Family and the place of women
Women play a predominant rolein Dominican society. As in most countries of the world, Dominican women have long been relegated to the role of stay-at-home mothers, in charge of education and household chores. Although this model persists in certain sections of society, since the 1990s the cards have been reshuffled. While the majority of the working population continues to be male, the same cannot be said of university graduates: women account for more than two-thirds of all graduates, mainly in medicine, law and education. In the political sphere, things are changing too. While not achieving absolute parity in governing bodies, a law passed in 2010 established quotas on the minimum number of female candidates that each party must field in an election. A first step towards parity.
It should berecalled here that abortion is a strictly prohibited practice in the Dominican Republic - and this even in cases of rape since a reform of the penal code in December 2015 - and punishable by prison sentences for the woman as well as for the medical profession involved in the operation. Despite pressure from women's rights associations, the highly influential Catholic Church won the battle, resulting in a formal ban on abortion being incorporated into the country's constitution. Since abortion is considered a crime, it is performed clandestinely - often in deplorable hygienic conditions - killing several thousand women every year. It is estimated that 80,000 illegal abortions are carried out each year, a quarter of them on women under the age of 20.
As in the rest of Latin America, a young girl's 15th birthday is a family celebration, a kind of initiation for which every child prepares from an early age. This tradition is inherited from Indian ritual celebrations of puberty, which marked maternal responsibilities for the girl and warrior responsibilities for the boy. However, this tradition has been perpetuated only for women, and has no equivalent for boys. At the age of 15, Dominican girls enter adulthood at the end of a grand celebration. The long white dress is carefully chosen, invitations are sent to all the family's contacts, and the preparations mobilize the family months in advance. Then it's time for the Fiesta de quince años , which begins with a mass, followed by photo sessions, and finally a grand social reception. It's usually in the salons of grand hotels or in family homes that the evening celebrations take place. As at a wedding, the father solemnly opens the ball with the quinceañera, who is now a daughter to be married.
Education and social welfare
The Dominican education system, free up to age 14, is organized into three cycles: the first, optional, iseducación inicial, for children aged 2 to 6; the second, compulsory, iseducación básica (ages 6 to 14); the third, optional, iseducación media (ages 14 to 18). While public universities are also free and cater for the majority of students - theUniversidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, the oldest in Latin America (1538), alone accounts for over 40% of the student body - the country's results are among the worst in the world. It has to be said that the budget allocated to education has always been the lowest in the region. However, over the last ten years or so, new subsidies have been injected into the education system. In 2021, the literacy rate was 95.17%.
In terms of social protection, the Dominican Republic has had public social security since 1948. It is free and universal, and coexists with a private system that is generally used by the wealthier classes. Around 55% of the population has only public coverage. Improving access to healthcare for the entire population is one of the country's main challenges. As far as retirement is concerned, Dominicans assigned to the general scheme must work for at least 30 years or be over 60 to qualify. While there are various government subsidies for the most disadvantaged, there is no specific assistance for the unemployed.
Human rights and homosexuality
The country is a signatory to the seven bodies of the Charter of Human and Citizens' Rights. However, since 2010, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has opposed the Dominican government's law changing the rules for granting Dominican nationality. As this law is retroactive, tens of thousands of people who obtained Dominican nationality in the past found themselves stripped of it, particularly Haitians. As many of these Haitians were born on Dominican territory, they do not have Haitian nationality either, making them stateless. However, the promulgation of a law that results in the creation of stateless persons is formally prohibited by international law. To date, President Luis Abinader (elected in the summer of 2020) has remained adamant in the face of external pressure and has not reversed this law.
Unlike some of its Caribbean neighbors, the Dominican Republic has no laws that discriminate against the LGBT population. On the whole, indifference is the rule, in the big cities more than in the countryside. However, many cases of discrimination in hiring or housing are still reported in this country, which remains under the strong influence of the Catholic Church. A gay march is organized every year at the beginning of July in Santo Domingo, and recently also in Santiago de Los Caballeros and La Vega. In the May 2016 legislative elections, candidate Deivis Ventura was the first openly gay candidate to run for a congressional post.
Prostitution, drugs and corruption
The Dominican Republic is considered a relatively safe country. In addition to the national police and the army, the most visited areas are secured by the tourist police (CESTUR), and rural areas are relatively safe. However, it is advisable to take a few common-sense precautions in an unfamiliar country: don't walk alone at night, avoid all outward signs of affluence, get informed before venturing into a neighborhood far from a tourist center...
Particularly developed in tourist areas, prostitution is a common practice in the Dominican Republic. It is a lucrative business for many young women and men. The women are known as "professionals": they chase customers to the entrance of massage parlors or discotheques, shouting " Mi amor! But some students and mothers also occasionally sell their charms for a few thousand pesos. If you're a man traveling alone, chances are you'll have to spurn more than one during your stay. Female travelers will also receive the advances of "Sanki Panki", the name given to gigolos, who generally operate on the beaches of seaside areas. Needless to say, with a high rate of AIDS, those who indulge in the pleasures of the flesh, whether for a fee or not, are strongly encouraged to take precautions. As sex tourism has severely damaged the country's reputation, in recent years (particularly in Boca Chica) it has taken steps to eradicate clandestine prostitution networks, especially those involving paedophilia. Caminante, a Boca Chica-based association, is dedicated to helping the victims of this obscure market.
As far as drugs are concerned, and there are some, you should know that simple possession of narcotics can result in a 6-month prison sentence! The country became a major cocaine hub in the early 2000s. This is explained by the difficulty encountered by Colombian cartels in transiting their merchandise to the United States via Mexico, forcing them to find a new transit zone. The Dominican Republic was chosen for a number of reasons: a very large number of flights and boats entering and leaving the country thanks to tourism, the many nationalities visiting the country each year (allowing traffickers to pass unnoticed), and the large Dominican diaspora in the USA (making it easier to receive shipments). This state of affairs has led to an alarming increase in cocaine consumption in the country, as well as in the number of European nationals serving sentences behind Dominican bars for having attempted to act as a "mule", i.e. to smuggle drugs out of the country in exchange for a few thousand euros!
Corruption is another of the country's dark spots. Historically, the Dominican Republic is a country that has often seen significant corruption, culminating in the era of dictator Trujillo. And it was to curb this structural phenomenon that Danilo Medina's government set up the IPAC(Iniciativa Participativa Anti-Corrupción) program in 2010. The program has had some success in terms of good governance and transparency, but the problem still remains. Bribes for the award of contracts are still commonplace. Transparency International 's 2020 report ranks the Dominican Republic 137th out of 180 countries surveyed in terms of corruption.
