ABSTRACT

As we discussed in Chapter 2, Caribbean societies had developed a wellestablished culture of labour migration dating back to the nineteenth century. Security of income was the overriding purpose of the migrations and, in general, the movements to Britain and France were no exception. In embarking on this journey across the Atlantic, the migrant in his or her late twenties or early thirties, who had spent years struggling to subsist on small farming, very poorly remunerated domestic service, or the income from various trades, sought regular, higher wages. Meanwhile, the larger, migrant cohort of nineteen-to twenty-four-year-olds sought a labour market that would enable them to break the cycle of often unpaid work on the family farm, low-paid work on plantations or sugar factories, or years of apprentice status in a variety of artisan trades. Few women were employed beyond domestic labour or agricultural tasks outside the home, an extension of their unpaid roles within their own domestic spheres. In a context where little or no opportunity for formal training existed, this refl ected the sharp gender division of unskilled labour. A minority of those who joined this migration were aspiring young, educated members of the middle classes who wished to gain further professional experience as teachers or administrators. While for all these categories of migrants the move was an exciting venture into the legendary ‘Motherland’ (‘mère patrie’ for the French Caribbeans), the common goal of a better job to improve their living conditions was paramount.