level of taxation and the cultural value attached to independence preclude more elaborate programs.
Nongovernmental Organizations and Other Associations
Nongovernmental organizations such as churches and labor unions have modest programs of local reform ranging from refugee relief to antidrug initiatives. Regional ad hoc committees lobby for government projects and environmental protection.
Gender Roles and Statuses
Division of Labor by Gender. Legally, women have equal status under the law, but men tend to dominate the higher-income and higher status positions in the public and private sectors. Men dominate fishing and other maritime endeavors, the building trades, and the transportation industry.
The Relative Status of Women and Men. Urban women have many career opportunities and are not discriminated against in obvious ways. Women dominate fields such as nursing, elementary school teaching, and office work. Out-island women tend to be farmers, shopkeepers, craft specialists, and domestics when they are employed. Many self-identify as "housekeepers."
Marriage, Family, and Kinship
Marriage. Marriages are monogamous. In many out-island settlements, the options are marriage and extraresidential unions. In larger towns and cities, consensual unions exist. People are free to select their spouses. Church weddings follow brief engagements. In principle, one should not marry a blood relative, but in small communities marriages between kin more distantly related than first cousins are common. In white-dominated out-island settlements, interracial marriages are stigmatized. Both partners are expected to contribute financially to a marriage. Divorces are available, although many couples simply drift apart and never legally terminate the union. There is no stigma attached to remarriage. A sexual double standard exists in which women are supposed to be chaste until marriage and faithful during marriage whereas men are expected to have premarital and extramarital affairs. Men are widely seen as inherently promiscuous.
Domestic Unit. The ideal is the nuclear family household. In cases of extramarital unions, consensual unions, divorce, death, and abandonment, matrifocal households are common. In poorer out-island settlements, parents may move to urban areas to work, leaving their children in the care of
A float in a Junkanoo parade, Nassau. Parades are common for most secular holidays.
A float in a Junkanoo parade, Nassau. Parades are common for most secular holidays.
grandparents. In nuclear family households, authority tends to be evenly divided between the husband and the wife.
Inheritance. Sons and daughters inherit from both parents. Inherited property includes land, houses, boats, and household goods. Wills may favor one heir over another, but this is uncommon, especially in the out islands.
Kin Groups. No formal kin groups larger than the family exist. Adult siblings tend to look after each other's interests and frequently operate shops or fishing vessels together.
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