Thomas Simey (1946), was a welfare worker and

postulated that one of the main problems were

the fact that families were loose and children were
fatherless, and they relied on the mother primarily.
Lady Huggins, wife of the governor general of
Jamaica in 1944-1945 proposed the Mass Marriage
Movement which sought to marry off the
consensually cohabiting adults or any relationship
thereof. This proposal failed as the 'blacks' failed
to understand and adhere to it. The matrifocal
families are still persisting and present in
Caribbean Societies especially in Jamaica and
Trinidad and
Tobago.
Though there are other family patters prevailing in
the Caribbean societies today such as nuclear
families, extended families and sibling households,
there is a fit between the matrifocal families and
the Caribbean Society than any of the other
mentioned family patterns, This family form
prevailed according to Herskovits (1958)-
Consequences of African Retention. Africans
brought their cultural practice of polygamy where
spouses were seen with more than one partner,
which is still present within the Caribbean.
According to R.
T Smith (1962) the matrifocal families prevailed
because of the Plantation System of Slavery. On
the plantation male slaves were rotated from
plantation to plantation and this resulted in
mothers being both mother and father. Edith
Clarke (1957) also wrote a study entitled "My
Mother who fathered me" which shows the
existence of Matrifocal families. Oscar Lewis
(1970) postulated that matrifocal families were as
a result of Economic Factors in the Caribbean. Due
to the high levels of poverty and unemployment in
the Caribbean the male was unable to support his
family and therefore his role was marginal.
Fathers left the family as he couldn't cater to the
needs of the family. This trend is seen in Caribbean
Societies as many young people are having
children and the 'fathers' leave the relationship
due to the fact that they cannot support the child,
which leave the mother alone to be both the
mother and father to the child/children. Gonzales
(1970) demonstrated how matrifocal families
operated when he studied a Garifuna Tribe. He
illustrated that the children of the mother spent
more time with her parents and her side of the
family rather than the father's parents.
Children were seen to develop stronger bonds
with the mother than father. The mother was seen
as the nurturer and the disciplinarian to the
children. Though modernization contributed to an
extent to the formation of the nuclear family
structure, the matrifocal family type is still evident
in Caribbean Societies as they were impacted
strongly by
historical factors such as Slavery. Matrifocal
families were seen as dysfunctional and
disorganised and still are becoming a major trend
in modern societies.
Thomas Simey (1946), was a welfare worker and
postulated that one of the main problems were
the fact that families were loose and children
were fatherless, and they relied on the mother
primarily. Lady Huggins, wife of the governor
general of
Jamaica in 1944-1945 proposed the Mass Marriage
Movement which sought to marry off the
consensually cohabiting adults or any relationship
thereof. This proposal failed as the lblacks' failed
to understand and adhere to it. The matrifocal
families are still persisting and present in
Caribbean Societies especially in Jamaica and
Trinidad and
Tobago.