Midlife and Older Women Family Life, Work and Health in Jamaica pot

Midlife and Older Women
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Midlife and Older Women
Family Life, Work and Health in Jamaica
Joan Rawlins
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University of the West Indies Press
Jamaica • Barbados • Trinidad and Tobago
Midlife and Older Women
Family Life, Work and Health in Jamaica
Joan Rawlins
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University of the West Indies Press
1A Aqueduct Flats Mona
Kingston 7 Jamaica
www.uwipress.com
© 2006 by Joan Rawlins
All rights reserved. Published 2006
10 09 08 07 06 5 4 3 2 1
CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Rawlins, Joan M.
Midlife and older women: family life work and health in Jamaica / Joan Rawlins.
p. cm.
Based on the author’s PhD thesis — Institute of Social Studies, e Hague, 1996.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 976-640-183-7
1. Middle-aged women – Jamaica. 2. Older women – Jamaica. 3. Women – Employment
– Jamaica. 5. Women – Health and hygiene – Jamaica. I. Title.
HQ1059.5.J3R385 2006 331.4’097292

Book and cover design by Robert Kwak.
Printed in the United States of America.
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List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Social and Economic Environment of the Study
Chapter 2 Family and Power
Chapter 3 Work and the Midlife and Older Woman
Chapter 4 Women, Health and the Repressed Discourse
Chapter 5 Coping with Widowhood
Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
vi
vii
ix
1
23
32
68
91
116
141
149
162
169
CONTENTS

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11
11
12
12
13
15
16
16
17
1. Road going downhill in August Town
2. Woman awaiting transportation in August Town
3. Older woman in August Town
4. Improved shop and home in August Town
5. Schoolchildren waiting for a bus in August Town
6. Impressive gate in Hope Pastures
7. Improved home in lower Hope Pastures
8. Home in lower Hope Pastures
9. Improved home in upper Hope Pastures
ILLUSTRATIONS
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73
103
103
104
Table 1 Total Labour Force by Age (October 1990)
Table 2 Serious Illness or Surgery Experienced
by Community Group
Table 3 Current Health Status by Community Group
Table 4 Illness/Condition by Age

TABLES
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So impressed have I been with the work of women in
midlife and older, as I have observed them in Jamaican
society, that I wanted to do something to ensure that a
wider audience would be given an opportunity to con
-
template the lives of this group of women. ese women
do yeoman service for their families and, by extension,
the Jamaican society and they deserve to have some part
of their stories recorded for posterity. is book owes its
heart to these women, to whom I am very grateful.
To the Institute of Social Studies in e Hague
and the Government of the Netherlands I wish to
say thanks, for funding the PhD scholarship and dis
-
sertation from which this book arises. I am grateful
for the advice and guidance I received from super
-
visors Dr Renee Pittin, Professor Geertje Lycklama
and Dr Ines Smyth, which continued to be especially
valuable to me as I worked on this book. I am also in
-
debted to others, including Professor Maureen Cain,
formerly of the University of the West Indies, Trini
-
dad and Tobago, and to Dr Patricia Mohammed and
Professor Rhoda Reddock of the Centre for Gender

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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x Acknowledgements
and Development Studies, the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago,
who encouraged me as I sought to make the transition from dissertation to book.
anks also to Professor Joyce Toney, Head of the Women’s Studies Department,
Hunter College, New York, who facilitated me by affording me space at Hunter
College for a short period in 2003, allowing me to work undisturbed on this book.
To my friends and colleagues who encouraged me along the way I give
thanks. is list is not exhaustive, but special thanks are due to Roanna Gopaul,
Stephanie Pile, Jessica Byron, Eudine Barriteau, Michelle Rowley, Monica
Gordon and Paula Ellis.
To the Centre for Gender and Development Studies, University of the
West Indies, Mona, for facilitating my fellowship in e Hague, what now seems
like so many years ago, thanks. anks also to the University of the West Indies,
St Augustine, for affording me academic leave early in 2003 to spend time with
this book project.
To Dr Pamela Collins, thanks for helpful editorial suggestions and guidelines as
I sought to bring closure to this project. I am deeply indebted to her professionalism.
anks also to my siblings, Donnet De Freitas, Lorna Joseph and Carl
Porteous, and to my children, Samantha, Sekou and Carey Rawlins, who were all
sources of encouragement. Last, but definitely not least, thanks to my husband
Sam, who has been a tremendous source of inspiration and encouragement for
every bit of writing that I have ever chosen to do.
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
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
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






        


     


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
     

INTRODUCTION
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2 Midlife and Older Women
   



            








     
       
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
         
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           
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             




rawlins-book-01.indb 2 12/4/2005 6:12:20 PM
Introduction 3




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    
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         
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rawlins-book-01.indb 3 12/4/2005 6:12:20 PM
4 Midlife and Older Women

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
 
            
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        

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THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE RESEARCH
          
          
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          

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Introduction 5

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         


Work
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6 Midlife and Older Women
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
         


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
            

  

      


Economic Situation

           
        




           



rawlins-book-01.indb 6 12/4/2005 6:12:20 PM
Introduction 7
           



           

         





         
         



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   

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




The Demographic and Social Situation

 




  


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rawlins-book-01.indb 7 12/4/2005 6:12:21 PM
8 Midlife and Older Women




   




         




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        
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          
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    
rawlins-book-01.indb 8 12/4/2005 6:12:21 PM
Introduction 9



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
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
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
       
      





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

           

THE STUDY: PLANNING AND METHODOLOGY
The Objectives of the Research



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
rawlins-book-01.indb 9 12/4/2005 6:12:21 PM
10 Midlife and Older Women

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

          

       
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
            

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The Research Communities
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

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    
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

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


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rawlins-book-01.indb 10 12/4/2005 6:12:21 PM
Introduction 11
August Town
    

   

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


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   
     

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





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

        
   
    
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



   


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    
    
    
FIGURE 1. Road going downhill in August Town
FIGURE 2. Woman awaiting transportation in August Town
rawlins-book-01.indb 11 12/4/2005 6:12:22 PM
12 Midlife and Older Women



     



    
    
     

     
   



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






    





    

    


      


FIGURE 3. Older woman in August Town
FIGURE 4. Improved shop and home in August Town
rawlins-book-01.indb 12 12/4/2005 6:12:22 PM
Introduction 13


  
    
     


    



  






           

       
      
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FIGURE 5. Schoolchildren waiting for a bus in August Town
rawlins-book-01.indb 13 12/4/2005 6:12:23 PM
14 Midlife and Older Women
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rawlins-book-01.indb 14 12/4/2005 6:12:23 PM