JOAN RAWLINS
PIONEER RESEARCHER ON WOMEN AND AGEING IN THE CARIBBEAN CONVERSATIONS — MAKING OF CARIBBEAN FEMINISMS Joan Rawlins, Health Sociologist, January 2015 Institute for Gender and Development Studies The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago
1. Tell us a bit about your background I am a truly Caribbean person. I was born in Jamaica and lived there for the first fourteen years of my life. My entire family, parents and two siblings, relocated to London, England where I completed my high school education. Upon completion of high school, Natural Sciences being my inclination at the time, I had not a clue as to what I really wanted to do next. My parents offered suggestions but I was not interested in any of the suggestions which they first offered. In desperation or frustration my mother then came up with what she thought was a great idea. She said: Why not train as a nurse? By the time you are done with that, you might have a better idea as to what you really want to do with your life. She added that such training would never be wasted and would be useful to other family members. Well, I was not sure the suggestion was such a good idea, but I thought it would not do any harm. So off I went to the Central Middlesex School of Nursing, Harlesden, London, where, after three very interesting years, I qualified very close to the top of the class. I immediately went on to two more years of studies in the areas of maternal care and public health. Whilst undertaking these programmes of study, I was introduced to several courses of Sociology and Psychology. By the end of those two years I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a Social Scientist with special interest in family and health. On completion of my education in health, I then got married to Samuel Rawlins who had been studying in London. He was ready to return to the Caribbean to contribute his knowledge and training to the region.
Our first Caribbean stop was Guyana where Sam had been recruited for employment. After a short stint in Guyana, we moved to Jamaica where I was able to continue my Social Science education. I completed a first degree there (BSc. Social Admin and Sociology) and immediately registered for the MSc in Sociology programme. The topic of my thesis for that degree was “Parent- child Interaction and Teenage Pregnancy”. Upon completion of that degree, our family was on the move again. Sam was offered a post doctoral fellowship in Texas. By this time our family had grown; we would not be moving alone as we had two children to take with us to Southern Texas. Whilst in Texas, I worked first as a part-time lecturer for the Pan American University, and then for the better part of those three years with the Planned Parenthood organization as a Sociologist (Educator and Counsellor). My interest in women’s health grew immensely during this period. We returned to Jamaica and The University of the West Indies (Mona) after three years in Texas. I worked first for three years with the then Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (now Community Health and Psychiatry). It was during my stay in that department that I began to devote more time to the research which I wanted to do. With research in mind, I moved on to the Faculty of Social Sciences, where I was assigned to the Institute of Social and Economic Research (The ISER), where I was able to continue my research. I had been away from the Caribbean, in Texas, during the very important time when the Women in the Caribbean Project was being done. However, it was motivation from that project and my membership in the Women and Development Studies Group on the Mona Campus which encouraged me to seek to contribute something to the effort of learning more about women in the region.
2. How did you become interested in working on the subject of ageing and in particular on women and ageing? Whilst working at the ISER I researched issues such as the family life of middle-class women and the health and family life of working class women in Kingston and presented my findings on campus (UWI) and at various Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) meetings. It was while I was researching various family related issues that I met a fair number of widowed persons. From those research efforts, I wrote a paper which was probably the turning point of my research interest. The paper I produced then was entitled “Widowhood: the Neglected Aspect of the Family Cycle”. The paper was published in the Journal of Comparative Family Studies. Having looked at the lives of these widowed women, the majority being older person, there was no turning back. I was now hooked not only on widowed women but on the category from which most had come: the category of “older women”. I had stumbled upon an interesting and under-researched group of sometimes vulnerable, sometimes powerful, persons who were contributing a great deal to the society in varied ways. The more I worked on issues of ageing, the more motivated I was to continue this work. I found that the women were extremely appreciative to think that someone thought that their lives were sufficiently valuable that others might like to hear about it, and that
people might actually learn something from hearing about their lives. I found this to be extremely humbling as a researcher. The women were all so very willing to share information, to encourage other older women to share also and make time available for questioning. As I researched the lives of these women, asking about the things that were important to them; “health� was always something that was mentioned. In our Caribbean, hypertension and diabetes are very commonly found in these populations of older women. Interestingly enough, the women mentioned these issues of ill health, but importantly with hypertension, they did not use this condition to reduce the assistance which they provided for family. Hearing older women speak about their heath and the challenges of some aspects of the health services, motivated me to learn more about their lives. I wanted to be able to present arguments, documentation and research findings which hopefully would in time improve the lives of older women who were doing much more for society than most persons understood and were certainly saving money/resources for their country by way of the various services which they provided for family and society.
3. List some of the earliest pieces of work produced in this area Some conference papers Middle Class Women in Jamaica: Family Life Cycle Events, Work and Missed Opportunities Paper presented at the Caribbean Studies Association Meeting, Guadeloupe, May 25-27, 1988. (14 pages) Widowhood in Jamaica: A Neglected Aspect of the Family Life Cycle Paper presented at the Caribbean Studies Association Meeting, Belize, May 27-29, 1987. (20 pages) Widowhood in Jamaica: Some Preliminary Observations Paper presented in the Seminar Series ISER (Institute of Social and Economic Research), Mona, Jamaica, April 22, 1987. (16 pages)
Some peer reviewed publications RAWLINS, J. 1989. "Widowhood in Jamaica: A Neglected Aspect of the Family Life Cycle" Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 328-339, RAWLINS, Joan. 1996. "Health and Mid-Life and Older Women". Caribbean Perspectives Journal, December, pp.14-19. RAWLINS, Joan. 1999. "Confronting the Challenges of Ageing". Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. Vol. xv11, No.1, pp.143-153. RAWLINS, Joan. 2001. "Caring for the Chronically Ill Elderly in Trinidad�. West Indian Medical Journal. Vol.50, No.2, pp 13-16. RAWLINS, Joan and Spencer, M. 2002. "Daughters and Wives as Informal Caregivers of the Chronically Ill Elderly in Trinidad". Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Vol.33, pp.125-137. RAWLINS, Joan. 2006. "Daily Living, Financial Insecurity and Health: The Situation of Lower Income Older Women In Trinidad and Tobago", Journal Caribbean Dialogue, SALISES, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad. Vol.11, Nos.3 and 4, pp.61-73. RAWLINS, Joan, Simeon DT, Ramdath DD and Chadee DD.2008. "The Elderly in Trinidad: Health, Social and Economic Status and Issues of Disability and Loneliness". West Indian Medical Journal, Vol.57, No.6, pp.589-595
4.What really or most influenced your Ph.D work? My doctoral project was strongly influenced by the preliminary findings of one of my earlier research projects which was entitled “Older Women and Missed Opportunities”. The doctoral dissertation was entitled “Women from Midlife Coping in Jamaica”. Some of the research emanating from the dissertation was later published as the book “RAWLINS, Joan (2006) Midlife and Older Women: Family Life, Health and Work. University of the West Indies Press, Kingston Jamaica. (173 pages).
5. How has your work influenced others in looking at the subject of ageing? I believe that my work has drawn attention to the fact that there was much more to the lives of older women than was commonly known to the broader society. In reality there was what I later described as a “repressed discourse”. Women did not always share with others the reality of their world. My work has encouraged students locally, regionally and internationally to embark on projects small and large, to explore various aspects of the lives of older persons. I have used my own research extensively in my teaching in the UWI’s Faculty of Medical Sciences (Unit of Public Health and Primary Care Unit), during my sixteen years there and final year students were specifically exposed to classes on Social and Ethical Issues in Ageing in the Family Medicine Course of their programme. I believe that my work sensitised persons in the Medical School to issues other than “health” per se, in the lives of older persons.
6. Have you ever dealt with men and ageing as a separate or connected subject? If so what are the dierences you encountered in research data pertaining to how women or men deal with or undergo ageing? For the most part I have looked at women and ageing, but not exclusively. The Elderly and Disability Project on which I collaborated with my colleagues Dr. Donald Simeon (of CARPHA) and Professors Dan Ramdath and Dave Chadee (UWI) researched a very large sample of older women and men in Trinidad and Tobago. Major findings from that research were published in the West Indian Medical Journal. There were important similarities and differences shown from the lives of older women and older men which pointed to the need for more research on older men. It appeared that on many levels, social and health women appeared to have been coping better than men. The findings from another project entitled “Retirement, Family Life, Health and Volunteerism in Trinidadâ€? which explored the situation of men and women are yet to be published.
7. I know that your work deals with topics from the subjective or individual experiences. How much has this allowed you to understand and write about how society prepares people for ageing or responds to the problems of the aged? As I researched the lives of older persons and read the work of other Caribbean researchers in this area of study, I have gotten the sense that it is only fairly recently (in the past two decades) that the various Caribbean societies have begun to prepare individuals for their older years; consequently, the “oldest old”, those over the age of 84 will declare that they had received no preparation for their “older years”. However, they had in their own ways prepared themselves, by way of “savings” where possible and by taking care of their own health, in so far as they were able. This area of “preparation” is indeed one which needs more research in order to provide feedback to older persons and governmental agencies about best practices. Throughout the Caribbean at this time, all the countries have recognised that populations are ageing and some, more than others, are responding in very positive ways to the reality of larger numbers of older persons who for the most part are fairly healthy, able and willing to continue to participate in the continued “development” of their communities and society.
8. Tell us something about the current book project, who worked on it with you and what it deals with specifically? This book project was truly a collaborative effort which included work from Professor Denise Eldemire -Shearer; a true stalwart on issues of ageing in the Caribbean. Dr. Patrick Cloos, who at one time worked for the Caribbean Health Research Council in Trinidad, contributed a very significant chapter. Nicole Alea Albada contributed a chapter, coauthored the introduction and was instrumental in the important work of the final editing of the various papers. Ms Kerry Thomas worked as a Research Assistant on the project in the earlier phase; did some early editorial work and contributed a chapter. Dr. Isabella Granderson et al, Dr. Bernice Dyer Regis and Dr.Kenneth Niles, all of the UWI, Trinidad contributed a chapter each. Norma Inniss, my longtime friend and President of the Alzheimer’s Association of Trinidad and Tobago, contributed a chapter on Alzheimer’s disease in Trinidad and Tobago.
9. What do you see as areas for future research or publication, whether fictive or academic in the areas of women, men and ageing in the Caribbean? As stated earlier, I would like to see more research on older men specifically. I would also like to see more research which looks at the older person, men and women, in relation to their family life and intergenerational interaction and their experiences with preventive and curative aspects of the public and private health care services. The post-retirement issues need more work and the older person’s experience with social services needs to be explored. Older persons have expressed a desire to “give back� to society by mentoring young persons. How this can be done or is already being done needs to be explored.
Relevant books RAWLINS Joan and Nicole Alea. 2014. Ageing in the Caribbean. LifeGate Publishing, Florida, USA. 157 pp. RAWLINS, Joan. 2010. Sixty Years and On in Trinidad and Tobago: Conversations with Older Women. Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad. 62 pp. RAWLINS, Joan. 2006. Midlife and Older Women: Family life, Health and Work. The University of the West Indies Press, Kingston Jamaica. 173 pp. RAWLINS, Joan (Ed.). 2004. Ageing–Discussing the Issues in Trinidad. The University of the West Indies, School of Continuing Studies Press, Trinidad. 84 pp.
Some other papers/publications worth mentioning RAWLINS, Joan. 2002. “Middle-aged Women and Older Women in Jamaica”. I: Mohammed, Patricia (ed). Gendered Realities: An Anthology of Essays on Caribbean Feminist Thought. The University of the West Indies Press, Jamaica. pp. 277-288. RAWLINS, J. 1989. "Social and Economic Consequences of Widowhood". In: Midlife and Older Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, A joint publication of the Pan American Health Organization and the American Association of Retired Persons, Washington D.C. pp. 323-331. RAWLINS, Joan. 2000. “Women’s Health: Hormone Replacement Therapy – What Women Know and Do About it”. Chapter 7 in: Marshall, R. and Mahabir, D. (eds) Readings in the Socio-economics of Health Care and Health Reform in Trinidad and Tobago. The U.W.I. School of Continuing Studies, pp.117-137.
RAWLINS, Joan M. 2008. “The Reality of Older Women in Trinidad and Tobago: Some Social and Economic and Health Concerns”. Working Paper, Public Health and Primary Care Unit, Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI, Trinidad, 50 pp. RAWLINS, Joan. 1999. “Providing Informal Care for the Chronically Ill Elderly In Trinidad: Health Implications for Caregivers in Trinidad”. Working Paper, Public Health and Primary Care Unit, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Trinidad, 43 pp.
Early matters on women’s health RAWLINS, J. 1984. "Parent-daughter Interaction and Teenage Pregnancy in Jamaica", Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.131-138. RAWLINS, Joan. 2000. “Domestic Violence in Trinidad: A Family and Public Health Problem”. Caribbean Journal of Criminology and Social Psychology, Vol.5, No.1&2, pp.165-180). SARGEANT, C., AND RAWLINS. J. 1992. "Transformations in Maternity Services in Jamaica". Social Science and Medicine, Vol.35, No.10, pp. 1225-1232.
CONVERSATIONS MAKING OF CARIBBEAN FEMINISMS
Joan Rawlins Health Sociologist January 2015 Institute for Gender and Development Studies The University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus Trinidad and Tobago