Eudine Barriteau exposes the precarious position of women in 20th century Caribbean societies by analyzing the operations of gender systems. She reveals the absence of gender justice and equity, and demonstrates that after 25 years of policies on women Caribbean societies still have not confronted the fundamental problem of women's subordination and the conditions that maintain this. Barriteau criticizes the strategies used by developing states to focus on women and recommends that state and society pay more attention to understanding their lives.