Low-income women/mothers are hit hardest – pandemics and rhetoric during times of crisis exacerbate these issues – methods of care networks have the best solvency

Single and low-income mothers Our sample included several single and low-income mothers for whom the pandemic posed many emotional, social, and financial challenges. Recent research (Mako Mama - Mangopare, the Single Parents Project) conducted with over 3,500 sole parents in Aotearoa has documented the various forms of stigma and discrimination they experience (i.e., housing, welfare, social agencies) (Domett et al., 2023). There is a distinctly racial element to such discrimination. According to New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development, 46 percent of sole parents on a benefit (welfare) identify as Maori, 28 percent as NZ ¯ European, and 12 percent are of Pacific Island heritage (Ministry of Social Development, 2021). Most of the single and lowincome mothers in our study were of Maori and/or Pacific ¯ ethnicities, many of whom have experienced various forms of racism throughout their lives (i.e., schooling, employment, health systems), while the maternal and welfare services they receive position them as subordinates (Gray and Crighton-Hill, 2019). According to Adcock et al. (2019), young Maori mothers are ¯ subject to “Eurocentric medical, disciplinary, and colonial gazes— through exclusionary health, education, and social services, and public prejudices—that see them as abnormal and in need of regulation” (250). However, their research also showed that, with support from their whanau (families), many young M ¯ aori mothers ¯ are “working hard to provide a positive future for themselves and their children” (250). With whanau often playing such an ¯ important role in the support networks for single and low-income mothers (and particularly Maori and Pacific w ¯ ahine/women), ¯ extended lockdowns caused considerable distress when access to essential family and child-care support was no longer available or highly limited. Of particular concern for these mothers was the loss of childcare (i.e., school, daycare, kindergarten) and family support (i.e., grandparents, sisters). Without any reprieve from their full-time childcare responsibilities, the mothers described the significant impact on both them and their children. For example, Mila, a single mother with two young children, recalls: The boys started getting restless, and just not being able to get out and about was doing my head in, plus having the boys here with myself for almost three months now was driving me crazy. It was hard because they were playing up because they wanted to go see Nanny and Poppa, they couldn’t understand why they couldn’t go to school, see their friends, or play outside with the other kids like they usually do. Seeing how tough it was for them, it was hard on me, and it just made me feel like a shit parent really. For many single low-income mothers, getting access to food and supplies during lockdowns was another significant challenge. For some, access to public transport (i.e., buses) or childcare made supermarket visits difficult. For others, particularly those with children with allergies or nutritional needs, access to affordable supplies required highly creative approaches: I couldn’t find anything [toddler] was able to eat because he is very lactose intolerant. I’m only on a benefit so I was always going for the dollar packets of pasta and baby wipes, but all the cheaper items were always run out. Me and three of my siblings would go to the supermarket. . . each person had a list of items to get. . . and it will take a whole day just to get our regular shopping. Also, getting clothes was hard because the boys were out growing things so fast. (Narla) Continuing, Narla recalled the challenges of being a single parent while she and her children (both under 5 years) had COVID19. Unwell and without any energy, she was unable to feed, clothe or change them: I would only have 15 min of energy and in that 15 min I would open as many snacks as I can for the boys to help themselves throughout the whole day. Then I’d fall asleep. I’d pass out. Dinner time I would just Uber Eats a really big meal and they would just come and help themselves. I would fall asleep. It was horrible. I’m surprised I survived that whole thing on my own. I was mentally unstable. As the quotes powerfully illustrate, the pandemic took a particularly strong toll on the emotional, social, and physical health and wellbeing of single low-income mothers and their children. Our findings here align with research in the US that showed financial instability significantly exacerbated the mental health impacts (anxiety, depression, loneliness, and stress) among Black mothers, with stable income serving as “a protective factor for anxiety” (Ibekwe-Okafor et al., 2023, p. 694). A key theme for the single low-income mothers was the importance of informal social support networks. Some mothers were grateful to their family members who went to great lengths to support them from afar. For example, Lady recalled: “Mum was calling and talking to the kids every day. And that made things a lot easier”. Others described family, neighbors, and even the police, stepping in to relieve the pressure at critical moments: I’d be at home by myself with my sisters, who are nine-year old twins, and then my daughter who was a newborn. But my auntie, she lives down the road, so she was always coming to see me, hang out, help me clean the house with the kids, because they didn’t listen to me. (Porsche) Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, some friends and family broke protocol to support the single mothers. For example, Mila described the critical roles played by a neighbor and her friends, while she struggled with mental health issues during the 107-day Auckland lockdown: I had my neighbor, she shares a wall with me. . . . if she could hear me screaming at the boys and the doors are closed and she can hear me through the walls, she’ll just let herself in and deal with the boys while I calm down and take 10 min to myself. My friends are awesome. I called them up and I was like, “Look, I’m not doing too good.” Then they all came over. They were like, “stuff the lockdown”. And they all showed up. A few hours with my friends . . . just keeps me going. For other single mothers, it was the financial aspects of the pandemic that posed the biggest challenges, with family members supporting them between jobs: Mum and dad were my biggest supporters. When I dropped down to part time [due to redundancies at work], they offered to cover [daughter’s] school expenses. As well as my brother, he ended up helping out with the grocery shopping. (Alyssa) Our findings align with those of Radey et al. (2022) who identify the importance of formal and informal networks for exchanges of support for low-income mothers during the pandemic. Yet not all single mothers found support among their family and friends. Some described how the intensity and stress of the pandemic brought to the fore existing and new issues in their relationships with family members. For example, Narla described feeling disappointed when her parents, sisters and friends failed to understand the difficulties she was experiencing, and were unable or unwilling to look after her two young children: COVID has turned our world upside down in a bad way, in a very, very bad way! My friends with kids don’t get it because they’ve all got partners to help out with the kids and stuff. And my family are too tired from looking after my nephew 24/7 that when I ask for help looking after the kids, they just don’t want to. My sister and I used to talk every day, but now we don’t talk or see each other anymore. After many weeks of being the sole caregiver for two young children, and without any family support, Narla felt abandoned and alone (McLeish et al., 2022). Another mother of two young children recalled how the intensities of pandemic life surfaced challenges in her relationship with her partner, with instances of domestic violence that prompted her to leave the family home: Our relationship wasn’t fabulous anyway, but I think just being locked down just the four of us for that length of time just really brought out the bad sides. I had to make that decision, not only for myself, but for the kids because it was just such a toxic environment for them to grow up in. And the domestic violence happened in front of my oldest. . . I just had to make that call. I became a solo mother. I had to become a whole lot more independent, emotionally and financially. And yeah, we moved back in with my parents for 6 weeks before I found my own place. (Lady) As Broughton et al. (2022) have argued, mothering in the context of intimate partner violence requires feminist intersectional approaches that move beyond dominant ideologies of “normative motherhood, deficit and grit/resilience”, and toward approaches that emphasize “strengths and equity” (p. 3974). Such approaches become even more important in the context of the pandemic, where cases of domestic violence and intimate partner violence grew exponentially, and support systems available for women and their children were heavily reduced (Usher et al., 2023). In sum, single low-income mothers’ relationships with existing networks, and particularly family and friends, were either “strengthened or dissolved” in the context of COVID-19 (Radey et al., 2022), greatly impacting their capacity for coping during this exceptionally difficult period.