Women inSurinam

This article first appeared in Newsfront International , No. 257 (September 1981). It is translated from Courage (March 1981), a l/i/est German feminist monthly, available from Frauenverlags GmBH, Bleibtreustrasse 48, 1000 Berlin 12, West Germany.

WOMEN IN A POST-COLONIAL STATE

Surinam, formerly Dutch Guyana, lies east of Venezuela on the coast of South America. It is a small country, about onethird the size of California, with a population of 375.000. Traded to the Dutch by the British in 1667 in exchange for Manhattan, Surinam was then shuffled back and forth among the Dutch, British and French in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Dutch and British brought people from other colonies to sparsely populated Surinam. Laborers were imported from India, Indonesia and Java; slaves from West Africa; farmers from Japan; and merchants from China. After the abolition of slavery in 1863, the plantations, which had been taken from the native people in a bloody conquest, became no longer profitable and were gradually abandoned. The Europeans sold the land, primarily to the Hindustanis who made up the latest wave of newcomers, and returned to Europe. Today there are very few Europeans left in this extremely diverse population.

In 1974, the year before independence, there was a mass exodus of well educated, middle and upper-class entrepreneurs, technicians and administrators who feared the loss of their privileged status Approximately 150.000 of these Surinamese remain in Holland today. Independent Surinam had lost a quarter to a third of its skilled work force and was suffering from the catastrophic consequences of colonialism. A t present about 40 o/o of the population lives in the capital city of Paramaribo, but more and more people are migrating to the cities to find work. Women and children without sufficient income have to find the cheapest shelters in town, where one faucet is often shared by four or five households Most women must work either to support themselves and their children or to supplement their husbands' incomes. Many Surinamese women hold four or five jobs and generally earn 40 °/o less than men. Uneducated women have few options: they clean rich people's houses, office buildings, or the streets; in the evenings they sell newspapers and vegetables. In addition, women have almost total responsibility for child care.

The Organization of Surinamese Women (OSV) is a very active autonomous women's organization. Having lived in Holland as young children or students, many OSV members are familiar with feminist politics and the European women's movements. For these women, their work in Surinam is an attempt to adapt these new experiences to their own country's environments and living conditions.

The following interview with Twie Toja was conducted by a West German woman who went to Surinam after meeting Toja at the United Nations Mid-Decade Conference on Women last year in Copenhagen. Toja is a sociologist and has served as Vice-Minister of Social Welfare since 1980. She is active in the OSV.

Q. : I see so many different woman here : women from India, Java, Japan, Indonesia, China and Europe, black and white women, and all possible mixtures. How do the various traditions and cultural backgrounds affect the position of Surinamese women ?

A : Much more so than all these cultural differences, the political and social inequalities in this country and its relationship to the industrialized nations affect these women. Surinam is a poor nation compared with Western countries. The economic situation of the people here is incredibly bad. The cultural differences are here, but poverty goes beyond the boundaries of nationality. You could not say, as in the U.S., for example, that black women are much worse off. Our main problem is the poor economic and social conditions for everyone, both men and women.

Still, an autonomous women's organization is very important to us because women are always doubly exploited and oppressed. They are as much affected by the general poverty as-men are, but their situation is even worse as far as work opportunities and education are concerned.

Women and Work

Q : in Europe, many men still don't allow their wives to work outside the home or to have a profession. Do Surinamese men also think that a woman belongs in the house?

A : They might think so, but it's an idea they can't afford to indulge. In Surinam women make up about 49 o/o of the work force. I guess if you were to tell a woman what you just told me, she would ask, "But why would I work outside of the house if I didn't have to ?" Most women have five to eight children and there is always plenty to do at home. Right now our main concern is not to be economically independent of a man. Women here are more concerned about medical care, housing and education.

For example, we have started literacy classes. About 46 °/o of Surinamese women cannot properly read or write. Many had to leave grade school to take care of their brothers and sisters while their mothers worked. If there is a shortage of money, it is understood that a boy will be the one sent to school, and his sisters will have to work so he can do that. Some women can barely read and write, they can't find decent jobs, so you will see them on Watermolenstraat (a prostitution district in Paramaribo).

Most of the literacy classes are in the poor neighbourhoods. For example, many women who live in Abrakrookie come in from the rural areas after the ground has been tilled and can stay only until the harvest. The seasonal interruptions make it difficult to learn, so many women have to start their studies over again from the very beginning.

Once a month we have a meeting at the OSV center. We discuss all kinds of questions : diet, hygiene, the housing situation, raising children, education, pregnancy and prostitution. Last time we discussed pornography. Sometimes we invite specialists - sometimes men, such as physicians - who can answer questions on subjects where our knowledge is insufficient. There are always a lot of women at our monthly meetings, so we are building a hall behind the OSV center.

Another project is a women's building to provide shelter for homeless women and children. There are many women living in the streets because they are unable to pay rent, are unable to work. But so far we don't have the space or the money.

Family Life and Sexual Relations

Q: Are there women who live alone or with their children and another woman ?

A : Yes, many. We call that mati. These are mainly women who are separated from men. A man and woman living together are considered to be married, but it is not legal. If the couple separates, the woman has no claim on what they owned together and may end up very poor. She may move in with other women and their children. The government gives very little financial aid and only to women with at least four children.

Q : So most women live with a man without being married.

A : Yes. If you look back in history, you will find that the slave dealers always tore families apart, even before people were shipped from Africa. Women lived alone with their
children, and this has basically continued. They didn't think in terms of marriage "until death do us part". Besides, today people often don't have enough money to get married. Sometimes very old people who have lived together all their lives get married, and their children and grandchildren pay for the wedding.

Q : Doesn't this form of living together give the women more independence?
A : Maybe in the countryside where women have their own land. But women in the cities have no work, no education. They often try to tie down a man by having a child with him. But the man often does not want or is unable to support a family, so he takes off. And the woman is left behind with two or three children in the same situation as before, if not worse. The women who live together as mati are often discriminated against and called lesbians, but most of them aren't.

Q : Are there any open lesbians or gay relationships ?

A : No. If you said that you were a lesbian, you would be completely isolated. I know two gay men whose windows are constantly being broken by people in the street. I suppose the "popular rage" is directed mainly at male homosexuals because of machismo and because people just cannot imagine women being homosexual. Friendship between women is okay, but a sexual relationship...

Q : I guess that many women's problems have to do with the fact that they have so many children. Do women want the children or do they have no choice?

A : Abortion is illegal except for medical reasons, so there are many illegal abortions. We want to reach the point where women can raise all the children they want under humane conditions. Then abortion would no longer be an issue.

Q : On February 25, 1980 the army took power in this country. The new government promised social improvements, and many people viewed this with a lot of hope. What can women expect?

A : Compared to before, a number of women now participate in the government. We even have a female cabinet minister. I am the Vice-Minister for Social Welfare. Five years ago when I returned from Holland, that would not have been possible. Of course, social welfare is a typical work area for women. During the women's conference in Copenhagen, Malaysian women told us they now have a female minister for financial affairs. We haven't gotten that far yet.

Q : What brought you to working with women ? Experience with the European women's movement?

A : I studied sociology in Holland after I had been working as a social worker for some time. I was certainly influenced by the women's movement in Holland, but I was never really active; it was more the general attitude towards the women's question there. When I came back to Surinam in 1975, I was very concerned about the situation of women here. Also, as a social worker I dealt mainly with women. I haven't been with the organization from the very beginning. A woman from work brought me here.

Q : The women in OSV belong to which social group?

A: About 25 women have a strong commitment and they are nurses, teachers and housewives. Most of them work outside of the home, and about half are married. There are many more women who work spontaneously on different projects. We have a monthly magazine called Tamara (Tomorrow). With the magazine plus monthly radio and TV programs, we reach at least 5.000 women. Each member of the OSV pays a monthly contribution, a minimum of 25 cents. We keep it low so that all women can participate. We also get money from our publication, and quite a bit from our sisters in Holland. We all work here without pay.

Q : You mentioned a few times that you want to do something for the women here. But what do you get out of it?

A : I see the concern with personal growth and individuality as specific to women in the rich Western countries. In Surinam, as in many other poor societies, people become individualistic and hard because of economic hardship. Everyone is trying to get a little bit for herself. We are at a completely" different stage than you are. We see our work with women as a struggle against the isolating, individualistic tendencies. Women have to learn that they can actually support each other.