
By Christine G. T. Ho

1.Locate gender within capitalist relations of production by examining the role of
Caribbean women as workers and mothers
2. Relationship of family and political economy, Caribbean family units are constantly being reshaped by changing needs of global capitalism
3. Human costs entailed in transnationalism
4. Relation of transnationalism to global capitalism






Expand life choices
Shortage of Schools
Declining living standards
The Caribbean governments support this migration because it acts as a safety valve for surplus labor
Postcolonial Caribbean Government emphasizes capital rather than human resources in development plans

Emigration is also an expression of the relationship between transnationalism and global capitalism in the region
Global
Capitalism
Caribbean
Transnationalism



Consequences of “downsizing”
› Rising unemployment
Casualization
›
›
Before – fixed salaries, relative job security, fringe benefits
Now – temporary workers, loss of benefits, eroded salaries

However, the impact of Global
Capitalism not only varies from class to class but differs according to gender.



Migrate as entire families
Settle permanently



Migrate independently
Practice circular migration
Pave way for eventual migration of others



Caribbean family structure
› Matrifocal – “mother-centered” patterns of relationships within the household, whether or not a husband /father is present
 Mother-child bond cherished above all others
 Viewed as the most enduring
 Children as “Old Age Insurance” for elderly women
Not to be confused with Matriarchy
– female headed households



Caribbean cultural ideal: child care is a collective responsibility
› Usually falls to groups of females, some are fictive kin
› Is common for children to be moved between households and live with kin that are not their biological parents
Whoever is in the best position to accept responsibility for a child does so


Based on the “normative” nuclear household structure



Monogamous marriage
Egalitarian conjugal relations
Assumed to be universal

Caribbean
› Brittle conjugal relationship
›
›
›
›
Low frequency of early legal marriage
High illegitimacy rates
Matrifocality
Child dispersal





Nuclear family is not needed for child rearing or financial support of women and children – capitalist construction
Projects Eurocentric ideals on Caribbean society
Obscures complex linkages between the family and the wider political economy
Most studies attribute their unorthodox structure to poverty




Too simple and disregards the shared cultural imperatives in the middle and upper class
› Reserves legal marriage to status equals and non-legal unions for partners in lower classes
›
›
Lower class men usually do not marry right away because they lack the financial resources and do not share the same ideas about sexual relations and legal marriage
Upper & middle class men marry women of equal status while simultaneously having “outside” sexual relations with women of lower class status
Polygamous relations are practiced across cultures and result in illegitimate children from all social classes of men
A Christian moral code is placed on the lower class





Matrifocality allows for women to be supported by their children under the capitalistic economic system.
Caribbean kinship sanctions “segregated” gender roles, where men and women lead almost separate lives.
Leads to a lack of support by men as they are not expected to support emotionally or help physically with the domestic sphere.
Women have a double work load and rely on support from other women and kin.



As long as an ideology of gender inequality persists, gender relations will remain unequal
Patriarchy can only be destroyed by a psychocultural revolution



Gender Paradox
›
›
›
Low earning power in men – not expected to be sole bread winner
By denying women male financial support and protection, the capitalist system also demands economic independence and responsibility for their families
Yet their wages, usually in the informal economy , are not enough to make ends meet, so women must appeal to men to make ends meet
Women strive to be economically independent but are still dependent on their men





Caribbean men are usually not paid a family wage
Women have not been excluded from the work force
› More than 88% of Caribbean women have no more than primary school education and therefore not competitive in the job market
Women maintain double workload with low income jobs and domestic work which has been devalued by capitalism
Women have resorted to having many relationships with men (lovers, children, husbands) to have people to help them in order to survive

Puerto Rico – Higher rate of unemployment for men forced women into the work force into low wage and menial work
Dominican Republic – due to failing sugar industries, the country shifted to export manufacturing. Women have been major contributors of household income though they work under poorly paid and difficult conditions
Cuba – promoted gender equality by offering social services and through the Family code of 1975 which states that couples are to share in domestic and financial responsibilities. However, even though guaranteed equal pay for equal work, there is occupational segregation





Paid employment for women has both positive and negative consequences.
At times it produces greater economic independence, but at others it creates a double work burden.
The economic independence of women may be a necessary but not sufficient condition for gender equality either locally or globally.
Because of global capitalism Caribbean women have used kinship groups to assist in migration and in an effort to reach a higher class position.




Caribbean family units are constantly being reconfigured to suit the changing needs of global capitalism as it continually destroys forms of its own existence
Because they lack child care support in the destination country, the working class women who migrates from the Caribbean leave children behind with kin
Greatest toll of Caribbean transnationalism is marriage breakdown (90%)