intersectionality; oppression; homeless shelters; motherhood; anti-oppressive approach

Our contribution deals with how the intersectionality of oppression manifests in narratives of single mothers with experience residing in a homeless shelter. The text is theoretically framed in anti-opressive approach, specifically in intersectionality of the oppression which single mothers in shelters have to cope with. Oppression is of a structural nature and single mothers from homeless shelters encounter it in various forms and on various levels. Using a qualitative research strategy, in particular a participatory approach, it has been found that oppression is ever-present in the narratives of homeless mothers, and that their living experience can only be understood through the intermingling and intersecting of different forms of oppression, such as gender, motherhood, lone parent families, and interrelated poor socio-economic situations, ethnicity and homelessness. Consequently, to the above listed phenomena, special attention is paid to the application of an anti-oppressive approach and its tools in social work with the given target group, which emphasizes the interconnection of individual forms of oppression. The topic of antiopressive approach in the social work and its possible acceleration functions in relation to the reintegration of homeless mothers is important for the practice as well as education in social work.