Conclusion
Throughout this study on the history of women in Martinique from the Arawaks to the current Creoles, the term “poto mitan” finds its full justification in the central role played by women. From harvesting to cooking cassava, the main nourishing culture among the Arawaks and the Caribbean, through the harvesting of gardens during colonization and slavery, the religious teaching of the little Whites, their work on the cane plantations of the Koulies to the Creole women of the 20th century, women are present at the crucial moment of the society to which they belonged.
We have seen the social (education of children, support for her husband, participation in social struggles), economic (women at work), and cultural (transmission of values, school and Christian education) importance of women.
And what about the suffering experienced by these women, the polygamy of the Arawaks and the Caribbean (although these were the practices of the time), the Black slaves beaten on bodies completely undressed in the eyes of the whole workshop (the staff), the rapes, humiliations and pregnancies resulting from these abuses, the fear of seeing their child (ren) enslaved, the auctions of White women presented naked on a platform, the backs bent of the Moorer or charcoal carriers and the current mother who often fights in families where she is the only parent present at home?
Only one century, the 20th, will see a giant leap in the status of women. Women can now control their contraception, vote and be elected, have a salary equivalent to that of men, make decisions without requiring the consent of their husbands, and name their child(ren). However, these great advances cannot hide the fact that the current situation of women remains far below that of men, although they are more qualified.
Even today, they are politically under-represented; only three women, Jenny Dulys-Petit, Aurélie Nella, and Marie-Thérese Casimirus, respectively occupy the first function at the Town hall of Morne-Rouge, Ducos, and Basse-Pointe in 34 municipalities. In the corporate world, they are invisible, confined to secondary positions, and even less well-paid than their male counterparts.
There was no question of finishing this file without saluting and honoring all these women who have been part of the greatest struggles so that Martinique is what it is today, and those who continue these struggles. Their preponderant role in workers' struggles, social struggles, the French Resistance, support for troops during the two World Wars or their contribution, and their contribution and the defense of Creole and Martinican culture and heritage is too often overlooked.
Feminist associations such as the Union des Femmes de la Martinique do not intend to relax the fight for the 21st century to be one of real equality between women and men.
Bibliography:
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L'esclavage aux Antilles françaises (XVIIe-XIXe siècle), Antoine Gisler Dans les îles du vent,
la Martinique, XVIIè-XIXè siècle, Liliane Chauleau
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Laïcité: enjeux et pratiques : premier Colloque Montaigne, sous la direction de Singaravelou
L'anticléricalisme dans la Caraïbe francophone. Un "article importé" ? 1870-1911, Philippe Delisle
Mon chef est une femme
France-Antilles of December 3rd, 2014
Union des Femmes de Martinique
La femme française
La Population française des départements français d'outre-mer
Vie quotidienne des Arawaks La civilisation Arawak
Population selon la catégorie socioprofessionnelle et le sexe au 1er janvier 2011
Direction Interrégionale Antilles-Guyane>Martiniquaises d’hier et d’aujourd’hui : une place grandissante dans la société Études de l'INSEE
Le nombre de demandeurs d'emploi est en recul
*Attention! Some of the images used in this study, the story of the Martinican woman, are not paintings from Martinique but from neighboring Caribbean islands. They are nevertheless appropriate for the context described in the study.