Professor Patricia Anderson shines a light on Masculinity and Fathering with implications for Reimagining Gender Relations

Patricia Anderson Masculinity and Fathering in Jamaica     
 The University of the West Indies Press, Jamaica, 2021
 
This is a groundbreaking study of fathering in Jamaica but with importance for understanding the essence of gender relations in the Caribbean. It draws on the classic works and approaches advanced by leading sociologists and anthropologists including  Raymond Smith (1956), George Roberts (1957), Edith Clarke (1957), Lloyd Brathwaite (1960), Michael Smith (1962).  It also builds on the more recent work of  Christine Barrow (1996) among others.  Most important is the prominence it gives to pioneering unpublished and unfinished work of Professor Barry Chevannes and  a study,  Contribution of Caribbean men to the Family (1991)  by Janet Brown, two  excerpts from which are included in this book. This study carefully documents the range of the literature on the Afro-Caribbean family structure and gender relations in the Caribbean, the historical experiences rooted in slavery and the colonial system.  It sets the scene for comprehending some key areas of research including sexuality, family building,  outside children, domestic roles, conflict and violence, gender relations, men’s family bonds, their attachment to peer groups and the overall impact of these factors on the essential component of fathering.  It highlights how  fathering opens the rocky experience of being fathered, not fathered, or not  very well fathered. These may  joyous or painful.
 
Focus on Fathering 
 
This book fills a void by drawing attention to patterns of fathering that hitherto have been  scanty. It faithfully conveys the social worlds of fathers by illustrations of their unfiltered sentiments and views. In so doing, Professor Anderson produces material that is rich with fathering and parenting  Identities. They challenge the anecdotal interpretations of the social worlds of Jamaican fathers. For example, they shatter the  overwhelming opinion of male dominance that has often overshadowed the need to explore the factors shaping male behavior.  It does this through  community surveys and qualitative research  that explore issues such as  the  essence of gender socialization of the average Jamaican father; and the failure to question the validity or cause of male absence from the "domestic sphere”.  It seeks answers to questions such as: Can men be good fathers and bad husbands?   How do men  feel  about their children, about women, their partners, their daughters, their own mothers and their fathering activities?  
 
It is intriguing to note the methodology used in this study that relates fathering to gender relations by measuring two sets of values: fathering identity and macho identity. In this respect, the values of fathering depend on (a) whether they themselves were well or poorly fathered;  (b) relations with their partners or “baby mothers" and (c)  interactions with their children.   There are other  views that contribute to understanding what men contribute to  their communities that make their lives and success as fathers?. These include  their views of women, childbearing and gender roles. 
 
The authenticity of this study is bolstered by its choice of locating its survey  of men’s attitudes and values in four communities based on a range social class differences, with variations in family structure and implications for gender relations. What is fascinating from my understanding of the results of this survey is that:

• Bonding of the family structure in the lower social class structure is based more on bloodline than on generations in the family lineage of the upper strata  
• Conjugal relations reveal legal marriages are greater  among families in the upper strata    
• Common to all strata  are strong bonds between men and their mothers and   brother-sister ties.

 
The Intrigues of Masculinity  
 
Another intriguing element of this study is its focus on masculinity. The construct here is: what it means to be a man against which to be judged by the community and which  pressures men and boys to engage in conduct that reproduces social inequalities? The conclusion is  that there is no single ideal but there are some common traits like breadwinner, control of emotions, being respected, avoiding feminism, risk taking, toughness, violence, heterosexuality and heterosexism. Masculinity also displays an expressed  aversion to homosexuality and direct relations to homophobia. It is, in addition associated with a range of behaviors from sexual harassment to domestic and sexual violence and  non-relational sex (without emotional involvement).    
 
Convergence and Contradictions
 
What therefore emerges is the reality that Jamaican men cling to two sets of values —Fathering and Masculinity — which are inherently contradictory. In the former, the attributes of 'fathering identity'  include involvement in  parenting styles among which are  challenges of discipline, time and talking together, teaching  and nurturing.  The macho identity is aligned to liming or drinking spots and the streets represent a sense of being in control, so essential to men. It is a form of social organization that is informal and not kinship based.  While masculinity defines gender distinction and power relations between men and women, fathering  focuses on  the power relations with the  husband-father role.  But it is important to note that these distinctions tend to break down as more women enter the workforce and fathers take  more responsibilities in the socialization of their children.  
 
Conclusions 
 
Professor Patricia Anderson must be congratulated for this outstanding work. It is essential reading especially as we  contemplate further challenges to family life and gender relations in the persistent COVID-19 era  and beyond.  We are grateful for the wisdom  portrayed in this book.  It tells us that  the main dimensions which fathers identified as being central to their role are responsibility, economic maintenance, love and emotional support, nurturing and setting an example.  It identifies  the consistency with which Jamaican fathers representing a range of social classes articulated their understanding of fatherhood. It  establishes  clearly that these values represent a common cultural core. What in addition this study brings to the fore is  the impact of harsh economic conditions in unmistakable limiting the ability of Jamaican men to translate their fathering commitment into active and continuing involvement. This socioeconomic indicator is perhaps an important pivot in the reimagining of gender studies in the Caribbean which is the subject for a follow up discussion. Professor Anderson’s summary carried on the cover of the book provides the most sanguine conclusion: 
 
“Across the social class Jamaican men share a common cultural conception of what is required to be a good father. However they are also tied to definitions of hegemonic masculinity which emphasize male dominance and virility so that domestic conflict maybe inevitable and men’s aspirations to be good fathers may become imperiled.  Given these countervailing values there is a struggle to find a reasonable fit.  The study concludes that it is possible for Jamaican men to be good fathers but bad husbands”
 
 
 
Eddie Greene