Family & Community

Family & Community The Jamaican Situation Presented by: Sonia M. Jackson Director General Statistical Institute of Jamaica STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Structure of the Presentation • Introduction • Concepts & Definitions – family, households, community • Family types • Types of Union Status • The difficulties in studying “families” vis-à-vis “households” • Role of families • Social issues & the impact on families/households • Female/male headed households • Employment • The Impact of Crime & Violence • Migration & Remittances • Gaps in the information • Summary STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Introduction • Jamaica has a long history of data on households and poverty (SLC dates back to 1988 & 13 Population Censuses dating back to 1844); • The incidence of poverty still remains high at 14.3%. Poverty is also higher in the rural areas; • The available data have resulted in targeted solutions for households – PATH Programme; • Other social issues exist at the family and community levels that need to be addressed; STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Concepts & Definitions • Family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity and co-residence. • Householdconsists of one person who lives alone or a group of persons who, as a unit, jointly occupies the whole or part of a dwelling unit, who have common arrangements for housekeeping, and who generally share at least one meal. The household may be composed of related persons only, of unrelated persons, or of a combination of both. (Census 2001-Enumeration Manual) STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Concepts & Definitions cont’d In reporting on the Household the following shouldbe noted: • All lodgers, domestic helpers, farm hands and other employees who live in the dwelling and consider it, their usual place of residence should be included as members of the household. • If an individual sleeps in the same structure as the main household and shares at least one meal per day with the household, include him as a household member. • A domestic employee who sleeps in the house or in an out-building on the premises is to be listed as a member of the household if he or she sleeps there on an average of at least four nights per week and share at least one meal daily. If the helper’s partner or children live on the premises, all members of this family are to be included with the main household if they share meals with the main household. If there are separate arrangements for cooking they should be considered as a separate household; • In case of a tenement yard where there is a series of rooms rented to different persons by the landlord, each person or group of persons who live and share meals together is regarded as a separate household. A household in this special context may share external bathroom, toilet or even kitchen facilities with other similar households. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Concepts & Definitions cont’d • A Community can be described as a social system that has a population, shared institutions and values, and significant social interactions between individuals and institutions. (Social Work Practice – A Generalist Approach by Louise Johnson) STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Family Types • Conjugal – Nuclear – Father, mother & children; • Consanguineal – Parents, Children and other family members often referred to as the “extended family”; • Matrifocal – Mother and her children – in Jamaica, in many instances it is the Grandmother who is head of the household; • Patriarchal – Father and ruler of the family, authority sometimes extend beyond the immediate family to the community. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Union Status 3 types are recognized: • Married Union – man and woman legally married to each other and are living together; • Common Law Union – a man and woman who share a common household but are not legally married to each other; and • Visiting relationship – a man and woman who have a steady sexual relationship but are neither legally married to each other nor living with each other. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

The Role of Families • Need satisfaction - Providing for the needs of the individual members • Procreation • Socialisation – relations, hierarchy, sibling rivalry, etc. • Education – the home is the first teacher • Economic Unit –mainly farming communities and family based business endeavours • Political - family structures and/or its internal relationships may affect both state and religious institutions – respect for law and order, value systems STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Issues – “Family” versus “Union Status” • The population is referred to as “not the marrying” type – 2001 Census data - 90% of persons 16+ had never been married; • Marriage can be religious, civil and/or a combination of both (usually both); • Legally marriage in Jamaica is monogamous, one man one woman; • Common Law Unions, on the other hand, involves the participation into socially sanctioned family forms; • Stable Common Law Unions, 5 years and over, are now recognised for inheritance & other benefits; • Children born out of wedlock can no longer be discriminated against for support and inheritance rights; • Households, as defined, provide a more realistic description of the base unit in which formation of the child takes place. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Social Issues – Head of Household Head of Household – def. Census 2001 • For census purposes, every household must have a head. The Head of the Household is the person, man or woman, who carries the main responsibility in the affairs of the household. In most cases it will be obvious who the head of the household is, usually it is the person who is the chief breadwinner. • In any event, the person recognized by the respondent as the head should be accepted as such for census purposes. • In the case of a group of unrelated persons sharing a dwelling on an equal basis, that member of the group whom the others acknowledge as such should be taken as the head. A person running a boarding house or similar establishment is considered to be the head of that household. • In a one person household, that person is the head of the household. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

% age Distribution of Household by Heads of HH & Size of HH 2006 STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Household Consumption 2006 – by Region & Head of Household STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

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Components of Population Growth STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

ANNUAL REMITTANCE FLOWS 2001 – 2007 STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Eliciting a Community Response • The Community has a role to play in the development of values and attitudes, management of crime, and influencing social policy, etc.; • Data are not being compiled at the community level; • STATIN proposes the collection of and study of communities – a prerequisite is the spatial definition of communities island-wide and the development of a community grid for Jamaica; • The issue is, also, how much and what types of data should be available at the community level; • Training has to be provided for community members, particularly the leaders, in the interpretation and use of the data for decision making. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Re-socializing the Family • At the family/household level a number of issues need to addressed: • The under achievement of young males result in poor education, high unemployment and high crime rates - re-socialization is necessary through education, employment and other types of support; • The breakdown in the family structure through migration of parents – the lack of supervision & discipline, increased vulnerability of minors, the creation of “barrel children”, etc – support to be provided by social sector groups - churches, schools, NGO, etc; • The work of the Family Planning Board to be continued - birth rates have been falling and household sizes are being reduced; • Gender inequalities need to be addressed. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Data Creation & Management • At the macro level • The quantitative and qualitative measurements of the results of the various social programmes need to be done; • There should be the centralisation of the data gathered for comprehensive studies to be done on the effectiveness of the various policy initiatives to support households/families; • Administrative data sources should be strengthened to provide the required information, and where necessary should be validated by household surveys; • The overall structure of the data management system should be reviewed and strengthened; • The legal framework for statistical data management needs to be strengthened; • Concerns pertaining to the issues of confidentiality and the release of micro data for research need to be addressed. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Conclusion • Social and cultural issues take time to change. Adequate resources must be provided over the medium to long term to effect the change; • Steps need to be taken to gather baseline data on the deeper issues/factors that impact the development of the individual within the home and the community; • Families need to be re-socialized; • Gender imbalances need to be addressed; • Communities have a role to play in sustainable social development, but the members have to be adequately prepared; • A strong stable economy in which jobs are provided for the population is a critical element of the process of change; • Corrective action needs to begin NOW! STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Glossary • Tenement Yard – properties where the buildings are divided and rented to several different persons; • KMA (Kingston Metropolitan Area)– The Parish of Kingston, the urban centres of St. Andrew, Spanish Town (St. Catherine) & Bull Bay (St. Thomas); • Barrel Children – children whose parents have migrated and are left in the care of an adult. Support is usually provided through remittances and items of clothing and other necessities being packaged and sent home in barrels; • Bldg. Societies (Building Societies) – housing finance institutions similar to Savings & Loans of USA. STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

References • Population Census Reports 2001- • The Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions 2006 – a joint Publication by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica & the Planning Institute of Jamaica • Economic And Social Survey of Jamaica 2007 – A Publication by the Planning Institute of Jamaica • Demography Statistics 2007 – a publication by the Statistical Institute of Ja. • Jamaica 2015; Government’s Response to the Annual Progress Report on National Social Policy Goals 2003; - the Jamaica Social Policy Evaluation (JASPEV) Project STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

Family & Community