Gingerbread: lets lose the labels campaign

Was very happy to sign up to the Gingerbread campaign against stereotyping single parents after receiving the email below today from, perhaps a little unusually, a certain Roger Berry MP. I will certainly fight such prejudices, along with any similar or related ones - this is essential work if we are to build the fair society and fair future that the Green Party wants.

Dear Mr Vowles,

I’m writing to ask you to support Gingerbread’s campaign to challenge the stereotyping and stigma that single parents face.

Eighty-three per cent of single parents surveyed by Gingerbread said the media portrays them in a negative light. Polling confirms that the wider public overestimates how many single parents are teenage, never married and not in work. Too often they are depicted as scroungers or bad parents responsible for ‘broken’ families.

There is likely to be intense debate around family policy in the run up to the election. Please help make sure this focuses on the facts, not on the stereotypes.

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have already signed the Gingerbread pledge below:

I promise to challenge prejudice against single parent families and support Gingerbread’s campaign to lose the labels.

Please email campaign@gingerbread.org.uk to pledge your support for the campaign. And I’d appreciate a reply to this email too, if possible, to let me know you’ve signed. Many thanks.

Gingerbread will be publishing a list of signatories on their website, along with regular campaign updates: see http://www.gingerbread.org.uk