My work presents a place-specific analysis of how gender paradigms interact across and within spatial scales: the global, the regional, the national and the personal. It briefly outlines the concepts and measures defining the international gender paradigm, and explores the filtration of this paradigm into assessments and understandings of gender and gender dynamics by and within Barbados. It does this by analyzing the contents of reports of the Barbados government to international bodies assessing the country’s performance in the area of gender equality, and by analyzing gender-comparative content of local print news media over the decade of the 1990s, and the first decade of the 2000s. It contextualizes the discussion within the realm of social and economic development. The work shows how the almost singular focus on “women” in the international gender paradigm may depreciate valid gender concerns of men and thus hinder the overall goal of achieving gender equality, that is, achieving just, inclusive societies.

The complex social issue of domestic violence is a global problem. Its multifaceted impacts are devastating to those far beyond the immediate victim and perpetrator. On the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, domestic violence incidences are frequent. While customary, reactive intervention and research initiatives in Trinidad have focused mainly on women and children, curbing this social ill has been unsuccessful. This dissertation sought to balance the domestic violence equation by exploring Trinidadian men’s perspectives on this social issue and also sought to examine their perspectives on the concept of male marginalization in relation. Using a qualitative method of inquiry, the researcher collected data from a sample of twelve Trinidadian men; seven took part in one-on-one open-ended interview sessions, and the remaining five participated in a focus group. Two central research questions guided the study: (1) What are men’s perceived reasons about why Trinidadian men perpetrate domestic violence against women in Trinidad? (2) What are men’s perspectives on male marginalization and its influence on why men perpetrate domestic violence against women in Trinidad? The study found that the participants perceived Trinidadian men’s domestic violence perpetrating habits to be a result of several factors such as: a need to be in control, feel powerful and to demand respect; men’s inability to communicate feelings and emotions; childhood socialization experiences and lack of consequences for perpetrators. Additionally, male marginalization was perceived to be a result of women’s upward mobility in education, employment and income earning capabilities. Participants perceived male marginalization as contributory to men’s perpetration of domestic violence in Trinidad.