Mother there is only one, that is indisputable, but there are many ways to exercise motherhood. The idea of motherhood is increasingly associated as something different from what was considered in the past, when the woman attended to household chores, her husband and children. Today new concepts of motherhood arise, in some cases the paternal or maternal image has been replaced by two dads or two moms, as in the case of homosexuality.
It has also changed the concept of the family model, children take much longer to arrive, unlike past years, a Spanish woman has her first child at age 31 on average and most have no more than two children. Another fact that is also changing is who supports the family financially, up to 20% of Spanish households, is supported by women. These data are linked to the increase of women working outside the home.
All these changes make facing maternity or paternity in a different way, in Spain, up to 400,000 homes are made up of a woman with children and without a partner, these single-parent homes are made up of up to 87% by separated, divorced women, widows or single women who take care of their children. There are also parents who are responsible for their children, but still, if it is due to separation or divorce, they are less favored by the laws and therefore are less.
Lately a new group appears, single women by vocation who have chosen to be single mothers and who get ahead because they have the necessary economic and personal conditions to do so. This raises many questions, some easy to answer, others not so much, because each family is a world, but is this adequate? new family system for a child? Without a doubt, a mother fully turns to her son, but is it also necessary for the child to have both figures?
