Tuesday, November 14, 2006

the island of pregnant women!

Pregnancy - for some that word conjures dread and fear yet for others, it is a new lease of life and the beginning of a new chapter. While I am definitely not ready for children yet, I think women who give life are amazing individuals especially in terms of nurturing their child. But my days, all the women I see these days in Fort-de-France (a capital of 100,000 people!) are all pregnant ! I am not joking - I think I saw at least 10 pregnant women and of course, that is nothing compared to the population of Fort-de-France, it got me thinking a lot about the position of the mother in society.

In Martinique, there are many non-married couples despite the fact that this is a strong Roman Catholic island. The reason for this apparently is because divorce is seen as a label of shame in the same way as 'A' for Adultress is. This has been blamed for allowing men to have multiple children by different women (but in my humble opinion, I think if a man wants to cheat and impregnate elsewhere, he'll do it regardless of whether there was a ring on his finger or not). Despite this, the child is the centre of society in this island - his or hers laughter is smiled upon and beaches arent necessarily full of tourists but mothers playing in the sea with their children. Children here have such a carefree existence because they are encouraged to be children, instead of wanting to grow up to quickly and wear makeup at 10 or 11 (which is too common in the UK).

However, underneath this sheath of happiness, the mother struggles. There is a saying in Martinican society that a child is bien né (well born) if it is lighter than its mother. This not only shows much about division between black people but shows a great deal about how a child is encouraged to surpass his or her mother in order to succeed. It gives me to impressions that the Martinicans who believe in this are people who do not have any self-esteem and will let society dictate to them how their children should be seen. Furthermore, it is an unwritten rule here for women to grudgingly accept their boyfriend or husband's potential infidelity unless he hasn't done it already. It poses interesting questions such as:
-- Will traditional societies create room for change or do we as women even subconsciously like these traditions?
--If a woman is submissive, does that make her less of a threat than a women who goes against the grain?

I don't know if I am sounding coherent but women's issues especially in the West Indies intrigue me greatly because of the similarities I see with Tanzania and African in general. I hope I haven't come across as a male basher but the men out there, make yourself heard ! I might seem like the queen of generalisation in this post but it is to get the juices flowing!

----- Off topic but on the weekend, I went to Montagne Pelee, Macouba, Basse-Pointe and Grand-Riviere of which are all in the North of Martinique. From the fishing village of Macouba, you can see the glorious rugged nature of the island of Dominica. Lonely Planet better employ me because I have morphed into a trekking girl!

It has been a good few couple of days, boosted by nice Guadeloupians and safe St.Lucians and St.Vincentians.

~A