Following the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista in January of 1959, Fidel Castro
began to implement his new vision for Cuba based on his communist ideals. Like Mao
Zedong in China, one of the groups that Castro looked to for support was the women of
Cuba. By 1990, many felt that women’s positions had been bettered in terms of their
lives. Still others commented that more had to be done to remove the remnants of
patriarchy which still existed. Some, however, seem to offer a different account,
highlighting how Castro’s Cuba had actually hampered both gender relations and family
life.
Many point to the positive results on the lives of Cuban women following the
revolution of 1959. Navarro, (Doc 1) a Cuban socialist feminist, discusses the male
authority that mothers and daughters had to live under before 1959. She points to the
legacy of the Spanish law codes with imposed patriarchal power, and in spite of efforts
by others to override this tradition, none were effective until the communist revolution.
As a socialist sympathizer, it should not be surprising that she looks to Castro’s rule as
favorable. Another woman interviewed by a US journalist (Doc 7) points to the Family
Code that guarantees the equal rights of women and the opening of day-care centers and
public schools to help working women and their children. Yolanda Ferrer (Doc 2), the
General Secretary of the Federation of Cuban Women, confirms the basic job skills
available to women. She further states that women garnered skills that allowed them to
move away from domestic work into white collar jobs. As a female politician, Ferrer
would owe her position to the Cuban government, so therefore she would clearly support
their agenda. However, it is true that others, including Genoveva Diaz, (Doc 4) echoes a
similar sentiment that Castro’s Cuba offered women new economic opportunities and
allowed them to move away from being servants. Once again, as the daughter of a Cuban
revolutionary, it seems natural that her support would side with that of the government.
Similar testimony about economic opportunity is cited by Espin, (Doc 10) a female
scientist and president of the Federation of Cuban Women, who details statistical
evidence to demonstrate that increasing participation of women in economic life. Further
favorable statistical data is compiled by the Communist Party (Doc 9) who points to
increased female participation in politics since the mid-1970s. While this evidence might
be suspect given that it was gathered by the Communist party, less biased statistical proof
is offered by the United Nations (Doc 8) which acknowledges that Cuban women have
very high literacy rates and are a significant part of the income earning population in the
years following the overthrow of Batista.
Some individuals say that while progress has been made, further steps still need to
be taken to create true equality. Castro himself acknowledges this in a speech in 1974,
(Doc 5) in which he points out that discrimination still exists and that full equality has not
been achieved. Espin (Doc 10) points out that progress has not been made in the family
sphere where women shoulder a double burden of wage earning and sole caretaker for
children. Soviet women often found this to be the case while making sizeable
advancements in entering the job market, but still having the “double-burden” of caring
for the home. And, of course, law codes cannot undue the effects of years of patriarchal
culture (Doc 7).
Some do not look favorably on how the revolution affected women, and more
specifically gender relations. A male Cuban sympathizer (Doc 3) discusses his staunch
anti-women’s liberation position explaining that women’s economic freedom has
undermined traditional marital roles. Since he is being interviewed by a US
anthropologist, he might feel free to express what would otherwise be an unpopular
sentiment. Fernadez in her memoir (Doc 6) points out how she was expelled from
medical school upon asking for maternity leave. She discusses the difficulties of living in
Cuba with her infant daughter when she was short of necessary supplies. As an exile, it
is not surprising that she is highly critical of her former country’s government. Even
Diaz (Doc 4) acknowledges that older women think that the revolution hurt gender
relationships by allowing women to do “men’s work”.
To fully assess the effects of Castro’s rule on Cuba further statistical evidence
would be very helpful. For example, do men and women earn equal wages for the same
work? Since this is an issue in the United States, which considers itself a leader in the
feminist movement, it would interesting to compare such numbers with those of
communist Cuba. Furthermore, data which revealed divorce rates pre and post revolution
might offer insight on how gender relations have been altered. Also, while a man’s
perspective was offered in one excerpt, it seems a broader assessment by men would be
very telling on the subject of gender relations and family life. Finally, because
communist regimes typically censor criticism, a more accurate assessment might be
achieved by having the first-hand testimony from non-Cuban sources. While gender
relations and challenges to traditional patriarchy are universal issues, it is interesting to
note the variety of perspectives and experiences in Cuba from 1959 to 1990. It seems
that while women have made great strides in the public arena, challenges still exist on the
home front.