Cuban Women

As research on women has progressed, we have learned that there is no uniform relationship between level of economic development and women's labor force participation. We have also discovered that women have not been and are not as passive and subservient to men as cultural constructs, literature, and discourse convey. Although women in the 19th century worked, like 20th century women in most of the world, they earned less than men. The feminization of poverty is not new. It also proves to be persistent, even when women produce for the global economy and even when men's work evolves around their wives. Women's active role in the economy is not rooted in feminism. Nor is it the result or basis of "liberation." Rather, it typically is grounded in social, economic, and political necessity. By becoming more involved in the public sphere, by becoming more active in civil society and the communities where they live, women throughout Latin America are helping to bring about change. For the revolutionaries in Cuba, "the revolution accomplished many of their goals: capitalism was abolished and socialism was installed, eroding class distinctions and eliminating private property, the working conditions improved, women's rights improved, labor unions were recognized, the military became more modern and advanced, political order was restored, and the status of the country improved from dependent to independent"(Alexander, 76). For the people of Cuba, therefore, the revolution can be viewed as a success, but for America, the result was a failure. Latin America is one of the poorest and underdeveloped sections of the world. Because of this fact, it is difficult for its nations to compete and thrive in the world market with modern nations as they struggle to industrialize and improve their status. Cuba's progress towards equality for women "can be summed up in a few eloquent statistics. In 1953 Cuban women made up only 19.2% of the workforce, but by 1999 this figure had increased to an impressive 43.2%. Today 60% of university graduates are women and of these 49% are science graduates. As for medicine, traditionally a bastion of male domination, no less than 74% of the graduates are women"(Berbeo, 24). Women in pre-Revolutionary Cuba had "achieved a more respectable status vis-Ð" -vis men than women in any other Latin American country, with the possible exceptions of Argentina and Uruguay"(Alexander, 82). With regard to political rights, Cuban women received the vote in 1934. Among the Latin American states only women in Uruguay, Brazil, and Ecuador obtained voting rights earlier. Rates of abortion and divorce in pre-Revolutionary Cuba were among the highest in Latin America (Berbeo, 25). In education the percentage of female students from ages five to fifteen approximately equaled that of male students. "According to Cuba's 1953 census, the percentage of illiterate males (26 percent) exceeded that of illiterate females (21 percent). Within Latin America only Argentina and Chile had higher female literacy rates (85 percent and 79 percent respectively)"(Fernandez, 45). With regard to work positions and social status, the percentages of Cuban women working outside the home, attending school, and practicing birth control surpassed the corresponding percentages in nearly every other Latin American country. Before the Revolution women had been elected to Cuba's House of Representatives and Senate. They had served as mayors, judges, cabinet members, municipal counselors, and members of the Cuban Foreign Service. "The Constitution of 1940, one of the most progressive in the Western Hemisphere with regard to women's status, prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex and called for equal pay for equal work"(Hewitt, 101). Susan Kaufman Purcell has attributed the relatively higher status of pre-Revolutionary Cuban women, when compared to women in most other Latin American countries, to three factors. "First, the Catholic Church played a lesser role in the colonization of Cuba and remained less powerful and influential on the island than throughout the rest of Spanish America. The patriarchal traditions of the Church, particularly in the nineteenth century and before, tended to subordinate women and confine them to childbearing and child rearing in the home" (Alexander, 98). Such an influence proved to be somewhat less important in Cuba than in neighboring Latin American countries. "Second, unlike most other Latin American countries, Cuba never developed a dominant hacienda system emphasizing traditional patriarchal authority. Rather, Cuban plantations employed a wage-earning labor force. This agricultural structure engendered a stronger, more independent role for women in society. Finally, the island's proximity and economic ties to the United States substantially influenced Cuban culture"(Alexander, 99). North American social traditions, which have been considerably more sexually equal than those of much of Latin America, affected significantly Cuban social traditions, especially in the urban areas. To be sure, pre-revolutionary society retained certain extreme inequalities between the sexes. Despite the early date in obtaining relatively advanced legal rights, pre-revolutionary women were far from equal partners in governing the state. Women "seldom [ran] for office nor [did] they appear often as members of boards, commissions, or other appointive positions at the policy-making level"(Hewitt, 122). Nearly all women in politics or public office found themselves associated chiefly to subordinate roles. Moreover, although Cuba was "less influenced by the Catholic Church and somewhat more socially equal than other Latin American states, an authoritarian and patriarchal family structure, part of the island's Hispanic legacy, did indeed influence society to a considerable degree. This was particularly the case in the isolated, rural areas, which encompassed more than 43 percent of the population"(Fernandez,