From Caregiving To Career - Building Flexible Livelihoods For Single Mothers
Author: LawSphereX
Category: General Law
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FROM CAREGIVING TO CAREER: BUILDING FLEXIBLE
LIVELIHOODS FOR SINGLE MOTHERS Anusha Vinayak Kulkarni, Ramaiah College of Law, Bengaluru, India1 Aakarsh, Ramaiah College of Law, Bengaluru, India2
ABSTRACT
Single mothers are perceived to be strong and determined, whereas their daily survival is a non-stop balancing act between various responsibilities, social ostracism, and lack of supporting infrastructure. The paper discusses the structural labour market disadvantages faced by single mothers within the context of India and calls for workplace reforms that ensure empathy, inclusivity, and practical support through flexible schedules, accessible childcare, and mental health resources. The central problem tackled is the structural misalignment of India's livelihood ecosystem with the caregiving burdens placed on single mothers, showing how the absence of care-sensitive labour policies has limited their access to flexible work, skill development, and income stability.
Empowering single mothers by addressing systemic barriers and amplifying their voices helps foster a more inclusive and supportive environment. This is a descriptive and analytical study based on secondary data analysis. Data has been drawn from nationally representative surveys, government programme evaluations, labour market reports, and international policy instruments that permit synthesis of demographic patterns, employment constraints, and institutional gaps affecting single mothers. Legal frameworks, including the Maternity Benefit Act, labour codes, and childcare mandates, are reviewed to assess Indian regulations in care-related constraints.
The analysis identifies clear institutional gaps, which range from the lack of enforceable flexible work rights, exclusion of informal and gig workers from creche provisions to inaccessible skill development systems due to rigid scheduling and lack of childcare integration. The paper uses international instruments and policy models to illustrate that it is feasible to set a careresponsive labour market design. It therefore develops a Livelihood Care Convergence Framework that integrates flexible skilling pathways, caresensitive employment norms, and portable social protection, thereby offering
1 Student, Ramaiah College of Law, Bengaluru, India
2 Student, Ramaiah College of Law, Bengaluru, India
a coherent institutional response to the structural constraints faced by single mothers. Instead of expanding the welfare architecture, the paper shows how existing systems can have coordinated reforms for single mothers. A preliminary set of monitoring indicators, focused on aspects such as earnings stability, childcare utilisation, time-poverty reduction, and job placements, is included to guide implementation. The analysis shows that integrating care into the logic of labour policy is central to building resilient livelihood futures for single-mother households. Keywords: Flexibility, Single Mothers, Policy, Inclusion, Caregiving burdens, Skill development, Institutional barriers.
1 INTRODUCTION
Since the 1990s, the number of single-parent homes has continuously risen, with "single mothers" leading the majority of these households. Changing social dynamics, such as increased rates of divorce, abandonment, widowhood, and women's increasing autonomy in creating independent homes, are reflected in this population growth. However, the increasing number has unfortunately come with increasing concerns. Poverty, social exclusion, discrimination, emotional instability, the cost of child care, problems in documentation and other issues haunt single mother households. "Mothers" are discriminated against in the workplace because they are perceived as unreliable workers who would quit or become unavailable because of motherhood. Also known as “motherhood penalty” or “labor market penalty”, this is a major issue of gender discrimination in our society.
When discussing single mothers who have no alternative source of income, this is a serious issue. Even if these women are hired, the amenities provided do not support their caregiving roles. The extent of the motherhood penalty is determined by social standards, which vary at the macro level among nations and at the micro level within the job and home. The stress of balancing work life and caregiving roles results in emotional exhaustion, anxiety, and a sense of isolation, ultimately affecting the overall well-being of single mothers. 3 According to a LinkedIn survey, 83% of working women desire more flexibility. Because they 3 R Vidhya, M Priya and T M Sudha, 'The Effects of Stress On Single Mothers' Work-Life Balance' (ICCIMR-
2023 Paper, 2023)
accessed 30 November 2025 don't have the appropriate flexible policies, 70% have quit or are considering quitting. 70% of people are turning down jobs that don't permit flexible work schedules.4
2. DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS AND SOCIOECONOMIC
CHALLENGES
OF SINGLE MOTHERS IN INDIA
2.1. RISING NUMBERS AND SOCIAL INVISIBILITY
A single mother is the head of about 13 million Indian households, or 4.5% of all households. The number of unmarried women in India rose by 39% between 2001 and 2011, from 51.2 million to 71.4 million, according to census data.5 This covers widows, women who got a divorce, single women, and the ones who have been abandoned by their husbands. In India, 13 million homes are led by single women living only with their children, whereas 32 million single mothers live in extended households.6 There is still little official acknowledgement and focused assistance. The National Forum for Single Women's Rights rightly emphasized that "For the government, only widowed women qualify as single women, leaving out the vast number of separated, abandoned, single mothers or older women who never married in the lurch."7
2.2. SOCIOECONOMIC PROFILE AND CARE BURDEN
According to the NFHS-4 data and other research, single mothers are more likely to work than married women since they do not have a partner's financial assistance and must work to provide for their families. The majority of work is informal or on a gig basis with insufficient social protection, which reduces the stability of their income. Due to complicated socioeconomic conditions, single mothers make up a sizable minority. Due to their greater rates of poverty and caregiving obligations, they are frequently forced into unregulated or risky jobs with few protections. The poverty rate for households headed by a 4 The Quantum Hub, 'The Future of Work: Developing an Inclusive Hybrid Work Policy for India' (Whitepaper, December 2022) accessed 30 November 2025
5 P Salve, '71 Million Single Women
39% Rise Over A Decade' (IndiaSpend, 14 November 2015) accessed 30 November 6 Antra Bhatt, 'Expert's take: By undercounting single mothers, we underserve families' (UN Women, 11 February 2020) accessed 30 November 2025
7 'Single women demand pension, greater access to government schemes' (DNA India, 11 November 2014)
accessed 30 November 2025 single mother in India is approximately 38%, whereas the rate for households headed by two parents is approximately 22. 6%. This indicates a strong correlation between economic hardship and single motherhood. 8 One of the biggest challenges facing single mothers is unpaid caregiving. According to statistics, working-age Indian women perform unpaid household duties for almost seven hours per day. According to the minimum wage method, the economic value of women's unpaid care work is approximately INR 30. 7 lakh crores, or nearly 5% of India's GDP in 2019–20. When weighted average wages are used for valuation, the value increases to approximately INR 34. 5 lakh crores, or 17% of the GDP, based on nominal wage rates that were in effect in 2019–20.
The estimates for India are consistent with current global data that measure the economic worth of domestic work and unpaid care provided by women. According to estimates from the International Labor Organization (ILO), domestic work and unpaid care are worth between 10 and 39 percent of a nation's GDP. Based on an hourly minimum wage, the amount of time spent providing unpaid care would be equivalent to 9% of the world's GDP, or USD 11 trillion. 9 In order to reconstruct the care economy and realize new economic prospects in the care sector for women-led growth, it is crucial to prioritize investments from both the public and private sectors.
3 LITERATURE REVIEW
Scholarship on women’s labour-force participation in India consistently highlights the centrality of unpaid care work in shaping economic outcomes, with single mothers experiencing the highest levels of time-poverty and labour-market exclusion10. Time Use Survey data shows that single mothers undertake substantially more childcare and domestic labour than partnered mothers, constraining participation in skill development and formal employment.
Various studies provide substantial proof that single mothers in informal economy are within the brackets of low-paid, irregular and unprotected work, reinforcing 8 'UN Women’s report: 13 million single mothers heading families in India' (Times Now News, 26 June 2019) accessed 30 November 2025 9 'UN Women’s report: 13 million single mothers heading families in India' (Times Now News, 26 June 2019) accessed 30 November 2025 10 Indira Hirway, ‘Unpaid Work and the Economy: Linkages and Their Implications’, Levy Economics Institute 2015, accessed 29 November 2025 income instability11. Further research highlights the systematic gaps in creche networks, limited operational hours, staff shortages and inadequate coverage with respect to childcare provisioning in India, all of which disproportionately disadvantage single-mother households. 12.
Many economists argue that India’s policy has a distinct notion of viewing caregiving as a private responsibility rather than an economic constraint, resulting in fragmented interventions across labour, childcare and social protection sectors. 13 International literature such as CEDAW and ILO Convention 156 advocate explicit state responsibility for enabling workers with caregiving duties, a principle largely absent in Indian labour regulation14. Therefore, the literature identifies a structural mismatch, which is, India’s labour-market institutions lack the motivation to accommodate caregiving realities, making existing livelihood schemes inaccessible to single mothers. This gap underscores the need for a careresponsive framework that integrates skills, employment flexibility and social protection. 3. 1.
RESEARCH
OBJECTIVES
To determine the social, legal, and technical obstacles that prevent single mothers from accessing social protection, government programs, and jobs. • To evaluate the efficacy of current policy frameworks in assisting single mothers, pointing out weaknesses and opportunities for development. • To explore creative and useful ways to improve flexible livelihood options for single mothers based on both national and international best practices.
3.2.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
This study uses a secondary research approach which involves a systematic review of academic Shiney Chakraborty, ‘Women in the Indian Informal Economy’ (2021) IWWAGE, accessed 29 November 2025 12 Prasad V, ‘50 years of a nation-wide child development programme in India’ BMJ Paediatr Open. 2025 Sep 2 accessed 29 November 2025
13 Folbre, N. (2006). Measuring Care
Gender, Empowerment, and the Care Economy. Journal of Human Development, 7(2), 183–199. https://doi. org/10. 1080/14649880600768512 14 ILO, Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No 156) (adopted 23 June 1981, entered into force 11 August 1983) 1386 UNTS 243 literature on gendered labour markets, time poverty, and social protection with analyses of constitutional provisions, labour codes, and scheme guidelines sourced from India Code and relevant ministries. Official datasets including the Time Use Survey, NSSO, and PLFS provide contextual evidence on women’s labour-force patterns, while evaluations from NSDC, NRLM, and NULM inform the discussion on implementation gaps. Media reports, civil-society documentation, and field-based case studies are additionally consulted to capture on-ground constraints that national surveys do not fully reflect.
Together, these sources offer a triangulated foundation for examining the care–livelihood nexus and shaping the proposed Livelihood Care Convergence Model.
4. BARRIERS
FACED BY SINGLE MOTHERS IN LABOR MARKET PARTICIPATION AND EMPLOYMENT 4. 1. LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION Employers tend to view single mothers as less flexible and dependable, which leads to labour market exclusion, particularly in formal sectors like sales and IT. According to a correspondence study conducted in India, Women who are married and childless are chosen, then married women with children, and finally single women with children, indicating that single mothers are least likely to receive call-backs. 15 4. 2. LEGAL AND DOCUMENTATION BARRIERS The requirement of the father’s name on birth, school, and identity records presents bureaucratic challenges for single mothers. Despite court rulings that this is not required, there are still practices that prevent single moms from accessing formal work and aid programs.
When the father is not present, is unknown, or the mother decides not to reveal paternal information because of privacy or safety concerns, this requirement causes obstacles. It even leads to fake names of fathers to get through the procedure, leading to exclusion from certain government schemes, uncertain information in important documents and so on. 16 Single mothers face exclusion from government support schemes and the inability to get ration cards, 15 Somdeep Chatterjee, Ralitza Dimova and Shubham Ojha, 'Labor Market Penalty for Single Mothers' (Paper presented at ACEGD 2024, 2024) accessed 30 November 2025 16'Legal Recognition Of Single Motherhood In India: A Shift In Patriarchal Norms' (Jus Corpus, 29 March 2025) accessed 30 November 2025 work cards, or Below Poverty Line status17.
Their economic and social marginalization is further made worse by their lack of property rights and insufficient legal protections. 4. 3. CARE INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICITS AND WORKFORCE INFLEXIBILITY In 2020-21, Approximately 68% of young women identified caregiving obligations as the primary obstacle for not participating in education and employment. This burden is significantly more apparent in rural areas, where 81% of female youth who are not employed or enrolled in school are presently caring for their families. 18 Through programs like Saksham Anganwadi and the National Creche Scheme, the Indian government supports the care economy, additional services are provided by NGOs like SEWA and Mobile Creches. However, these initiatives are insufficient for working mothers because they are underfunded, dispersed, and frequently have short operating hours.
An expanded, adaptable, and integrated care infrastructure is desperately needed to enable women's engagement in the workforce.
5 EXISTING GOVERNMENT PROVISIONS FOR SINGLE MOTHERS IN INDIA
GAPS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Indian government has launched a number of programs to offer social security and financial assistance. Important initiatives include the Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme, which supports childcare facilities for working mothers. The One Stop Centre Scheme offers integrated support for women facing violence, and the Indira Gandhi Matrimonial Benefit Scheme, which provides conditional cash transfers to widowed and impoverished women. Indirectly helping single mothers, other initiatives, such as the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), provide specific financial incentives for the educational and medical advancement of girls in addition to advantages for mothers. 19 Though these initiatives mark progress, there are some critical gaps.
Firstly, many programs focus either widely on women or narrowly on widows without specifically addressing Sohini Paul, 'Single Women: Stories of Despair and Survival' (Sampark, July 2019) accessed 30 November 2025
18 Ibid
'Government Schemes for Single Mothers in India' (TheyWon. in, November 2025) accessed 30 November caregiving status, and many lack outreach strategies or eligibility criteria intended to accommodate separated, divorced, or abandoned single mothers. Due to this disparity, a sizable portion of single mothers are not supported by policies or programs. Second, the programs' ability to reach the most vulnerable populations of single mothers is limited by accessibility difficulties like geographic concentration in urban areas or onerous documentation requirements, particularly the requirement for paternal information. Thirdly, the lack of logical integration between financial support programs and necessary services like reasonably priced, high-quality daycare or skill development.
Finally, many qualified single mothers are unable to take advantage of their rights due to a lack of knowledge about these programs. It is a known fact that age, literacy, gender, and socioeconomic level all have a substantial impact on awareness. Generally speaking, women, people with low literacy, and members of lower socioeconomic groups are less aware of schemes. 20 Many welfare programs remain ineffective in reaching their intended beneficiaries because of implementation gaps, poor targeting, and design problems. In short, government programs in India are unable to effectively empower single mothers and other marginalised groups due to a lack of awareness, technical and bureaucratic implementation gaps, and a lack of attention to vulnerable groups.
Policy interventions must create and implement unambiguous single-mother categories with streamlined documentation procedures that do away with discriminatory paternal criteria, in order to close these gaps. To increase awareness and uptake, outreach must focus on rural and peri-urban regions and make use of community organizations. Importantly, current financial programs should be balanced by large investments in infrastructure for universal childcare and career training that takes into account the time constraints of single mothers. Together, these initiatives can create a supportive environment that helps single moms develop their careers and provide care, going beyond disjointed welfare to a route of resilience and economic participation.
6. LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL DIMENSIONS
The constitutional and statutory framework offers multiple avenues for developing a livelihood regime attentive to caregiving responsibilities, yet these openings remain largely unrealized. Article 15(3)21 gives the state power to implement particular policies for females, and Articles 20'Ibid
21 Art 15(3) of the Constitution of India
39(a)22 and 39(e)23 articulate commitments to secure the right to livelihood and safeguard workers from exploitation. Together, these provisions establish a normative foundation for employment structures that account for caregiving as integral to economic participation. Contemporary labor codes such as the Code on Social Security, 202024 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 202025 contain provisions that could be extended to strengthen protections. However, neither framework explicitly designates single mothers or caregivers as priority worker categories. Their reach within the unorganized economy is particularly limited, leaving many women workers, who remain outside formal establishments without access to contributory benefits or regulated working conditions.
26 The Maternity Benefit Act, 196127, as amended in 2017, introduces a creche requirement, yet its applicability threshold of fifty employees excludes the smaller enterprises where most women are employed. Informal workers, among whom single mothers are disproportionately represented, are excluded from the statute altogether. Similarly, while National Rural Livelihood Mission documents and Self-Help Group guidelines acknowledge women’s economic roles, they do not mandate childcare support or adaptable participation structures. 28 Flexible work policies can be widely adopted to benefit women and carers, as seen by recent business initiatives. Mahindra & Mahindra's flexi-policy29, for example, permits workers to work from home for a maximum of one year following maternity leave. This is followed by another year of flexible hours and a three-year gradual return to full-time employment.
By facilitating the return to work, meeting childcare demands, and encouraging long-term career continuity, this policy supports women. In addition to helping working mothers, these programs establish a standard for inclusive workplace policies. Such laws, if widely implemented 22Art 39A of the Constitution of India
23 Art 39e of the Constitution of India
24 The Code On Social Security, 2020
25 The Occupational Safety, Health And Working Conditions Code, 2020
26 Dr. Shikha Dube and Reenu Bairagi ‘Analyzing How Women Workers In Informal Sector Are Vulnerable To Exploitation And Their Legal Protection’ IJLSSS 3(2) 54 accessed 29 September 2025
27 Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 s11A
28 Ministry Of Rural Development Government Of India ‘NRLM Framework for Implementation, 221210 ‘
accessed 29 November 2025 29Namrata Singh, 'Motherhood: M&M unveils flexi policy' (The Times of India, 2 October 2023) https://timesofindia. indiatimes. com/business/india-business/motherhood-mm-unveils-flexipolicy/articleshow/104091777. cms accessed 30 November 2025 through The Code On Social Security, 2020 or Sectoral Orders/Guidelines, can enable women and single mothers to manage their careers and caregiving responsibilities. International obligations reinforce the need for reform. General recommendations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW)30 underscore the state’s responsibility to advance equal employment opportunities, recognise unpaid care work, and expand publicly supported childcare in order to mitigate gendered labour-market constraints.
India’s ratification of the Convention provides a normative basis for embedding caregiving considerations within employment policy design. Taken together, these frameworks demonstrate the presence of enabling legal commitments. However, they have not been operationalized in ways that respond to the daily realities of single mothers, particularly those navigating informal and insecure forms of work.
7. CORE ARGUMENT
Livelihood enhancement for single mothers cannot be achieved through skill acquisition in isolation. Care responsibilities shape the time, mobility, and cognitive resources available for both training and paid employment. According to time-use data from the National Sample Survey (2019) 31 women commit significantly more hours than men to unpaid caregiving and household work, which severely restricts their ability to participate in the workforce. Studies by international agencies likewise demonstrate that caregiving obligations reduce women’s participation in training programmes and hinder job retention in low-income contexts. 32 When caregiving is framed as an individual concern rather than a structural determinant of labor supply, its economic implications remain hidden, producing skill-centric interventions that seldom translate into durable employment outcomes.
A more integrated approach is
30 UNHCR ‘CEDAW General Recommendations Nos. 16, 17 and 18, adopted at the Tenth Session, 1991
(contained in Document A/46/38) accessed 29 November 2025 31 Ministry Of Statistics And Programme Implementation Government Of India ‘Press Note On Nss Report: Time Use In India- 2019‘ accessed 29 November 2025
32 International Labour Office ‘Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work’
accessed 29 November 2025 required one in which skill development, flexible work arrangements, childcare provisioning, and social protection operate as mutually reinforcing elements of a unified livelihood architecture. Absent an explicit acknowledgement of caregiving as a systemic constraint, skill programmes will continue to record limited participation and high dropout rates, trends consistently observed in evaluations of women-focused skilling initiatives even when data are not disaggregated for single mothers.33 Embedding care considerations within employment systems is therefore indispensable for strengthening the economic security of households headed by single mothers.
8. LIVELIHOOD–CARE CONVERGENCE MODEL
The Livelihood–Care Convergence Model outlines five interdependent pillars that restructure labor-market pathways with explicit attention to caregiving constraints. Pillar A advances flexible and modular skill-development pathways. Participation in training is strongly influenced by women’s limited discretionary time and mobility. Evidence from national audits and programme evaluations indicates higher dropout rates among those with childcare responsibilities, even when datasets do not consistently distinguish single mothers. 34 Flexible scheduling, including evening or weekend cohorts, and short micro-credential courses aligned with national skills standards can reduce these barriers. Hybrid learning models that combine digital content with locally delivered support reflect ongoing national efforts to expand digital literacy.
35 Civil-society partnerships that provide childcare during training have been shown to enhance continuity and reduce attrition. Pillar B focuses on care-aware labor-market policies. India’s labor framework does not formally recognize flexible, part-time, or remote-work categories, a gap repeatedly noted in assessments of labor-market adaptability. 36 Introducing a government-endorsed care-friendly employer certification, tied to procurement incentives, would encourage firms to adopt
33 Aahna Vashistha, “The Impact of Care Responsibilities on Women’s Labor Force Participation”
accessed November 2025
34 UN Women, ‘KEEP THE PROMISE, ACCELERATE THE CHANGE Taking stock of gender equality in
Europe and Central Asia years after Beijing’ p9 accessed 29 November 2025 35Government of India, ‘Digital India’, accessed 28 November 2025
36 ILO, “Flexible working hours can benefit work-life balance, businesses and productivity” (2023)
accessed 29 November 2025 supportive practices, drawing on precedents in other jurisdictions. 37 For gig and platform workers, existing studies identify volatility in earnings, inadequate safety provisions, and heightened vulnerabilities for women. 38 Regulatory mechanisms that establish predictable income floors and strengthen grievance redress could provide greater stability for single mothers reliant on platform-based work. Pillar C emphasizes urban and rural livelihood clusters that are spatially integrated with childcare infrastructure. Field studies consistently show that co-location of livelihood sites with schools or creches improves women’s labor-force retention. 39 Mobile creche facilities in the rural areas is a viable option.
In urban areas, strengthened vending zones that incorporate sanitation, lighting, and safety measures are consistent with national legislation aimed at supporting street vendors and protecting their livelihoods. 40 Pillar D proposes a consolidated social-protection floor. Integrating major financial-inclusion, health-insurance, maternity-benefit, and accident-insurance schemes into a unified entitlement system aligns with ongoing reforms promoting portability and convergence across socialprotection platforms. Fragmented benefit structures routinely disadvantage informal women workers, making streamlined access essential for single-mother households.
Pillar E highlights a flexible digital peer-support and livelihood network for single mothers would combine community, skilling and placement into a single ecosystem: moderated digital groups on popular social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp) would intentionally mix underprivileged and resource-rich single mothers as well as skilled and unskilled participants; experienced single mothers would run affordable, flexible online cohorts and micro-workshops (recorded and live) to transfer job-relevant skills; and top performers would be connected to remote gig and salaried opportunities through a placement gateway creating a low-cost, scalable three-step pathway of community support to upskilling to employment that preserves caregiving flexibility while building sustained income. The idea
37 OECD ‘Toolkit for Mainstreaming and Implementing Gender Equality 2023’
accessed 29 November 2025
38 Dhanya MB ‘Gig and Platform Workers
Vision 2047’ NLI Research Studies series No. 173/2025 accessed 29 November 2025 39 Ministery of Women and Child Development, Government of India, ‘Formulating a Strategy for India’s Care Economy: Unlocking Opportunities’ (March 2024),p 15, ) accessed
29 November 2025
40 The Street Vendors (Protection Of Livelihood And Regulation Of Street Vending) Act, 2014
could be in collaboration of two mechanisms such as National Rural Livelihoods Mission: focusing on forming self help groups with Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna: to provide short term industry aligned training modules or workshops. Collectively, these pillars constitute a comprehensive framework in which skill development, childcare, work arrangements, and social-protection mechanisms function as mutually reinforcing components of a coherent livelihood system.
9. FINANCING STRATEGY
The financial aspects proposed in the framework can be looked into through the lens of connecting the existing institutional schemes rather than introducing creation of new schemes. The existing budget allotted under various national livelihood missions and skill development pathways can coordinate with other government departments and partnerships with corporate social responsibility initiatives. There is already an existing mechanism under the national skills ecosystem which already accommodate short-term training, enabling modular and hybrid formats, therefore curbing the need for any additional budget lines41. Many companies under their CSR expenditures prioritize women’s skilling and digital inclusion, in turn providing an avenue for device provisioning under statutory mandates.
Infrastructure and training content for online skill delivery can be financed through the digital inclusion programmes. with regard to public sector employment for single mothers, rather than creating new positions, an overhaul of administrative adjustments can be made, minimizing fiscal implications42. Collectively, the above elements demonstrate that institutional redesign and strategic integration can enhance impact while maintaining fiscal sustainability.
10. MONITORING & EVALUATION INDICATORS
A few indicators which may help to track the progress under the Livelihood-Care Convergence Model is expressing the improved access, retention, and income stability for single mothers. Core vital indicators should measure the handiness, quality, and utilisation of childcare services arising out of the livelihood clusters and training centres in appropriate geographical areas. If there are any timely changes spotted such as reductions in unpaid-care hours during training
41 NSDC, ‘Annual reports’ accessed 24 November 2025
42 Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan’ accessed 29 November 2025 periods, it can an insight as to whether interventions meaningfully shift time poverty. Programme-level indicators should track attendance, completion, and placement rates for flexible and modular skilling pathways, with disaggregation by caregiving status wherever possible. For labour-market outcomes, metrics on earnings volatility, access to part-time or remote work, and uptake of protections within platform work are essential. Social-protection indicators should assess the proportion of eligible households successfully linked to consolidated entitlements and the continuity of benefits across states or employers.
Qualitative audits including interviews with trainees, frontline workers, and employers help capture barriers not visible in administrative data, ensuring iterative correction as the model scales.
11 CONCLUSION
In India, single moms deal with a complicated web of issues that touch on social inclusion, childcare, and financial survival. Despite its good intentions, the current policy environment frequently fails to meet the special requirements of single mothers, making it fragmented and inadequate. Policymakers should foster a more supportive space for single mothers by concentrating on workable, inclusive solutions like universal daycare infrastructure, flexible workplace rules, digital peer support and livelihood networks. In addition to enabling single mothers to create flexible livelihoods, these interventions support more general social and economic advancement. By learning from international best practices and progressive corporate policies, India can amend its policies to be more inclusive and responsive to the needs of single mothers.
India may change its policies to be more welcoming and adaptable to the needs of single mothers by taking inspiration from global best practices and progressive business policies. The ultimate goal is to ensure that single mothers are not only surviving but thriving, with the opportunity to reach their full abilities and contribute to India's growth and prosperity.