Male Studies in The Caribbean - Male Marginalization Within The Family

Male Marginalization Within The Family

The Caribbean family has been the subject of continuing scholarly attention since the 1930s, likely due to the seemingly matrifocal family structure. On average, the woman-headed family would earn less than a male-headed family. Marietta Morrissey noted that male migration was often a factor in these women-headed families and that it was not unusual for men to be absent for years. These men would send back money whenever possible to support their families. Although men did not always reside with their families, they did maintain influence, causing Morrissey to comment that, “male authority embodied in the patriarchal family is often an ideal in so-called matrifocal societies.” Caribbean societies are not strictly matrifocal because families move in and out of matrifocality. They try to establish nuclear families, sometimes successfully, but may return to a matrifocal structure if the attempt ends in failure. Age can be a factor in whether or not a nuclear family structure is established because older men are often in better positions to support women and children.

Despite claims of objectivity from anthropologists in the 1950s, early Caribbean anthropology showed marked ethnocentrism in labeling non-nuclear family structures “incomplete”. It also failed to recognize visiting unions, regardless of the duration of a couple’s relationship or the presence of children in the union.

According to the male marginalization theory, men are peripheral to the family. The familial roles of men are perceived as being limited to providing economic support and occasional discipline, yet men are commonly seen to be inadequate even in these limited roles. Although the stereotype of the breadwinner is particularly prevalent in Caribbean masculinity, little employment is available to men and they must migrate elsewhere to provide for their families. Christine Barrow challenges the idea of male marginalization in the family and suggested that Caribbean men show strong bonds to their mothers. Males commonly lived with, and assumed responsibility for, their mothers well into adulthood, a task they saw as natural reciprocity. In addition, they often took responsibility for their siblings, and more rarely for their nieces and nephews.