There are three levels of government: the kingdom, which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba; the Netherlands Antilles; and the territories of each of the five islands. The council of ministers consists of the complete Dutch cabinet and two ministers plenipotentiary representing the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
It is in charge of foreign policy, defense, and the safeguarding of fundamental rights and freedoms. Political autonomy in regard to internal affairs is almost complete. The governor is the representative of the Dutch monarch and the head of the government. The island parliament is called the Island Council. Representatives to each are elected for a four-year term. Political parties are island-oriented. A lack of synchronization of national and island policies, machine-style politics, and conflicts of interests between the islands are not conducive to efficient government.
Military Activity. The Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba became operative in to protect the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba and their territorial waters from drug trafficking.
The results have been meager and the exodus of young unemployed Antilleans to the Netherlands has increased. A man cutting a wahoo. OKSNA Body for Cultural Cooperation Netherlands Antilles is a nongovernmental advisory board that advises the minister of culture on the allocation of subsidies from the Dutch development aid program for cultural and scientific projects.
Welfare organizations focus on areas ranging from day care centers to the care of the elderly. The government supports many of these activities. Division of Labor by Gender. Women's participation in the labor market has increased since the s, but men still hold the most important positions throughout the economy. Women work mostly in sales and as nurses, teachers, and civil servants. Unemployment is higher for women than for men.
Since the s, the Antilles has had two female prime ministers and several female ministers. Women from the Caribbean and Latin America work in the tourism sector and as live-in maids. The Relative Status of Women and Men. In the Afro-Antillean population sexual relations between men and women were not enduring and marriage was the exception.
Many households had a female head, who often was the chief provider for herself and her children. Men, as fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, and lovers, often made material contributions to more than one household. Mothers and grandmothers enjoy high prestige. The central role of the mother is keeping the family together, and the strong bond between mother and child is expressed in songs, proverbs, sayings, and expression.
Couples often marry at an older age because of the matrifocal family type, and the number of illegitimate children is high. Visiting relationships and extramarital relationships are prevalent, and the number of divorces is growing. Domestic Unit. Marriage and the nuclear family have become the most common relationships in the middle economic strata. Salaried employment in the oil industry has enabled men to fulfill their roles as husbands and fathers. Women's roles changed after agriculture and domestic industry lost economic importance.
Raising children and taking care of the household became their primary tasks. Monogamy and the nuclear family are still not as predominant as in the United States and Europe, however. Inheritance rules vary on each island and between ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
Kin Groups. In the upper and middle classes, kinship rules are bilateral. In the matrifocal household type, kinship rules stress matrilinear descent. Infant Care. The mother takes care of the children. Grandmothers and older children assist in the care of younger children. Child Rearing and Education. The educational system is based on the Dutch educational reforms of the s. At age four, children attend kindergarten and, after age six, primary school.
After age twelve, they enroll in secondary or vocational schools. Many students go to Holland for further studies. Although Dutch is the language of only a small percentage of the population, it is the official language of instruction in most schools.
Higher Education. Formal etiquette is adapted from European etiquette. The small scale of the island societies influences everyday interaction patterns. To outside observers, communication styles lack openness and goal orientation. Respect for authority structures and gender and age roles are important. Refusing a request is considered impolite. Religious Beliefs. Dutch Reformed Protestantism is the religion of the traditional white elite and recent Dutch migrants who are less than 3 percent of the population.
On the Windward Islands Dutch Protestantism and Catholicism have had less influence, but Catholicism has become the religion of 56 percent of Sabans and 41 percent of the inhabitants of Sint Maarten. Methodism, Anglicanism, and Adventism are widespread on Statia.
Fourteen percent of Sabans are Anglican. Conservative sects and the New Age movement are becoming more popular on all the islands. Religious Practitioners. Brua holds a position similar to that of Obeah on Trinidad.
Originating from the word "witch," brua is a mixture of non-Christian spiritual practices. Practitioners use amulets, magic waters, and fortune-telling. Montamentu is an ecstatic Afro-Caribbean religion that was introduced by migrants from Santo Domingo in the s. Roman Catholic and African deities are revered. Death and Afterlife. Opinions on death and afterlife are in accordance with Christian doctrine. Afro-Caribbean religions mix Christian and African beliefs. A crowd of people carrying harvest products parade through the streets accompanied by music on traditional instruments.
The fifth, fifteenth, and fiftieth birthdays are celebrated with ceremony and gifts. The Antillean national festival day occurs on 21 October. Support for the Arts. Since , the Papiamentu and Afro-Antillean cultural expressions have influenced art forms. Slavery and the pre-industrial rural life are points of reference.
The island is situated in the Southern Caribbean Sea, about 70 km 44 miles off the coast of Venezuela, with neighboring islands Aruba and Bonaire. It is generally flat with a small hilly area in the western part. The skies are mostly clear to partly clouded and little rainfall makes for a relatively dry climate. While September through November are known for their increased rainfall, the island falls just outside of the hurricane belt and thereby avoids the regions heavier storms.
Moreover, the island benefits from the Trade Winds which bring cooling during the day and warming during the night which allow for a pleasant constant climate throughout the day.
Spanish is also widely spoken on the island. The island is a politically stable country in the Caribbean region. There is a parliamentary democracy in place with an independent legal system, based primarily on the Dutch civil law with the underlying premises of freedom of association, right to form political parties, freedom of the press and freedom of speech.
Under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of , the island colonies were returned to the Netherlands. However, this arrangement proved to be unsuccessful and was partially reverted in Among the islands of the Netherland Antilles, Aruba seceded in and became a constituent country under the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In , the Dutch government along with the people of the constituent island colonies agreed to dissolve the Netherlands Antilles.
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