of real life America have assisted us in understanding the thinking of today's women ...Her research shows that the family unit and the tradition of motherhood may be changing with the times but will continue to be maintained. These women contribute greatly to American society today and so does Rosanna Hertz. A book that must be read!
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