ABSTRACT
This chapter presents five short case studies based on extensive, unpublished genealogical databases, to illustrate both the rate of intermarriage of Curaçao's Jewish men in certain Caribbean locations as well as the comparatively lower marriage rate of the Jewish women who remained in Curaçao. An analysis of the marital status of Curaçaoan Jews at the time of their death, using the archival death registers of Congregation Mikve Israel–Emanuel, is provided to verify the nineteenth century marital rate differentials on a macro level as well. The chapter reviews changes that occurred at the end of the nineteenth century, which marked the beginning of Jewish female leadership in Curaçao and set the tone for subsequent participation of women in Curaçao's socio-political development in the twentieth century. The girls they left behind did not have the same degree of mobility and freedom as their male counterparts.
