“When my parents divorced, my mother found herself without a job, with three children.” Gabriel Atal details her road map for helping single mothers.

Gabriel Atal tackles a new problem: the problem of single mothers. The Prime Minister, raised by Marika de Kouris, knows well. raising your children as a single woman can sometimes be a challenge. “My mother was very young when she met my father, 17-18 years old, she was not studying to be able to take care of us. He had me at the age of 25, but my parents tried for four or five years, he confides in the new issue of the magazine. HE: , on newsstands this Friday, March 8. I was born thanks to PMA. In the same hospital as Amandine, the first test-tube baby. When they broke up, she found herself alone, without a job, with three children. I remember his first job as an editor’s assistant. he had crazy hours, he would come home late at night smelling of cigarettes, he who never smoked, there were only guys who smoked on set. He climbed the stairs one by one.”

The uncertainty of single mothers

Based on this evidence, Gabriel Attal today wants to improve the conditions of single-parent families, the number of which has almost doubled (from 950,000 in 1990 to 1.7 million today). And, in particular, “single mothers”. “I don’t like the expression that gives the impression that there is only one parent, when there are often two”, the politician insists.

That said, the situation of single mothers is still often uncertain. In France, if the 2021 figures are to be believed, 15% of single mothers are unemployed, more than twice the number of women in relationships. For mothers with two children, it rises to 33%. Worse, only 50% of those with children under the age of three have a job, according to INSEE. Finally, those who work are twice as likely to work part-time as mothers in a couple. Result: A third of single parents, 85% of single mothers, live below the poverty line.

To better support these families, one in four in France today, the magazine notes HE: – Gabriel Atal therefore intends to launch an action plan. First of all, the Prime Minister intends to strengthen CAF’s actions on “separation channels”. How to improve alimony mediation, which has already been streamlined since January 2023? He then asks that elected officials not only consider ways to maintain co-parenting, but also find housing solutions in the first months following a separation. The issue of employment should also be on the agenda of this sensitive program. To be continued.