After the collapse of the socialist bloc, many did not believe that the Cuban government and social system could survive in the face of the global tide of counterrevolution. Having lost its main allies, and its economic partners, Cuba was suddenly isolated.
Cuba is a small, poor country that faces a daily military and economic war waged by the strongest imperialist country in the world just 90 miles away. The Cuban government works hard to provide food and housing for everyone. It struggles to develop and survive.
Despite all of these obstacles, Cuba has survived. It has achieved the highest literacy rate and lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America. Women make up over half of students in medical, law and other professional schools in Cuba. Women’s representation in government positions is one of the highest in the entire world.
The leaders of the Cuban Revolution also recognize the struggle and process that must take place after a socialist revolution to change women’s status in society. Cuba has called the struggle for women’s equality a “revolution within the revolution.”
A year after the 1959 revolution, the Federation of Cuban Women was formed to address women’s issues. It helped to establish childcare, paid maternity leave, free medical care, expanded educational opportunities, and made it possible for women to enter every area of the workforce.
In 1975, the Federation was instrumental in shaping the Family Code. This code made it the legal obligation of men to share in the housework and child-rearing responsibilities. There have been countrywide discussions of the Family Code, through congresses, educational material and the mass media.
The Family Code and similar laws cannot be strictly or fully enforced. But they lay the basis for a different societal norm. They are seen as a tool for education and change. The Federation of Cuban Women knows that laws and good intentions alone, no matter how revolutionary, cannot change society.
As the late Vilma Espin, who fought in the guerilla movement with Fidel Castro before the triumph of the revolution and served on the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, said, lasting social changes “could not be achieved purely by our wanting [them].” But the legal changes, coupled with Cuba’s revolutionary economic reorganization, lay the basis for women’s liberation.
