Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
not desert his wife without disrupting his work relations with
her family. A woman enjoys greater leverage when she can relv
on her family to assist if a union fails or when she owns her own
land and thus has a measure of financial independence.
In keeping with the doctrine of machismo, males usually
play a dominant role within the family and receive the deference
due the head of the household. There is wide variation in
practice, however. In cases where a man is absent, has limited
economic assets, or is simply unassertive, a woman assumes the
role of head of the family.
Sex role differentiation begins early: boys are allowed to run
about naked, while girls are much more carefully groomed and
dressed. Bands of boys play unwatched; girls are carefully chaperoned.
Girls are expected to be quiet and helpful; bovs enjov
much greater freedom and are given considerable latitude in
their behavior. Boys and men are expected to have premarital
and extramarital sexual adventures. Men expect, however, that
their brides will be virgins. Parents go to considerable lengths
to shelter their daughters in order to protect their chances of
making a favorable marriage.
Parent-child relationships differ markedly depending on the
sex of the parent. Mothers openly display affection for their
children; the mother-child tie is almost inviolate. Informal
polls of money changers and studies have indicated that remittances
sent from the United States for Mothers' Day exceed
those sent at Christmas. Father-child relationships cover a
broader spectrum. The father is an authority figure to be
obeyed and respected, and he is more removed from daily family
affairs than mothers. This pattern of sex roles is usuallv
altered if one parent emigrates to the United States. When
women are left at home, they typically take over many of the
affairs customarily reserved for men. When women emigrate,
they often become the main breadwinner and manager of the
budget because they are often more employable than their husbands.
Their success undermines the traditional father-husband
role.
Religion
Around 80 percent of Dominicans are professed Roman
Catholics. In the late 1990s, the Church organization included
two archdioceses, nine dioceses, and 320 parishes. During this
same period, there were 644 priests and 1,470 nuns in the
Roman Catholic Church, more than 70 percent of whom
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