Belgian-Moroccan Single Mothers: Battling Stigma and Isolation in Molenbeek

In Belgium, being a single mother is something that is frowned upon by society. It’s even worse when it’s a woman of Moroccan origin. To the label of single mother, "foreigner" is sometimes added. "But I’m Belgian, born in Belgium. My children have never known Morocco, they are Belgian too. My whole family works and pays taxes in Belgium," says Loubna, met by La Dernière Heure in the basement of the Maison des cultures in Molenbeek with other single mothers, all from Molenbeek. These women are all participating in a project called Cosmolis, a Thursday meeting that provides a "breath of fresh air" to those who need it.

"It’s always complicated to offer this to often isolated women. I explain that it’s a group without any obligation to attend that will organize activities for them," says Alexander, an educator and initiator of the project. "At first, we could be skeptical, shy. Me for example, I was quite isolated, I didn’t talk much. But quickly, the walls came down," recalls Loubna, who is one of the oldest in the group created just before Covid. This group carries out several activities: trying horseback riding or enjoying a hot air balloon ride.

These single mothers suffer more in their daily lives. "In the support organizations, there is no longer time to really do social work. We constantly change the reference person, we have to constantly re-justify ourselves to change again a month later and the files do not progress. It’s a new burden each time. And, in addition, there is this persistent image: a single father is a hero but a single mother is a failure. That’s the image of society. Even taking care of a child as a couple is very complicated, so imagine a child to manage alone," describes Marushka. And she adds: "Imagine several children to manage alone. We are fighters. We play the role of mother and father at the same time, taking the remarks that a child must grow up with a father figure, no help. And despite this, the single mother is automatically perceived as a profiteer and a welfare recipient."

Invisibility is an evil that these single mothers suffer from. They also suffer from the reputation of their municipality. "Finding housing is already impossible. When you say ’single mother’, it’s an automatic no. But when you call, even just for a library for example, and you say you’re from Molenbeek then... you get a ’ah I see,’ a mixture of pity and repulsion." Faced with these problems, the group, in partnership with photographer Johanna de Tessières, initiated a photo and audio exhibition "to bring all their paths and all their realities into the field of vision of society." In addition to this exhibition, which continues until October 12, the new artists also plan to organize guided tours of the exhibition, called Rêv’elles, "to tell their stories themselves."