ABSTRACT
The economic crisis that hit the Dominican Republic in 1982 accelerated the erosion of the man's role as primary breadwinner and increased the importance of the woman's contribution. The high rate of consensual unions and of marital instability coupled with the pressures of the economic crisis heightens the woman's insecurity and her fear of challenging male dominance. Women’s exploitation as workers reflects the weakness of labor generally in the Dominican Republic, due to a long history of labor surplus, fragmentation of the labor movement, and state repression. Women are clearly becoming major economic contributors to the household, but at the workplace and by the state they are regarded as supplementary wage earners. Many factors contribute to the lack of worker solidarity in export manufacturing, including the youthfulness and constant turnover of workers, their entry into industrial employment, family responsibilities, high unemployment, and the lack of job alternatives.
