Sex, Family & Fertility in Haiti Sex, Family & Fertility in Haiti by Timothy T. Schwartz First published in Hardback in 2008 by Lexington Books as, “Fewer Men, More Babies: Sex, family and fertility in Haiti. All Rights Reserved. Scholars, students, and critics may use excerpts as long as they cite the source. 2nd Edition published January 2011 ISBN 10 146812966X ISBN 13 9781468129663 iv Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature 13 Chapter 3: The Commune of Jean Rabel 25 Chapter 4: Extremely High Fertility 39 Chapter 5: The Pronatal Sociocultural Fertility Complex 47 Chapter 6: The Sexual Moral Economy 55 Chapter 7: House, Yard, and Market 65 Chapter 8: Farming and Household-Based Production 85 Chapter 9: Fishing 95 Chapter 10: Work, Craftsmen, and Marketing Specialists 103 Chapter 11: Labor Demands 115 Chapter 12: Gender and Age-Based Divisions of Labor 129 Chapter 13: What Parents Have to Say about the Economic Utility of Children 143 Chapter 14: Raising Children and Control over Child Labor Activities 157 Chapter 15: Conjugal Union and the Formation of the Household 169 Chapter 16: Polygyny, Progeny, and Production 179 Chapter 17: Caribbean Family Patterns 205 Chapter 18: Fewer Men, More Babies 227 Chapter 19: A Reflexive and Critical Look at the Anthropology of the Caribbean 239 Works Cited 259 Tables Table 1.1: Total fertility rates in Haiti (TFR) 1 Table 3.1: Major natural disasters in Jean Rabel since 1921 27 Table 3.2: Transport vehicles 31 Table 3.3: Offspring deceased by children born (per mother) 33 Table 3.4: Migration of the offspring of owners of irrigated land 34 Table 3.5: Current location of circa 1960 villagers and their offspring 34 Table 3.6: Contraceptive knowledge and use 35 Table 3.7: Women using contraceptives in Far-West 1998–1999 35 Table 3.8: Population of Jean Rabel in the years 1728–1997 36 Table 3.9: Knowledge of contraceptive methods 37 Table 4.1: Most commonly eaten foods in Jean Rabel 40 Table 4.2: Mean age of follow-up survey respondents 42 Table 4.3: Temporary male migration in Jean Rabel 42 Table 4.4: Individuals still with first spouse 43 Table 4.5: Hutterites vs. Jean Rabeliens: Percentage of women in union 44 Table 6.1: Parental partners (age > 40) 61 Table 7.1: Regional distribution of market days in and around Jean Rabel 68 Table 7.2: Reports on source of household foods: Gardens vs. markets 71 Table 7.3: Parental partners (age > 40) 71 Table 7.4: The most commonly planted crops 72 Table 7.5: Regional planting cycles on the plain Jean Rabel 73 Table 7.6: Regional tree cycles 74 Table 7.7: Livestock per household, Baseline Survey 75 Table 7.8: Reasons for selling livestock 76 Table 7.9: Reasons for killing livestock 77 Table 7.10: House building costs 1 79 Table 7.11: House building costs 2 80 Table 7.12: House building costs 3 80 Table 7.13: Crops by use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers 82 Table 7.14: Use of veterinary service and medicines 82 Table 8.1: Total land owned by household 87 Table 8.2: All types of land tenure (units of analysis = gardens) 87 Table 8.3: Size of gardens by soil type (units of analysis = gardens) 88 Table 8.4: Yields in kilograms per hectare 88 Table 8.5: Estimated average annual income from livestock 90 Table 8.6: Variation in the number of animals per household 91 Table 9.1: Fishing income 100 Table 9.2: Cost of 300 meter seine in Haitian dollars 101 Table 9.3: The cost of string and weaving nets 102 Table 9.4: The cost of weights, floats, and rope 102 Table 10.1: Household income generating activities 104 Table 10.2: Estimated wages for male workers 105 Table 10.3: Reported wages for male workers 106 Table 10.4: Urban blue collar pay scales, Port-de-Paix 107 Table 10.5: The most distant place farmers have visited 108 Table 10.6: People who travel at least once per month 109 Table 11.1: Average daily labor requirements for principal household tasks 118 Table 11.2: Estimated labor inputs for average 5.7 acres of garden 119 Table 11.3: All types of land tenure 120 Table 11.4: Distance to and from water 122 Table 11.5: Estimated labor inputs for average 1/4 kawo garden 125 Table 11.6: Animals tenured-in vs. tenured-out 126 Table 12.1: Adult sexual division of labor 130 Table 12.2: Child sexual division of labor 132 Table 12.3: Number of children resident in house by whether or not woman is engaged in marketing 136 Table 12.4: Gardens by the number of seven- to twenty-five- year-olds controlling for age of the head of the household: R-square 137 Table 12.5: Gardens by the number of seven- to twenty-five- ii Table of Contents year-olds controlling for age of the head of the household: ANOVA 137 Table 12.6: Gardens by the number of seven- to twenty-five year-olds controlling for age of the head of the household: coefficients 137 Table 12.7: Animals by the number of seven- to twenty-five- year-olds, controlling for age of the head of the household: R-square 138 Table 12.8: Animals by the number of seven- to twenty-five- year-olds controlling for age of the head of the household: ANOVA 138 Table 12.9: Animals by the number of seven- to twenty-five- year-olds, controlling for age of the head of the household: Coefficients 138 Table 12.10: Gardens by the number of seven- to twenty-five-year-olds for household head age categories 139 Table 12.11: Animals by the number of seven- to twenty-five-year-olds for household head age categories 139 Table 12.12: Child present in house by number of gardens, model summary (Baseline Survey) 141 Table 12.13: Child Present in House by Number of Gardens, ANOVA (Baseline Survey) 142 Table 12.14: Child present in house by number of gardens, Coefficients (Baseline Survey) 142 Table 13.1: Preferred number of children by age and sex of respondent 148 Table 13.2: Reasons fathers gave for preferring daughters 150 Table 13.3: Male and female, daughters vs. sons 151 Table 13.4: Sex of child who is hosting resident parent 151 Table 14.1: Child residence patterns: Relationship of child household members to head of household 164 Table 14.2: Unrelated children in the house 164 Table 15.1: Marriage vs. consensual union 173 Table 15.2: Residence patterns 178 Table 16.1: Polygyny: Opinion Survey 184 Table 16.2: Male age groups by ever been polygynous 184 Table 16.3: Male high income groups by ever been polygynous 185 Table 16.4: Polygynous males by the amount of “fat” and irrigated land owned 187 Table 16.5: Men who have ever polygynous by men who have left their first wife 188 Table 16.6: A man takes a second wife, what should the first wife do 189 Table 16.7: A man takes a second wife, may first wife be unfaithful 189 Table 16.8: Who needs the other more, husband or wife? 190 Table 16.9: Could you live without your spouse? 191 Table 16.10: Why men versus women chose their spouse 191 Table 16.11: Women vs. men in union per five-year age group 195 Table 16.12: Women who have gardens by number of children 196 Table 16.13: Union type by household residents under thirty years old (but over fourteen) who are not the head or spouse of head 198 Table 16.14: Ever-polygynous men in Kinanbwa Haiti 205 iii Table 17.1: Sex Ratios Commonwealth Caribbean Islands 1881–1960 214 Table 17.2: Analysis of variance for “female-headed household by sex-ratios” 220 Table 17.3: Analysis of variance “female-headed household by sex- ratio with widowhood 220 Table 17.4: Percentage of household income from males: Male- vs. female-headed households 226 Table 18.1: Caribbean net migration by total fertility rate 235 Table 18.2: Correlations in average change in total fertility rate by net migration 236 Figures Figure 3.1: Historic Regional Rainfall by year (1921-1950) 28 Figure 3.2: Historic Regional Rainfall by year (1965-1969,1978-1996) 28 Figure 3.3:Years of school for respondents over eighteen years of age 31 Figure 4.1: Completed fertility in Jean Rabel for women over 45 yrs 39 Figure 4.2: Completed fertility in Jean Rabel for five-year age groups 41 Figure 4.3: Duration of breastfeeding 41 Figure 7.1: Market Villages 69 Figure 7.2: Manioc harvest consumed by household 70 Figure 7.3: Sweet Potatoes harvest consumed by household 70 Figure 7.4: Pigeon Peas harvest consumed by household 70 Figure 7.5: Sorghum and Millet harvest consumed by household 70 Figure 7.6: Corn harvest consumed by household 70 Figure 7.7: Household with at least one goat, sheep, pig, or cow 75 Figure 7.8: Months animals are sold and slaughtered by lean months 76 Figure 8.1: Number of gardens per household 89 Figure 10.1: Port-de-Paix marchann cost of merchandise 110 Figure 10.2: Port-de-Paix marchann profits on merchandise 110 Figure 11.1: Rainfall by months 119 Figure 12.1: First response: “Who takes care of the animals?” 133 Figure 12.2: Second response: “Who takes care of the animals?” 133 Figure 12.3: First Response to Question: “Who Carries Water?” 134 Figure 12.4: Second Response to Question: “Who Carries Water?” 134 Figure 12.5: Animals by children per household 135 Figure 12.6: Gardens by children per household 136 Figure 16.1: Children under thirty years old (but over fourteen), who have children of their own but still living in parent’s household 199 Figure 17.1: Plot of female household heads by sex ratios 219 iv Chapter 1 Introduction Fertility I have three objectives in this book: First, to explain why fertility decline in rural Haiti has not come about.