Chile Women Pearl Fashion Wedding Jewelry 87

Chile Women Pearl Fashion Wedding Jewelry.

By Aamir Mannan.

Extended-family life has occupied an important place in Chilean society. Although couples are expected to set up their own households, they remain in close contact with the members of their larger families. Children generally get to know their cousins well, as much adult leisure time, generally on weekends and holidays, is spent in the company of relatives. It is also common to find children living for extended periods of time for educational or other reasons in households headed by relatives, sometimes even cousins of their parents. These extended-family ties provide a network of support in times of nuclear family crises. It is also common for close friendships among adults to lead to links that are family-like. For example, children often refer to their parents' friends as "uncle" or "aunt."

Traditional definitions of gender roles have broken down considerably as women have won access to more education and have entered the labor force in larger numbers. By 1990 about half the students in the nation's primary and secondary schools were female; the proportion of women was lower, about 44 percent of the total enrollment in all forms of higher education. The University of Chile graduated Latin America's first female lawyers and physicians in the 1880s. However, women made faster progress in traditionally female professions than in other professions. Thus, by 1910 there were 3,980 women teachers, but there were only seven physicians, ten dentists, and three lawyers. By the 1930s, female enrollments reached significant numbers in these fields. The University of Chile in 1932 had 124 female students enrolled in law (17 percent of the total), ninety-six in medicine (9.5 percent), and 108 in dentistry (38 percent),