Midlife and Older Women: Family Life, Work and Health in Jamaica. Joan Rawlins. Mona, Jamaica: University of the W est Indies Press, 2006; tables; illustrations; I + 173 pages; ISBN 976-640183-7; $20.00US (paper).
Joan Rawlins provides an excellent historical account of family life, health and employm ent experiences of middle-aged and older working-class and middle-class Jam aican wom en in the early 1990s in two Jamaican communities: the traditional working-class com m unity of August Town and the established middle-class com m unity of Hope Pastures. She examines how gender, age, socio-econom ic status, education and region are im plicated in these women's experiences accessing health services and paid employm ent and negotiating relationships with family.
Rawlins argues that the matrifocal character of most Jamaican families is sim ultaneously oppressive and empowering to Jam aican women. She contends that while many of these women exert a certain amount of power in their homes by taking up m any of the financial, emotional and physical care and decision-m aking responsibilities there, they face a double burden in that depressed economic conditions often require that they also work outside of the home, often until they become seniors.
Given that Jamaica has seen significant changes in its econom y, health care and social conditions since the early 1990s when the data was originally collected, the author's decision to use historical data in a book that was published in 2006 is a curious one, particularly since she fails to clearly explain why she m ade this decision. Moreover, her historical analysis loses much of its impact without a clear articulation of how the economy, health system and social conditions have evolved (and in many instances worsened) in Jamaica over the past fifteen years. For example, since the data was collected over fifteen years ago, AIDS has become one of the most significant (if not the most

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significant) health problem s in the Caribbean, a factor that could only be alluded to in her discussions on the health care system.
In addition, the author's failure to examine how the women used spirituality, religion and the church to help them cope with the many hardships they encountered in their lives was a particularly glaring om ission, given the num erous studies that have been conducted over the years dem onstrating the significant role that these issues play in relieving the em otional and physical burdens experienced by Black women worldwide.
However, Rawlins' use of multiple data sources, such as survey interviews, case studies, discussions with community m em bers and library resources, significantly enhances her analysis by offering a wideranging and credible account of the experiences of Jamaican women. In addition, although she provides an intellectual and critical account of the issues, her discussion is never m ired in pretentious or overly philosophical and intellectual language that would turn off the general readership. Consequently, the book is accessible to a diverse audience, including students, teachers, researchers, scholars and the general reader.
Rawlins' book provides an im portant feminist analysis of gender relations, the fam ily, health and em ploym ent in the Caribbean, particularly because she shows how these issues are intim ately connected in the experiences of Jamaican and Caribbean women.
Ingrid R.G. W aldron University of Toronto

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