Gendered perceptions of the importance of marriage, fidelity expectations, household roles and parenting of Afro-Guyanese men and women in urban and rural Caribbean

This dissertation quantitatively examines perceived and actual gender differences in various domestic spheres of Afro-Guyanese men and women residing in a third world context of the African family situated in rural and urban Guyana. The specific familial areas of interest are marriage, fidelity expectations, household roles, and parenting preferences and discipline/reward styles. The importance of gender variation in each of these areas by region (i.e., urban and rural) of country is discussed. Response data from Guyana from the years 1987 and 2000 are used to test a number of specific research questions about developmental gendered perspectives in several areas of family life in urban and rural Guyana. In this analysis it is found that gender differences do exist in most of the family domains in urban and rural households, except with respect to importance and ranking of reasons of marriage. These findings also reveal that Caribbean males are more involved in various household and childcare activities, then what have been observed and cited in past research studies. Some linear regression models indicate that factors or variables, as well as gender of respondent, like, age, marital status, and level of religiosity, employment status, income, and years of education helps predict family domain outcomes in urban and rural households situated in a third world context, Guyana