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Gender ideology, childrearing, and child health in Jamaica
Author(s) -
SARGENT CAROLYN,
HARRIS MICHAEL
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1992.19.3.02a00060
Subject(s) - ideology , kinship , centrality , gender studies , sociology , anthropometry , psychology , developmental psychology , political science , anthropology , politics , mathematics , combinatorics , law
The societies of the Caribbean region have been characterized by female‐headed households, kinship networks linked by women, and the presence of women in the labor force. The position of women in Jamaica as economic providers and mothers carries implications for the treatment of male and female children. An examination of mothers' expressed gender preferences, anthropometric assessments of children, gender preferences in adoption, and data on child abandonment in Kingston, Jamaica, suggests that the centrality of women in ideology is manifested in prevalent childcare practices favoring female children. [Caribbean, gender roles, ideology, child health, childrearing]