Comparing the Old Country and the United States
Posted: Wednesday, June 23, 2010
by Rose-Marie Chaperon
Chaperon Consulting, LLC
The comparison and contrast of gender roles in the "old country" - the Dominican Republic - and the United States, because men have always been afraid that one-day women would be able to get alone without them. In addition to age, gender is one of the universal dimensions on which status differences are based. Unlike sex, which is a biological concept, gender is a social construct specifying the socially and culturally prescribed roles that men and women are to follow especially in countries like the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic became a nation on 27 February 1844 when a group of revolutionaries seized power from the Haitian rulers of the island of Hispaniola. When Christopher Columbus first discovered the island in 1492, he named it La Isla Espaola, which became Hispaniola. By 1804 the black African slaves in the western portion of the island (now Haiti) rebelled against the French and ruled the entire island. The complex heritage of Arawak, Spanish, African, and French traditions, plus an early independence, set the Dominican Republic apart from other Caribbean islands. The western portion of the island is occupied by the republic of Haiti. The mountains of the Dominican Republic divide the country into northern, central, and southwestern regions. The central region is dominated by the Cordillera Central (central range) which ends at the Caribbean Sea. Much of the region is a desert and it includes Lake Enriquillo, the island's largest lake (Galo, 2000) .
The structure of the labor force had changed significantly during the post-Trujillo era as agriculture's share of output diminished. Industry and services had incorporated approximately 20 percent and 45 percent, respectively, of displaced agricultural labor. Because of gaps in the labor statistics, official estimates of the female segment of the economically active population varied widely, from 15 to 30 percent of the labor force. Seventy percent of the employees in free zones were women; as greater numbers of free zones opened in the late 1980s, the rate of unemployment for females more than doubled the rate of employment for males. The distribution of income among workers was highly skewed; the top 10 percent earned 39 percent of national income, while the bottom 50 percent garnered only 19 percent (United States Library of Congress, 2009) .
The family code in the Dominican Republic "old country" differs from the US. Dominican women within the family were not relatively well protected. The legal minimum age for marriage is 18 years for both men and women, but early marriage is relatively common. A 2004 United Nations report estimated that 29 per cent of girls between 15 and 19 years of age were married, divorced, or widowed. Pregnancy among young girls is a serious problem. Polygamy is not commonly practiced in the Dominican Republic. Parental authority is exercised jointly by the father and mother. Women's inheritance rights improved with the passing (in 1998) of land reform law. They now have full rights to inherit land (Social Institution of Gender Index, 2007) .
As with any other countries, the Dominican Republic has a legal framework which includes a series of provisions to protect women in the various areas of social life. The Republic condemns all privilege and any situation that tends to break down the equality of all Dominicans. Although these laws are in effect to protect women, the local newspaper "the Dominican Today" reported in March 2008, for the beginning of the year that more than 160 women had been killed so far compared to 128 for the same period last year, revealed the Attorney General of the Dominican Republic (Pea, 2008) .
The non-governmental organizations that work on women's issues have said that this law is not being respected, for in most cases of family violence the procedure provided for in the law is not followed. Some women victims of domestic violence turn to police stations, where in most cases the police refuse to take the declaration. When the police station does receive the complaints and initiates the procedure they bring the cases to the office of the public prosecutor for them to be classified as cases of family violence and referred to the investigative court. Once in those courts, the procedure strays from the purpose of the law for the judges dismiss the complaint or re-label the cases. For example, in the case of physical aggression, they characterize it as a case of blows and injuries which, if healed within 10 days, allows the assailant to be released on bond, jeopardizing the victim, as the assailant is violent to the victim once again.
In Alvarez's book she speaks of freedom. What she considers cultural dislocations or disarticulations were already present in lvarez's first novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (Alvarez, 1997) . Yolanda returns to the Dominican Republic to visit her family. Against her aunt's advice she ventures alone into the countryside, at night, looking for guavas. Dominicans who encounter her believe she is not Dominican, but a foreigner; a Dominican woman would not go out alone at night, but an American would. In lvarez's " Yo", Yolanda shares her newly acquired strengths with her friends, empowering them to take charge of their own lives (Luis, 2009) .
Violence and abuse affect all kinds of people every day. It doesn't matter what race or culture the person comes from, age, economic statue, age, or disability, in fact violence does not discriminate. In the United States, there are laws against abuse. Several education programs have been put in place. In the US violence against women in any form is a crime, whether the abuser is a family member; a date; a current or past spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend; an acquaintance; or a stranger. The US takes violence against women very important and punishes anyone who has been found guilty of such crime.
In the Dominican Republic, age does not equal respect. Although they all use different tones, words, actions, and responses and they choose these according to the person they are speaking with; as an example, a person's body language and choice of words may be much more polite and respectful towards adults and teachers than it would be to friends or a maid living in the household. This has to do with the person's social and economic status (MacDougall, 2007) . In the book, it shows that Alvarez's behavior had shifted from the Dominican disrespectful mentality, In "The Stranger," which takes place in the Dominican Republic, Yolanda meets the illiterate Consuelo, whom she does not treat as an inferior, as her Dominican relatives would, but as an equal. Yolanda addresses the woman as Doa Consuelo, a title more suitably reserved for someone like Don Mundn and Doa Graciela, Yolanda's landowning cousins (Alvarez, 1997) . This illustrates how Alvarez culture changed had shifted and changed her behavior towards others. At that point, she showed to the audience that respect does not have to do with a person's social or economic class.
Dominican social stratification is influenced by racial and economic issues. The upper class is historically descended from European ancestry and is light skinned. The lower class is most often black, descendants of the African slave population or Haitians. The mulattoes are people of mixed African and European ancestry and make up the majority of the population; they have created a growing middle class. This middle class is divided into indio claro, who have lighter skin, and indio obscuro, who are darker skinned. The term indio (Indian) is used because many Dominicans do not yet acknowledge their African roots (Countries and their cultures, 2004) . This shows that cultural dislocation exist with those who come to live in the United States. When the middle class leave their country behind to relocate to other countries, their expectations are high as far as been catered to and cared for.
The cultural dislocation is also present in the United States and evident in the first chapter of "The Mother," which gives an element of veracity to the narrative, uncovers one of Yolanda's main traumas (Alvarez, 1997) . The mother, who represents an origin of sorts, narrates her experiences when coming to the United States. As can be expected with any immigrant or exile leaving her native land, for Mrs. Garca the relocation was traumatic at best. Life in the United States demanded certain changes, even for the well-to-do Garca family. Back in the Dominican Republic the house cleaners raised the children, in the United States the mother had to assume her maternal responsibilities; she was thrown into close proximity with Yolanda. In both The Garcia Girls and !Yo! Alvarez characterizes the mother figure as a gatekeeper who endeavors to perpetuate Dominican cultural codes in her daughter. This effort on the part of the mother creates a fertile ground for conflict with the daughter who often appropriates new cultural codes of conduct in her adopted homeland.
Culture differences in the United States vs. the "old country" In the United States our diversity helps us accomplish that goal of somehow adapting to people from different cultural background. Although there are many great strides to be made, we have seeing a lot of progress. Cultural diversity poses challenges in the Dominican Republic, as in other Peace Corps host countries. Volunteers' behavior, lifestyle, background, and beliefs are judged in a cultural context very different from their own. Certain personal perspectives or characteristics commonly accepted in the United States may be quite uncommon, unacceptable, or even repressed in the Dominican Republic. Outside of the Dominican Republic's capital and tourist centers, residents of rural communities have had relatively little direct exposure to other cultures, races, religions, and lifestyles. What people view as typical American behavior or norms may be a misconception, such as the belief that all Americans are rich and have blond hair and blue eyes.
The people of the Dominican Republic are known for their generous hospitality to foreigners; however, members of the community in which you will live may display a range of reactions to cultural differences that you present. In particular, there are still subtle to overt forms of racial discrimination that are seen on a regular basis towards darker-skinned persons due to the historical tensions between Dominicans and Haitians (Peace Corp, 2009) .
To ease the transition and adapt to life in the United States, a person from the Dominican Republic, need to make some temporary, yet fundamental compromises in how they present themselves in the US. In the Dominican Republic anyone who makes over 12,000 a year can afford to hire a housekeeper, whereas; in the US such income is considered to be living below the poverty guidelines. A new comer will need to develop techniques and personal strategies for coping with these and other limitations and challenges. Everyone that lives in America has experienced freedom, liberty, and justice as luxuries. Some writers use these and other aspects of that sort to develop a story. Julia Alvarez is one of them; whereas; in other countries like the Dominican Republic, freedom is quite different in meaning.
Alvarez both implicitly and explicitly acknowledges the importance of the role of the mother figure on daughters' understanding of self. In The book she explores the tensions that are ignited by the impact of exile on and in the capacity of how, mothers and other women raise daughters in a manner that contributes to the perpetuation of traditional social and cultural codes. In this way culture identity is inextricably linked to national authority because the preservation of national culture is women's responsibility. This role often brings mothers into direct conflict with daughters who tend to deviate from certain cultural codes, especially in the context of exile. With that being said, the real issue here is that unawareness can make people demonstrate prejudices. We must educate ourselves and celebrate diversity and learn to adapt no matter where life takes us. The experience can be rewarding!
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