Women and Men in the Caribbean Community

CHAPTER 2HOUSEHOLDSAND FAMILIESFamily PatternsCaribbean family forms have been strategically organised to accommodate and manage persistentsocial and economic challenges. “For the pattern is characterised by a high level ofnon-legal unions, the prevalence of ‘household’ over ‘family’ units and a high level of householdsheaded by women” (Senior, 1991, p. 82). The marital and union status categories of“married” and “common-law” are bases for the formation of families, in spite of the legal andnon-legal distinction made in respect of both. Thus families are constituted by women withhusbands or common-law partners, children, and other members. The maternal role is oftenconsidered more important than marital status.Majority of Women and Men Never MarriedMarital status defines the conjugal legal relations between a man and a woman based on thelegal sanction of marriage. More than half of all persons aged 15 years and over were nevermarried in 1990/1991, with the exception of women in Guyana and both women and men inTrinidad and Tobago (table 2.1). The proportions never married were especially high(exceeding 60 per cent among both men and women) in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica,Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Inall but one country, Antigua and Barbuda, higher percentages of men were never married,compared to women (chart 2.1).In 1990/1991, proportions of the adult population who were married were generally lowerthan the proportions never married. Percentages married were 40 per cent or higher for bothsexes in only three countries: Belize, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. In the remaining 11countries, 24 to 32 per cent of women and 25 to 36 per cent of men were married. Half of thecountries show a higher proportion of married men than women. For several of the othercountries, almost equal proportions of women and men were married.Widowhood Twice as Common for Women as for MenThe categories—widowed, divorced and separated—were very small. The difference betweenwomen and men in the proportions widowed is striking, with women showing proportions twoto three times those of men. This is a result of several factors, including higher life expectancy19