Helping or hindering solo mothers in need? A rapid realist review of Aotearoa New Zealand’s welfare state and support for solo mothers : a research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Policy at Massey University, Wellington
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Date
2025
DOI
Open Access Location
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Massey University
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© The Author
Abstract
Solo mothers are some of the most vulnerable people in Aotearoa New Zealand. They face a suite of complex, intertwined hardships exacerbated by the housing they live in (Pehi et al., 2025; Stanley & Monod de Froideville, 2020), the employment they can access and the wages they are paid (Campbell et al., 2016; Martin et al., 2024), the food they can afford (Macaulay et al., 2023; Riol & Connelly, 2023), and the way they are treated by the very people employed to help them (Cram et al., 2020, Gray, 2019). The welfare state, a web of services and support designed to be a safety-net for the most vulnerable, is built into the foundations of most Western countries (Flora & Heidenheimer, 1981; Kuhnle & Sander, 2021). Yet, in many, poverty rates are stubbornly high (Horemans & Marx, 2018; Pérez-Corral & Moreno-Mínguez, 2025), including in Aotearoa (Dwyer, 2015; Madden, 2016). The research used a critical realist theoretical position, executed through a rapid realist review, to explore the extent that Aotearoa’s welfare state supports solo mothers in the context of these complex, intertwined hardships. The research examined three types of policy interventions: cash transfers, in-kind benefits, and Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs). A de-facto best-practice model was developed, setting out how welfare states support solo mothers across these intervention types using international and local evidence, and was then tested against Aotearoa’s suite of welfare policies. The research found that a welfare state that supports solo mothers is generous, universal but with tailored targeting of some services, flexible to changing circumstances, and with a broad-spectrum of in-kind and cash support. In Aotearoa, there are a number of gaps and opportunities to address the differential between the current provision of welfare and this ideal model for solo mothers, and a long way to go to establish a welfare state that fundamentally helps, not hinders, their success. While the research does not set out explicit recommendations for change, it presents a suite of potential pathways for future research to determine how Aotearoa can develop a welfare state that truly supports solo mothers.
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Keywords
welfare state, solo mothers, poverty, employment, cash transfers, in-kind benefits, Active Labour Market Policies, rapid realist reviews, social policy, public policy