Female Status, the Family, and Male Dominance in a West Indian Community

Parental Involvement, Student Active Engagement and the ‘Secondary Slump’ Phenomenon—Evidence from a Three-Year Study in a Barbadian Secondary School

“…The early literature on practices in the Caribbean context indicates that gender-based socialization is routine and begins in the early in the children's lives (Cohen, 1956;Moses, 1981;Wilson, 1975). Later research by Bailey (1996) which focused on gender socialisation in the Caribbean concluded that boys are more outwardly directed in their socialization while girls are more inwardly directed.…”

Single-Parent Families: Choice or Constraint? The Formation of Female-Headed Households in Mexican Shanty Towns

“…However, some women are prepared to take the initiative and to risk discrimination and a period of financial adjustment and hardship in order to avoid conflictive and insecure domestic situations. This is echoed elsewhere in Latin America by Harris (1982) and Roberts (1978), and among black families in the Caribbean by Jayawardena (1960) and Moses (1977), and in the United States by Stack (1974).…”

“…the domestic unit (Solien de Gonzales 1960). In the Caribbean, for example, single-parent families or mother-child households are commonly called matrifocal familiesmeaning mother-centred families in which women play the dominant role psychologically, but are still supported by and subject to the authority of husbands (or the female's own kin), who may or may not reside permanently in the same house (Blumberg & Garcia 1977;Gerber & Rasmussen 1978;Moses 1977;Solien de Gonzales 1960, 1969Winch 1978). This familial pattern is common in Caribbean and Central American countries where there is much migration of male labour on a seasonal or semi-permanent basis, and frequently men may support two households (Blumberg 1978;Solien de Gonzales 1960;Winch 1978).…”

“…For example, it is frequently imagined that a strict division of labour and authority within the family between father and mother greatly influences the behaviour of male and female children. Girls are encouraged to imitate their mothers and to stay at home and help out with the housework, whereas boys are not asked to participate in domestic chores and are allowed a far greater degree of personal freedom (Bardwick & Douvan 1971;Cross-Beras 1980;Gutitrrez de Pineda 1976;Lomnitz 1977;Moses 1977;Safa 1964). It is suggested that if fathers helped out with housework, rigid gender roles might not be adopted by the children (Chodorow 1974).…”

Symbolic Sexuality and Economic Work in Dominica, West Indies: The Naturalization of Sex and Women's Work in Development

“…In much of the available literature on the Caribbean, women's and men's work are described in terms of interconnected networks through which economic and social exchange and support are transferred (e.g., Dirks 1972;Anderson 1986;Ellis 1986;Durant-Gonzalez 1976;Moses 1976;Berleant-Schiller 1977;Safa 1986). The public/domestic dichotomy is used, either implicitly or explicitly, to delineate these networks and the position of women and men within them.…”