and ain't i a woman?: Women's liberation in Cuba
In capitalist societies, particularly in the Third World, women have fought, and continue to fight, to overturn the inequalities they face. These include unequal access to education, less participation in public activities than men, lower pay for work of equal value, exclusion from occupations and social roles that are not "feminine", economic dependence on men, and a lack of control over their own sexuality.
Before the 1959 Cuban Revolution, these and other problems affected Cuban women. What have they achieved today?
The Cuban Women's Federation (FMC) was founded in 1959. In 2002, 83% of Cuban women 14 or older are members of the FMC, representing a substantial increase in women's participation in public life.
In 1959, about 10% of Cuban women held jobs, most of them as domestic servants. Women now make up 42% of the workforce, including more than 50% of 'specialists" and more than 35% of managerial positions.
In contrast to the vast under-representation of women in the sciences found even in advanced capitalist countries such as Australia, 52.3% of the technical staff of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment are now women, and the department is headed by a woman. Women also constitute a staggering 49% of all judges.
The phrase once common in Cuba, "Women belong in the home, men belong in the street" clearly no longer applies. Officially, there is no labour discrimination in Cuba and women have access to any position.
However, in practice, women still have the problem of the "double shift": work in the workforce plus carrying the burden for domestic work in the home. This makes it difficult for women to develop their full potential, lowers their workforce participation and weakens their promotion possibilities.
This partly why, despite significant representation in local decision making bodies, just over 20% of delegates to the National Assembly are women and 14% of the members of the Central Committee are women. In the last elections, the FMC ran a campaign combatting an attitude that women were too overworked to be able to stand for political office.
When I travelled to Cuba in 2001, I noticed that patriarchal attitudes are still strong in Cuban society. Centuries of "machismo" tradition can not be changed overnight.
This is not to underestimate the gains since the revolution. Women now are entitled to 18 weeks of paid maternity leave, child care is free and widely available, abortion is free and accessible.
I interviewed Alicia Corredera, Asia-Pacific president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), asking her what the revolution has done for women. Corredera said that the revolution has permitted Cuban women to develop and be active in society. The doors are open for all women, she said, who want to study, work and advance intellectually, dependent mainly on their will and abilities. Women feel represented by their government because they participate in it.
Corredera also pointed out, however, that the difficult economic situation that they face today, caused by a horrendously punitive blockade imposed by the US, has stopped important programs dedicated to improve conditions of living for all, and especially women. Housing is a real problem, Corredera said.
The difficult economic situation has also made cooking, a burden which still falls mainly on women, much harder. Corredera said: "We cannot go and buy pre-prepared food. We have to think more on what to cook and how to do it. This takes time."
Corredera finished the interview with the words: "Please tell the people that in spite of all difficulties, we are happy, cheerful, we love our families, we believe in solidarity, we have gone to international missions to help other people, we are skilful and hard workers."
BY BARBARA ROGAS
[This is an abridged version of a talk presented to a September 15 Feminism seminar organised by the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance in Sydney.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, September 18, 2002.
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