Suriname

Diverse Population

The diversity of the population in Suriname has resulted in different problems facing mothers; the native Amerindians now represent less than 2 percent of the population. For those of African descent, many of the traditions follow those in Africa, with women involved not only in childcare, but also in preparation of food, making of clothes, and cultivation of crops.

Some of the Maroons—descendants of slaves who escaped to the jungles—have a matrilineal society where women have the roles as clan mothers, and are also involved in administering medical treatments, including midwifery. Some of these societies are also polygamous, which complicates the essentially tribal or clan society. Conditions among the Dutch and the expatriates have always been much better than that for the rest of the population.

In the Indian and the Javanese communities, as well as among the Chinese, there was a higher prevalence of male migrants than females. As a result, during the 19th century, female indentured servants were sent in from British India, and later from Java; these women became the wives of many of the plantation laborers. Initially, many of these migrant laborers had familial problems because of the lack of any extended family, but during the 20th century, demographic changes have alleviated this.

Health Care, Birth Control, and Abortion

Prior to independence, there was little in the way of health care outside Paramaribo, the capital. The vast majority of the work in the few hospitals that existed was to treat people with tropical diseases. Now there are many regional outworkers and mid-wives who make contact with remote villages to educate them on a wide range of health care concerns, including nutrition during pregnancy. Suriname is a signatory of the United Nation's Women's Convention, but has been criticized for slow implementation of legal protections for women. As of 2007, only civil servants were guaranteed maternal leave, although the bill had been introduced to extend this to the private sector.

The role of religion has done much to influence societal thinking, with Roman Catholicism an influence against artificial birth control; however, the Hindus and Protestants take a very different attitude, and tend to have much smaller families. Maroon families still tend to follow traditional childcare techniques, and recent research has confirmed that they continue to make heavy use of herbal remedies for dealing with childhood ailments.

Abortion in Suriname is legal only to save the life of the woman, and illegal abortion carries severe penalties of up to three years' imprisonment for the woman and up to 12 years for the person providing the abortion. If the provider is a medical professional, they can also lose their right to practice. It is technically illegal to provide contraceptives and contraceptive information, but the law is largely ignored in practice, and prevalence of contraceptive use is estimated at 50 percent. Due to missing data, Save the Children does not assign Suriname any [Page 1184]rankings on its Women's Index, Children's Index, or Mothers' Index.

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