TY - JOUR A1 - Garcia, Anne-Laure T1 - Kindergartens in Solitudes, public solidarity and private voluntary: the single mothers in France of the late twentieth century T2 - Modern & contemporary France N2 - Since the 1970s in France, becoming a mother without being in a relationship has become a symbol of women's autonomy. Hence, being a single mother no longer necessarily means being the victim of male desertion or being a woman with permissive sexual behaviour. Instead, the mother can be an active social agent who has deliberately chosen to experience single parenthood. In order to understand if public solidarity and private sources of help can protect these women against emotional solitude and social isolation, this article presents three case studies taken from sociological research on single mothers in the French region of Pays de la Loire. En France, depuis les annees 1970, l'enfantement en dehors d'une relation de couple est devenu un symbole de l'autonomie feminine. La mere celibataire n'est plus necessairement ni une fille victime de l'abandon masculin ni une femme aux mOEurs legeres. Elle peut etre une actrice sociale ayant choisi de vivre la parentalite en dehors de la norme du couple. Afin de comprendre comment solidarites publiques et aides privees peuvent proteger ces femmes contre la solitude emotionnelle et l'isolement social, cet article presente trois etudes de cas tirees d'une recherche sociologique sur les meres seules dans la region Pays de la Loire. Y1 - 2015 UR - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/38523 SN - 0963-9489 SN - 1469-9869 VL - 23 IS - 4 SP - 475 EP - 490 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER -