Single parent families, those where the head of household is a child, as well as disabled or ill children must be carefully monitored since the risk of abandonment is greater.

35. Stresses that the feminisation of poverty is the result of several factors, including women’s career breaks, the gender pay gap (16,4 %), the pension gap (39 %), gender inequalities in career progression, the fact that women are often employed on non-standard contracts (such as involuntary part-time, interim or zero-hours contracts), the absence of social security status for partners assisting self-employed workers, and poverty in households headed by single mothers; underlines that the reduction of poverty by 20 million people by 2020 can be achieved by anti-poverty and anti-discrimination policies that are grounded in gender mainstreaming, by action programmes that devote particular attention to disadvantaged women and are supported ...[+++]by actions targeting female poverty, and by the improvement of working conditions in low-income sectors in which women are over-represented; underlines that the multiple discrimination faced by women on the grounds of disability, racial and ethnic background, socio-economic status, gender identity and other factors contributes to the feminisation of poverty; stresses the importance of monitoring the gender effects of taxation and working time models on women and families;

Q. whereas women – 24,5 % of whom were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2010, in particular women with low incomes, single mothers, women in poorly paid jobs, migrant women, widows with dependent children and women who are victims of domestic violence – as well as single-female-adult-headed families with children, young families, large families, students young people at the start of their careers, young unemployed couples, people with disabilities, people with physical or psychiatric illnesses, people from marginalised communities including Roma, and the elderly, are especially affected by the lack of affordable and adapted soc ...[+++]ial housing options; whereas these categories are particularly vulnerable to homelessness and often move into sub-standard private market housing units, which substantially increases the risk of health problems; whereas these categories often seek alternative solutions by moving in with family, friends or acquaintances, thereby hindering proper analysis and transparent documentation of homeless people;

Q. whereas women – 24.5 % of whom were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2010, in particular women with low incomes, single mothers, women in poorly paid jobs, migrant women, widows with dependent children and women who are victims of domestic violence – as well as single-female-adult-headed families with children, young families, large families, students young people at the start of their careers, young unemployed couples, people with disabilities, people with physical or psychiatric illnesses, people from marginalised communities including Roma, and the elderly, are especially affected by the lack of affordable and adapted soci ...[+++]al housing options; whereas these categories are particularly vulnerable to homelessness and often move into sub-standard private market housing units, which substantially increases the risk of health problems; whereas these categories often seek alternative solutions by moving in with family, friends or acquaintances, thereby hindering proper analysis and transparent documentation of homeless people;

More than half the number of single-parent mothers live in poverty; they take more medication than other mothers and their level of psychological distress is particularly high.

17. Urges the Member States to promote tax measures conducive to a rise in the birth rate and draws attention to the need, after the birth of a child, to offer specific protection and support to women, and to young single mothers in particular, bearing in mind the growing number of one-parent families, 85% of which are headed by women and which are more exposed than others to a serious risk of poverty;