How to support the campaign for legal rights for single parents

I’ve been writing and campaigning about single parent issues for years. The stories of discrimination and stigma within our community are plentiful, as are the stories of bravery, strength and fun. 

Single parenting isn’t a curse or a synonym for hardship. However, it is all encompassing. It’s a life built on independence and with it come specific needs. These needs are consistently overlooked because we aren’t seen as a group that deserve protection in UK law.

Single parents need to be protected under the UK Equality Act so that we aren’t left behind as a forgotten group time and again as we saw in the UK lockdown. If you want to know more about why, read this. If you want to know more about the campaign check out our campaign page here.

You don’t need to (currently) be a single parent to get involved in the campaign. A third of parents will experience single parenting at some time, but even if you never fall into the single parent group, we need the support of our allies to ensure this change in UK law is enacted.

Here are 4 key actions you can take to make a difference for single parents in the UK. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never campaigned before, it will take less time than it does to make a cup of tea and together we can make a difference and end single parent discrimination for good.

1. Sign the petition

This petition asks for single parents to be added to the protected characteristics of the Equality Law 2010. Sign it. Share it. The more signatures, the more policy makers will listen. 

There’s also a second petition requesting for parents and single people to be added to the Equality Law which in turn will help protect single parent rights.

Please sign both petitions, it will take less than three minutes of your time and might just have a huge impact for millions of single parents.

2. Write to your MP

MPs make the law so we need them to support the campaign. You can find your local MP here. You can also write to your MSP in Scotland and MA in Wales, but ultimately it is Wesminster which need to change the law. I’ve provided a draft email below but feel free to amend and personalise. It will take about ten minutes of your time to find your MPs email address, copy the draft email, personalise it and press send. If you receive a reply from your MP please do share it with us so we can track which MPs are supportive (or not!)

You don’t have to stop there, write to the PM on boris.johnson.mp@parliament.uk and the Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss on elizabeth.truss.mp@parliament.uk If you’re a member of another political party you might also want to write to their leader too. And if you live round the corner from any of them, why not take a hand written letter.

“Dear [insert name],

I am a member of your constituency and I am writing to you as [insert something personal here e.g. a single parent/ a single parent ally/ an adult raised by a single parent] about the discrimination that single parents regularly face in the workplace, benefits systems and from independent businesses.

This discrimination is allowed to happen because UK anti-discrimination law doesn’t consider unfair treatment of single parents as discrimination, meaning single parents can legally be treated as second class citizens.

Single parents are calling on the government to change this so that single parents are afforded the rights and respect they deserve as equal members of society.

I would like you to request the government adds single parents as the tenth protected characteristic to the Equality Law 2010. Only once single parents are a recognised group in law, protected from unfair treatment, will single parents be treated equally by all. 

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter and learning how the government have responded to this proposal.

Yours sincerely,

[insert name and postcode (your MP won’t be able to respond unless you can show you are a constituent of theirs)]”

3. Complete our survey

Take ten minutes to complete the survey on single parents and discrimination and share it with any single parent networks. Link here.

The more stories we have of discrimination against single parents, the more impact we can have. If you’ve faced discrimination as a single parent, we need people to know about this. The survey results will be shared with MPs and the media.

You can also contact me on singleparentrights@gmail.com

If you talk about the campaign on social media please use the hashtag #SingleParentRights so we can see what you’re doing and support your voices too.

4. Share your ideas

If you have ideas for how we can strengthen the campaign, or connections to other organisations who might be interested in supporting us, then get in touch or add your ideas to the comments below. This campaign is run solely by volunteers. It’s not about elevating one organisation, but about elevating single parent voices and ensuring that we get the legal protection we have been crying out for, for years. The more voices involved, the more noise we can make.

If you are interested in hearing more from me, you can follow my blog on facebook. Just go to my page here and give me a like to stay up to date with my latest blogs.  I’m also available on twitter @EllamentalMama and Instagram: @ellamental_mama