Confronting Power and Politics: A Feminist Theorizing of Gender in Commonwealth Caribbean Societies

VIOLET EUDINE BARRITEAU Confronting Power and Politics A Feminist Theorizing ofGender in Commoniuealth Caribbean Societies My conclusion is that there are currently efforts to de-politicize thefield and the movement by removing thefeministpolitical agenda. I see evidence ofthis in the co-option offeminist language (e.g. empowerment), feminist concepts (e.g. gender) andfeminist visions (e.g. transformational leadership) and by the various bureaucratic devices such ascender main streaming, aender analysis, and the substitution ofthe tvord "flender"for "women" in so many programmes (Antrobus 2000, 25). Introduction and Overview I write as a feminist and a political scientist negotiating the trenches ofgender relations in the Commonwealth Caribbean.1 1 use a groundlevel vantage point2 to reflect on and contribute to the ongoing dialogue on rethinking Caribbean culture from the perspective ofinvestigating asymmetrical relations ofgender.3 From this position I argue that an understanding ofthe operations ofthe social relations ofgender and gender systems should be pivotal to any assessment and critiquing of Caribbean societies. One ofthe first things I observe from this location is the inadequacy ofstate mechanisms in comprehending a fundamental issue that structures women's lives very differently from those ofmen. Living, working, and simultaneously theorizing this terrain assists me in grasping that one ofthe core issues in women's lives is ongoing [Meridians:jeminism, race, transnationalism 2003, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 57-92]©2003 by Wesleyan University Press. All rights reserved. 57 attempts by institutions and individuals to maintain conditions of inequality for women. I locate my analysis in the economic, political, and social culture ofthe region as I attempt to examine how contradictory tensions within ideological and material relations ofgender reproduce conflicting messages for women and men about their gender identities and civic relevance. My analysis is concerned with the point where gender analysis meets or perhaps should meet public policy and everyday life. Governmental machineries such as women/gender bureaus should offer a tangible articulation ofpublic policy on gender. The view from the trenches is dismal. These state mechanisms reflect lapses in policy and deep misunderstandings about the social relations ofgender.4 A 1992 regional survey and assessment ofgender training in the Caribbean defined four key concepts, none ofwhich included the social relations ofgender (Ellis 199a, 1; Barriteau 2001, 85). In 1999 the GenderAffairs Division ofthe Ministry ofCulture and Gender Affairs, Government ofTrinidad and Tobago produced a 198-page manual on "Training and Sensitization in Gender Development." "It managed to do this without using the word feminist or mentioning feminist contributions to theorizing the social relations ofGender" (Trinidad and Tobago 1999, 20; Barriteau 2001, 86). Another report on gender mainstreaming in Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Montserrat concluded that all the countries display limitations in their understanding ofthe technical policy/planning requirements ofboth the Women in Development and the Gender and Development approaches (Harris 1999, 3; Barriteau 2001, 87). Harris goes on to describe four critical areas ofconfusion in women/gender bureaus in the region as to the correct interpretation ofa gender focus and the legitimacy ofcontinuing a focus on women. Bear in mind that Caribbean countries have one ofthe world's highest percentages offemale-headed households, with a regional average above 40%. Caribbean feminist scholars have established a solid record ofresearch on women in the Commonwealth Caribbean beginning with the seminal contributions ofthe Women in the Caribbean Project (wicp) conducted between 1979 to 1982.s Research contributions, whether by universitybased academics or activists, were more influential in shaping public policy during the 1980s. Now there is a disconnect among feminist analysis, popular understandings ofgender as revealed in the work of 58 VIOLET EUDINE BARRITEAU women/ gender bureaux, and the everyday life ofwomen and men. A discourse on gender has developed and is in circulation but seems uninformed by the existing diverse body ofCaribbean feminist scholarship. One ofthe shortcomings ofthis existing discourse is its failure to confront the raw power dynamics impinging on our ongoing attempts to expose and alter the systemic character ofwomen's multiple experiences ofmaterial and ideological subordination. My use ofthe concept ofgender refers to the social relations ofgender as distilled from over seventy years offeminist and proto-feminist theorizing . I do not pose the concept in...