Women's Role in Puerto Rico and its Change over the Years

Women's Role in Puerto Rico and its Change over the Years

Introduction

The role of women in Puerto Rico has followed the similar pattern as number of other women's roles in various countries over quite a few centuries. The women in Puerto Rico have been analyzed as submissive and obedient to men for hundreds of years, however as time; education, acculturation, and open labor markets have augmented; Puerto Rican women have acquired equal rights and are no more seen only as household workers (Delgado, 1998). The social position of Puerto Rican women has transformed considerably entering the twentieth century in association with the American society. Simultaneously, it denotes that there has been a possibility of being caught up in the debate on the subject of political standing when the Puerto Rican women are dealing with sex discrimination in the country (Burgos, 1986). Puerto Rican women at all times have had this disagreement. Thus, it can be said that the social position of Puerto Rican women has been recognized derived from the Puerto Rican society on one hand and the power of being a component of society of United States on the other.

This review looks at the role of women in Puerto Rico and the change it has seen over the years. It uncovers the status of women in Puerto Rico by going through the literature of other writers. It discusses the Family Structure and Fertility in Puerto Rico, Migration and Marriage among Puerto Rican Women, Depression among Puerto Rican Women, the Spread of Female Education and the Diversity of the Economic Activity of Women. Thus, the main purpose of this literature review is to find out what others already have written about this topic, to learn how to use the academic databases provided to me to help find culture-specific information in preparation for immersing myself in another culture, and to increase my culture-specific knowledge and therefore my intercultural communications competence.

Status of Women in Puerto Rico

According to Cuadrado and Lieberman (2002), Women in Puerto Rico are far more likely than men to be divorced, separated, or widowed than men. In the year 2000, 37.4 percent of women age 55 or older were widowed against 11 percent of men; 18 percent of women age 29 to 39, 23.5 percent of women age 40 to 60, and 14.3 percent of women age 61 or above were divorced or separated, whereas the comparable numbers for men are 14.2 percent for age 29 to 39, 16.3 percent for age 40 to 60, and 12 percent for age 60 and above.

Puerto Rico has made major efforts to improve health services over the past decade. Today, the most common causes of death are similar to those in other industrialized countries, primarily chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Life expectancy is comparable to the entire United States at 75.9 years for men and 82.4 years for women, although infant mortality is higher at ...