Professor Emerita at Penn State University, Dr. Juliette Storr has authored a new book entitled Gender Inequality In The Bahamas.
Storr recently spoke with ZNS News about her book. She said, “we still have this idea that the man is the head of house, where in this country the majority of the head of the home are women. We have more than 60% of our population with single headed families by women. So where is the man in that scenario? So we have children that we have in these families that are male and there’s still a deference to the male child. In times of chores, in times of expectations, in terms of roles. We still teach our daughters and our sons things that are very stereotypically masculine and feminine. And in doing that what you are setting up is an imbalance of power because we always defer to the male.”
Professor Storr added that our society must be transformed. “We have to be willing to sacrifice and make those changes. To want to change the way we talk to each other. What do we expect from men and women in today’s society? What roles and what expectations really do fit twenty first century living? What laws really fit twenty first century living? If most of our homes are headed by women then the law should change to represent more fairness to all but particularly women who are carrying a double burden of care taking and being providers. And when you have that double burden that brings within a lot of challenges for women.”
