Examines recent aspects of the debate on the legalisation of abortion in Jamaica. Highlights the recommendations of the Abortion Policy Review Group which reviewed health implications in Jamaica and assessed existing laws in the wider Caribbean on abortion. Using feminist analysis the paper also explores the challenges faced by those arguing for legislative reform on abortion services in Jamaica within the larger framework of reproductive health and rights.
Leslie profiles Euzhan Palcy, an African-American filmmaker from the island of Martinique in the West Indies. In her films Palcy has profiled the poet Aime Cesaire and taken on the atrocities of apartheid
Discusses the contribution of fostering and surrogate mothering on the presence, settlement, and communities of Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the U.S. from 1910 to 1950. Offers an overview of the Boston West Indian community in the U.S. and the successful formation of an immigrant neighborhood through childcare arrangements.
Presents a case study with background information to assess the gender structure of trade unions under the Jamaica Confederation of the Trade Unions (JCTU) to better understand the relationship between gender and leadership in trade union organizations.
Reviews several books. Not of Pure Blood: The Free People of Color and Racial Prejudice in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico, by Jay Kinsbruner; From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity, by Juan Flores; Listening to Salsa: Gender, Latin Popular Music, and Puerto Rican Cultures, by Frances R. Aparicio.;
Reviews the essays El Amor, El Sexo Y Los Celos, by Alberto Orlandini, Before Night Falls A Memoir, by Reinaldo Arenas, El Caiman Ante El Espejo: Un Ensayo De Interpretación De Lo Cubano, by Uva de Aragon Clavijo, Cuba Sin Caudillos: Un Enfoque Feminista Para El Siglo XXI, by Illeana Fuentes, La Mujer Rural Y Urbana: Estudios De Casos, by Mariana Ravnet et al.;
In the Caribbean, researching women's lives in the past is made easier by the discovery of a few key sources which allow an insight into the private sphere of Caribbean women's lives. These records of women who have lived in the Caribbean since the 1800s consist of memoirs, diaries and letters. The autobiographical writings include the extraordinary record of Mary Prince, a Bermuda-born enslaved African woman. Other sources which have been examined are the diaries of women who were members of the elite in the society, and educated women who worked either in professions or through the church to assist others in their societies.
