Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

fille-mère

English translation:

teen mother

Added to glossary by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill
Nov 6, 2012 21:02
11 yrs ago
5 viewers *
French term

fille-mère

French to English Other International Org/Dev/Coop
Il s'agit du début d'un document sur ce qui peut être fait pour les aider

L’objectif principal de ce programme est de renforcer les processus de résilience de jeunes filles mères désocialisées vivant dans des quartiers défavorisés de XXXXX grâce à un accompagnement personnalisé, individuel et/ou en groupe

Quel terme choisiriez-vous ?

merci

Discussion

Anne R Nov 10, 2012:
filles- mères l'emploi du mot filles mères en 2012 est un peu étonnant, car du moins pour moi rempli de connotation négative mais surtout peu 'politiquement correct' de nos jours.
B D Finch Nov 7, 2012:
Jeunes filles ou jeunes femmes ? Referring to a young woman of 20 to 25 as a "jeune fille" seems wrong to me, even taking into account that France was less impacted by feminism than the UK or US. Nonetheless sexist language does still crop up in all countries and both languages. There is a very big difference between the needs of child mothers (an expression I'd only use for mothers who are under 16), teenage mothers and mothers aged 20 to 25. Note that in most developing countries it is the norm for young women of 18 to 20 to already have at least one child.

On the other hand, it is true that "nom de jeune fille" means "maiden name", so it could be that "jeune fille" is used here to indicate unmarried status, even though it is an odd way of expressing it. Being a mother without the status and support networks that marriage brings is far tougher in traditional societies than in France, the UK or US.
cc in nyc Nov 7, 2012:
No dash in the source text The text says "jeunes filles mères."
jmleger Nov 7, 2012:
What's in a dash are we talking about "jeunes-filles mères" or "jeunes filles-mères". Ain't exactly the same thaig, now.
cc in nyc Nov 7, 2012:
@ Isabelle S'il ne s'agit pas exclusivement de filles qui ont moins de 20 ans, il est alors difficile de préciser "teen mothers" et encore moins possible de dire "child mothers". Mais il est question (à mon avis) de la jeunesse des mères en question, du moins quand on emploie l'expression "jeune fille mère". Il faut, en tous cas, respecter le contexte du document en question.
Isabelle Barth-O'Neill (asker) Nov 7, 2012:
Je ne pensais pas que je déchaînerais de telles discussions avec ma question. je suis bien dans un contexte de pays en voie de développement durement frappé par les caprices de la nature.
Il s'agit de jeunes filles, non mariées, qui subissent la violence et la prostitution ainsi que bien d'autres problèmes. Elles ont pour la majorité moins de 25 ans
Rachel Fell Nov 7, 2012:
(changed mind) As BD Finch says, child mothers - Child mothers face stigma of rejection
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uganda_24566.html
Christiane Tanner Nov 7, 2012:
And indicating marital status may be important In terms of whether 'fille-mere' would indicate marital status, I think you also need to consider the context here of international development. Presuming the text is referring to a programme in a third world country, it may well be of significance if these mothers are single as well as young and the term does appear to indicate marital status: http://www.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-fra.html?lang=f...
B D Finch Nov 7, 2012:
Age and place? These mothers could even be pre-teen. There is a real problem in some countries of rape and pregnancy of very young girls, even as young as nine years old.

https://twitter.com/UNICEF/status/259057267083706369
"From child mothers in Kenyan refugee camp we learn that healing can happen ... Refugee camp provides home for child mothers ... "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/05/10-year-o...
"She is called Nicoletta and, undoubtedly, is as delightful as any healthy newborn baby. But her birth 10 days ago in the southern Spanish city of Jerez has provoked a storm – because her mother is just 10 years old. Of the 22 cases, there are five births to nine-year-olds from Brazil, ... "

www.worldpress.org/Africa/1933.cfm
"Child-mother Janet, who was abducted at age ten, cries as she holds her eleven-month-old son at a rehabilitation center in Northern Uganda ... "
Victoria Britten Nov 6, 2012:
I agree with Val: young single mothers
Laurel Clausen Nov 6, 2012:
How young... ... are we talking about? Teenagers? Young adults? Or a mix of both?
Valérie Lopez Nov 6, 2012:
and young? I would say young single moms for jeunes

Proposed translations

+5
7 hrs
French term (edited): jeune fille mère
Selected

teen mother

Or teenage mother.

En effet, comparativement aux femmes qui deviennent mères à un âge plus tardif, les jeunes filles mères sont plus susceptibles de développer des maladies rénales, des troubles dépressifs et des problèmes d'anémie, d'hypertension et de prééclampsie. Quant à leurs enfants, ils présentent des taux plus élevés de mortalité périnatale, de naissance prématurée et de faible poids à la naissance. Les jeunes filles mères et leurs enfants courent également des risques socioéconomiques à long terme, tels qu'un niveau de scolarité inférieur, une diminution des possibilités d'emploi et l'absence d'un partenaire contribuant au revenu familial.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cphorsphc-respcacsp/2011/cphorsph...

Compared to older mothers, teen mothers are more likely to experience anemia, hypertension, pre-eclampsia, renal disease and depressive disorders, and their children may have higher perinatal mortality rate, higher preterm birth rates and lower birth weights. There are also long-term socio-economic risks for the teen mother and her children such as lower educational attainment, reduced employment opportunities and the lack of a contributing partner to the household income.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cphorsphc-respcacsp/2011/cphorsph...
Peer comment(s):

agree Karen Stokes : 'teenage' in the UK; agree the register requires 'mother' not 'mum'
3 hrs
Thank you.
agree Daryo
3 hrs
Thank you.
agree mimi 254
5 hrs
Thank you.
agree Marie Jackson
6 hrs
Thank you.
agree Samantha Hind (X) : There is no mention of being single, so it is more a case of the mothers being very young. I would say 'teenage mother' though (from the UK...).
6 hrs
Thank you.
agree Nikki Scott-Despaigne
7 hrs
Thank you.
disagree jmleger : A teen mother can be married, but we are talking about young women who are "désocialisées".
9 hrs
The teen mothers described in the reference cited in the Explanation sound fairly désocialisées.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+3
25 mins

child mothers

I think we are talking about young girls who fall pregnant, whereas a "single mom" could be any age.
Note from asker:
Merci
Peer comment(s):

agree BrigitteHilgner
7 mins
Thanks, Brigitte
agree Carol Gullidge : or teenage mums. Agree with your explanation, you can be in your thirties and still be a single mum
42 mins
Thanks, Carol
neutral Sheila Wilson : In the light of the added context that they are under 20, I don't think this would be acceptable for the upper end of the group
55 mins
Thanks, Sheila. Take your point but since this presumably involves developing countries I assumed it concerned really young girls. The "under 20" comment wasn't there when I posted. Maybe the context indicates what the major age group is.
agree Lara Barnett
2 hrs
Thanks, Lara
neutral Daryo : "child mother" would associate with "the youngest possible"; some of them might be just "young" / "teenage"
10 hrs
Thanks Daryo, but as you yourself say, it is a case of "jeunes" filles mères.
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+2
2 mins

single moms

in the States.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2012-11-06 22:05:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A 40-50 ans, on a plutôt affaire à des mères divorcées ou veuves, statistiquement parlant. Non? Bon, il y a des Rachida Dati, mais c'est tout même de la maternité discrétionnaire dans ce cas.
Note from asker:
Merci - mais on peut être mère célibataire en France et avoir 40 ou 50 ans. Là il s'agit de filles qui ont moins de 20 ans. utiliseriez vous ce terme quand même ?/
Peer comment(s):

agree sofi21 : http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/fille-mère synonyme: mere celibataire
10 mins
Thx!
agree Marco Solinas : Perhaps "young single mothers"or "teenage single mothers" to address the asker's concern.
16 mins
Thx!
agree Christiane Tanner : Or perhaps teenage single mothers, to identify age group more precisely
46 mins
Thx!
agree NancyLynn : teen mom, as in the current age few teens marry, whether preg or not
1 hr
Thx!
agree Patrice : good points made by all respondents here
5 hrs
Thx!
agree Liliane Hatem : single mom, whether she's 15 or 50
7 hrs
disagree cc in nyc : I believe the issue is the youth of the mothers – not necessarily their marital status – and "mom" is too informal for this context
7 hrs
disagree Daryo : the question was misleading, shoud've been "jeunes filles mères" as in the ST - the issue is their age - "jeunes filles"
11 hrs
neutral Carol Gullidge : one can't necessarily assume that these young mothers are necessarily single
11 hrs
disagree B D Finch : "Moms" is too informal (and US, while the Asker's time zone is UK) and loses the point about their age - i.e. they are both children and mothers..
12 hrs
disagree Nikki Scott-Despaigne : For "mère célibataire" but not for "fille-mère", the point being the fact that the French describes teenagers.
14 hrs
Something went wrong...
-1
2 hrs

unwed mother(s)

My seccond choice would be 'single mom(s)' ... no matter what their ages ...
Peer comment(s):

disagree cc in nyc : I believe the issue is the youth of the mothers – not necessarily their marital status // IMO neither "single mom" nor "unwed mother" is accurate; I believe they may be married. // Here we have "jeunes filles mères."
5 hrs
'single mom' is all right but 'unwed mother' is not?//In my neck of the woods 'une fille-mère' is an unwed mother or a single mom ...
disagree Daryo : ST: "jeunes filles mères" vs ... no matter what their ages ...?// still not convinced, but for different reasons: "not married" - doesn't exclude the father still being around - while the ST is mainly about these mothers being lone mothers.
9 hrs
agree Yolanda Broad : Given the Asker's further explanation, "Il s'agit de jeunes filles, non mariées...," this is the correct term for "filles mères," whether or not they are, as is the case in the Asker's text, young.
20 hrs
Thank you very much. Un gros merci. Muy muchas gracias, Yolanda.
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+3
3 hrs

teen(age) mum

or Teen Mom for US (there's even a TV programme of the same name)

Very common and in some disadvantaged areas almost a fashionable thing to do. I had two sixteen year old girls in a class who got pregnant and were delighted! No need to mention married or single as the main point is the age of the mother

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/12/teenage-m...



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 hrs (2012-11-07 10:36:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I disagree that register is wrong. I think this type of term is used in all registers as there has been so much discusion about the whole phenomenon. I know (when I was teaching) that I read academic articles on the subject where the term "teenage mum" was used
Peer comment(s):

agree Patrice
2 hrs
thanks Patrice!
agree Jessica Noyes : Yes, "single" isn't mentioned in the text. They could actually be married.
2 hrs
thanks Jessica
neutral cc in nyc : IMO "mum" (or AE "mom") is the wrong register for the source text.
4 hrs
thanks for comment. See note above
agree Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
4 hrs
thanks Sangro!
Something went wrong...
+1
18 hrs
French term (edited): jeunes filles-mères

young single mothers

these are "filles-mères" who are also young.

As it happens often outside of France, words keep their previous meaning far far longer. Here "filles-mères" seems to be used in a way that's become rather obsolete in France - to mean single unmarried women.

From the additional information given, the really relevant part of "single unmarried women" here is that these young mothers are on their own - that they are "single mothers".
Peer comment(s):

agree Laurel Clausen : Given the asker's explanation of under the age of 25, this seems to be the most all-encompassing solution
1 hr
Thanks! Once you have enough context information, less guessing is needed!
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Reference comments

16 hrs
Reference:

deux variantes au moins...

fille-mère (Nom commun) Singulier fille-mère /fij.mɛʁ/ Pluriel filles-mères /fij.mɛʁ/

fille-mère /fij.mɛʁ/ féminin

(Vieilli) ou (Péjoratif) Nom donné aux mères de famille qui n’ont pas eu et n’ont pas de mari.
Beaucoup de femmes, dans le but d’échapper aux conséquences de la maternité, se font avorter; (…).S’il y a crime en ceci, c’est aux pseudo-moralistes qui trouvent bon de persécuter les filles-mères et de leur fermer toutes les portes que doit revenir la principale responsabilité. — (Jean Marestan, L’Éducation Sexuelle, Éditions de la « Guerre Sociale », 1910)
Car ce qu’il faut aujourd’hui à la France affaiblie, c’est du sang nouveau, c’est de la force, c’est de la vie, et la vie peut naître, m’assure-t-on, tout aussi bien de l’amant fort et valide que du mari trop usé avant la noce par celle qu’il a faite. Puissent les amants légitimes et toutes les filles-mères sauver ni plus, ni moins la Patrie, que nos respectables époux modernes conduisent eux-mêmes si rapidement au suicide. — (Jane de Magny & Georges Anquetil, L’Amant légitime ou la Bourgeoise libertine, 1923)
Mais, dans la pratique, celles qu’on appelle des filles-mères sont chichement aidées, tenues en état de mépris et, le plus souvent, jetées à la rue, précipitées aux abîmes. — (Ludovic Naudeau, La France se regarde. Le problème de la natalité, 1931)

Synonymes mère célibataire
[http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/fille-mère]

Une maternité précoce

Etre maman bien avant ses copines, ça arrive. Qu’il s’agisse d’une surprise ou d’un projet de vie, un bébé bouleverse toujours le quotidien, d’autant plus quand sa propre enfance n’est pas très loin. Combien la France recense-t-elle de "filles-mères" ? Quels sont leurs besoins et leurs angoisses spécifiques ?…

Aujourd'hui, plus de la moitié des européennes enceintes avant 18 ans décident de garder leur enfant. Et les jeunes papas acceptent alors volontiers d’assumer leurs responsabilités, même en cas de séparation ultérieure.
[http://www.doctissimo.fr/html/grossesse/avant/envie-enfant/a...]
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