JAMAICANS may be altering the way they value the roles of fathers, who are traditionally regarded as protectors and providers first, and as nurturers and role models last.

This is the suggestion from anthropologist Dr Herbert Gayle, who recently did a snapshot study on the subject for his radio programme The Complete Picture, aired Tuesdays to Thursdays on NewsTalk 93 FM, beginning at 12:30 pm.

The research, which relied on a sample of 240 Jamaicans aged 18 to 34, explored the questions:

* ‘to what extent have Jamaicans moved beyond the primary roles of fathers and which set of Jamaicans have done so?’ and

* ‘how do the expectations of fathers differ by gender, age, socio-economic status and area?’

The respondents were drawn from Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, St James, St Mary, St Ann, and St Thomas.

Asked to say which two of the four roles of fathers they value the most, the majority of Jamaicans — 189 or 79 per cent — chose ‘provision for family’ as one of their options, while another 111 or 46 per cent of them chose ‘protection’. Eighty-three or 35 per cent chose nurture while 70 or 29 per cent chose ‘being a role model’ as one of their two options.

However, Dr Gayle said there appears to be a change in the way they see fathers traditionally, as evidenced by the mere 32 per cent or 77 of those who chose both ‘provision’ and ‘protection’ as their options.

“In 2003, I found a combined percentage of 48 per cent in England in a snapshot of the same size done for a presentation on fathering,” he said, comparing the data. He said that the reason for this difference “might be” explained “in the immense socio-economic progress of Jamaican women over recent decades”.

According to the anthropologist, there exists data that show that Caribbean families are “progressively dominated by women, not just as nurturer but [also] as final decision-maker”.

“As women progress and, in the process, migrate and/or share more economic power in the home, men are called upon increasingly to nurture and are themselves embracing these changing or expanding roles,” he said.

“The traditional roles of men to provide and protect are diminishing. Jamaicans are now requiring that men do more than these traditional roles as parents. [The data] show that Jamaicans expect men to provide and protect; however, they must learn to nurture and they must act in a way to be their children’s role model,” Gayle added.

Still, there are many who persist in seeing men only as providers.

“Him is not a man if he is not employed or trained… he could be nurturing until him is an angel,” said one female respondent quoted in the study. “If him employed and pulling his weight, he is a better father,” insisted another.

Gayle said such comments, combined with the choices for the roles of fathers they value the most, were indicative of “no dramatic change or revolution” in how people see men.

“Rather, it would seem that men’s roles as fathers are expanding, but with a solid base resting on their ability to provide for their families,” the researcher said.

Professor of social history Dr Verene Shepherd, and research fellow in the regional co-ordinating unit of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies Suzanne Charles are not surprised by this.

“Society will always believe that men should be providers; even women buy into this view. Society frowns on men who cannot fulfil this role. This has been so in Jamaica from Taino times to the present. But economic advancement among some women has caused some renegotiation of roles,” they said in a joint response to Jamaica Observer queries.

At the same time, they said the increased preoccupation of women with their careers could likely be influencing how parental roles are performed — if only among the middle and upper classes.

“In higher economic brackets… despite women’s movement in the labour market, men are assuming more emotional responsibility for their children. This could be due to the fact that women’s roles as primary caregivers have had to change as more women concern themselves with career advancement,” they said.

“Men and women in the middle and upper classes have had to renegotiate their relationships, where both have to assume responsibility for child-care from conception to parenting. In these classes, men may also be interested in being good fathers as a ‘class identifier’ because at these levels some say that only certain kind of men do not take care of their children,” Shepherd and Charles added.

“What [we] would say is that changing economic circumstances [prevent] many men, especially those from the lower- and middle-income brackets, from being able to play the role of provider as they would like,” they said.

Further, Shepherd and Charles argued that many men from the lower classes are “trapped within the ideology of hegemonic masculinity in a patriarchal society”.

“There is no changing emphasis on men’s roles; just changing reality that many cannot play this role. So in the instance of lower-economic brackets, ideas of masculinity prevent men from assuming roles of responsibility, either emotional or economic,” the duo added.