History of Cuba: Encyclopedia II - History of Cuba - Women in Cuba Herstory

History of Cuba - Women in Cuba Herstory

Women comprise more than half the population of Cuba, and their Herstory is far less known than that of their male counterparts.

As in many countries, historically women in Cuba were and still are considered less than equal, but Castro supporters (Liss, 1984, 1994) believe not nearly as much as before The Cuban Revolution. Much of the Liss (1994) material appears in prior Fidel Castro speeches e.g. “In the past women held no jobs or worked as maids, and there was a large number of prostitutes. [27].

When evaluating this topic one has also to take into account great changes have occurred in much of the world since 1958. However, it is clear that Cuba still has a considerable problem with prostitution. Castro is often quoted as saying Cuba has the best educated prostitutes in the world” [28]; supporters of the present maximum leader of Cuba state that this quote is taken out of context. Still even though this important subject deeply imbedded in the Island’s culture embarrasses many among both opponents and supporters of the Cuban Leader, Cuban sexual matters are so frequently subject to scholarly studies (see References section) that it seems essential to have a subsection on Sexual culture.

Though many women showed their loyalty to their country during the trying times in Cuba, success did not come quickly. In 1959, (according to Cuban government statistics) before the Cuban Revolution, 9.8% of women in Cuba held jobs, with 70% of those women working as domestic servants. Oddly enough, women in the working class were often thought of as poor individuals, and were regarded as a lower status than women who did not work. However, before 1959 Cuban Women entered such professions as medicine and law with greater frequency than in the US.

Fidel Castro is (Liss, 1994) said to have played a significant role in liberating women in Cuba during the Revolution. He didn't, however, encourage women to work full-time jobs and raise families at home especially the seven or more so women he was said to kept as mistresses when he was younger e.g. Celia Sánchez Manduley his war companion (see Thomas-Woodward), Marita Lorenz [29], [30] (Gimbel, 1999) since he insisted men would help with the housework and raising children. This wasn't exactly the case in many Cuban families.

Prior to the Revolution, Castro claims, many young women depended on marriage to men of higher status in order to get along in life. Although it is said by some that majority of those who did not marry ended up in brothels (see section below), this statement requires verification, otherwise biological calculations have to assume a virility of the Cuban male that is not reasonable. Thus the statement that “In 1959, with 7 million people populating Cuba at the time, about 100,000 women worked in some form of prostitution” should be viewed with skepticism. In the view of the present Cuban government, before Castro ruled, few women were fortunate enough to work in offices, bars, hotels, and stores, since they were hired based on their appearance. Some of Castro’s version of women in Cuba before 1959 is based on reality, some based on a Cuban version of an idealized traditional family (e.g. [31]), and some on the necessity to demonstrate progress in a one party state.

Although the official line is that "The Revolution" freed the women of Cuba, even Castro supporters have to admit prejudices did not fade overnight. Cuban women in authoritarian Cuba where superiors hold much power, still have to "fight" for respect in the workplace.

Castro supporters maintain [32] based on the work of Liss (1994) that: though Castro denied being prejudiced against women before the Revolution, he later admitted that he was, but it was obvious that in order to win over supporters for the Revolution, women had to be considered as equals. His move to put women in the workplace proved to be a success. In 1959, less than 200,000 women worked in Cuba. By 1990, with a population of 10 million in Cuba, women accounted for 39% of the workforce, and 58% of them were in technical positions. In addition, according to (Liss, 1994 or Castro’s data) 55% of university students were women, and they also accounted for the majority of medical students in Cuba (as they do in the US today). In a period of less than half a century, women's employment increased almost 400%.

History of Cuba - Race and Women

In the Cuban circumstance pigmentation is a continuous variable the deepest “color” is far less common than in other Caribbean Island. To some writers the Mulata (female mulatto) is the very symbol of Cuba [33]. “Black” women were said discriminated against in favor of white women in Cuba, denying the former work as nurses, a popular occupation.

However, it should be noted that elected president Carlos Prio, as well as the first President in Arms of Cuba Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, kept Mulata mistresses e.g. the most beautiful Celia Touzet who gave him three children [34], [35]. In 1894 Elena González Núñez, a beautiful woman married José Maceo [36] (Estenger, 1939); José Maceo although said to be mulatto, was far darker than his brother Antonio Maceo yet Elena was “White” with blue eyes.

The Mulata is the subject of much cultural interest e.g. the Afro Cuban Zarzuelas such as María la O and El cafetal of Ernesto Lecuona and Gonzalo Roig’s Cecilia Valdés, based on Cirilo Villaverde classic novel or Lecuona’s composition “Mulata.” In addition there is the painting "El Rapto de las Mulatas” (The Abduction of the Mulatto women [37] Carlos Enriquez ( Born in Zulueta, Cuba 1900. Died Havana, 1957) Enriquez painted “. the Cuban countryside, its inhabitants, and folklore. Poor peasants, heroic legendary and historical figures, sensual women, restless horses, and windy landscapes of palm trees and rolling hills” [38].

History of Cuba - Sexual culture

Since the times of the Neo-Taíno nations as related in the oral tradition of "The Seven Mulatas" [39], as is common in their original Amazonian societies (Goldman, 1963; Gregor, 1987; Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1971), and other parts of the Americas [40], Cuban men and women took multiple partners and sometimes women received goods in return. Marriage Rituals involving multiple partners were common (de las Casas). And all, from common people to male and female Caciques and Cacicas (Sued Badillo, 1985), such as Anacaona, enjoyed sexual freedom.

In colonial times such open sexuality, prostitution, and concubinage was common and accepted, for instance when the English took Havana in the 1762-1763 there was a common song [41] "Las muchachas de La Habana no tienen temor de Dios, se van con los Ingleses en caboyes de arroz." (the young women of Havana do not fear the wrath of G-d, and go with the English in the rice storage warehouses) Much of this sexual “license” was taken for granted as is expressed in the poems of Napoles Fajardo and in the Villaverde novel "Cecilia Valdes".

Since the time of the neo-Taíno nations de facto plural marriage has been common (as among many other nations). To address imbalances of population caused by wars (at the end of the 1895-1898 Cuban War of Independence about half the women were widowed), from colonial times to today plural marriage with a series of semi-formal common law wives queridas is a form of polygamy common in Cuba.

Men of elevated status were and still are expected to have one or more second wives. These women acquired status depending on the status of the male they were associated, and the male in turn acquired status depending on the education, abilities and physical beauty of the particular woman he was associated with. The women of this institution are known as queridas (the beloved). Queridas commonly had separate living circumstances and a certain status provided by the male to whom they were associated with. Thus the males from among the ruling and affluent classes of Cuba, and to a certain extent throughout the population commonly had queridas.

A sign of establishment of this custom was the "recognition" or formal acknowledgement of the "natural" offspring of these unions by the father. Unrecognized offspring (hijos naturales) commonly only had one last name (surname), that of the mother. Recognized offspring frequently acquired the surnames of both parents sometimes hyphenated in male dominated order (father-mother), these hyphenated last names were commonly retained in succeeding generations. This distinguished them from "legitimate" offspring which had unhyphenated surnames (father mother).

This custom continued into the times of the Cuban Republic, where it is said that the old Havana Senate gallery had a separate enclosure for the “queridas,” the mistresses, of legislators, had a separate exit in case any of the wives showed up [42]. The numerous wars and "internationalist" operations in which Cuba has been involved have caused male/female ratio imbalance. Male members of the present nomenclatura continue this custom, using the diverse privileges of their position and rank to endow these queridas with living conditions above the norm for the population.

It is said (Mayra Beers [[43],]) that the first president of the Republic sought routine solace in bordellos. Cuba had institutionalized prostitution, as is noted in detail by Beers [44], and this continues, at least semi-formally, into the present era e.g. (Valdes, 1999) [45]. Advertisements for such activities, with apparent tolerance of the Cuba authorities, appear with some frequency on the internet e.g. [46].

History of Cuba - References

• Campuzano, Luisa 1992 Las muchachas de La Habana no tienen temor de Dios. Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos 16:(2) 307-18.

• de las Casas, Bartolomé (circa 1474-1566, 1995 reprinting). Historia de las Indias Cultura Economica, Mexico City (Casas vol. 2, p. 521-522).

• Estenger, Rafael 1939 Amores de Cubanos Famosos. Afrodisio Aguado S.A. Madrid

• Gimbel, Wendy 1999 Havana Dreams, A Story of a Cuban Family Vintage ISBN 0679750703

• Goldman, Irving 1963. "The Cubeo. Indians of the Northwest Amazon." University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois.

• Gregor, Thomas 1987. Anxious Pleasures. The Sexual Lives of an Amazonian People. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

• Lewis, Meriwether and William Clark (Translated by Gary E. Moulton) 1805 (accessed 1/14/2006) 'flees are So noumerous' December 29, 1805, Clark. The Journals of Lewis & Clark [47]

• Liss, Sheldon B. 1994 Fidel!: Castro's Political & Social Thought Westview Press. Questia Online Library ISBN 0813386799 [www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=9033626]

• Liss, Sheldon B. 1984 Marxist Thought in Latin America. University of California Press ISBN 0520050223

• Lorenz, Marita and Ted Schwarz 1993 Marita: One Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Love and Espionage from Castro to Kenned . Thunder's Mouth ISBN 1560250550

• Napoles Fajardo, Juan Cristobal (born 1829; believed killed by Spanish authorities in 1862) Selected work in Cucalambe (Decimas Cubanas): Seleccion De Rumores Del Hormigo. Ediciones Universal. 1999 ISBN 0897298780

• Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo 1971. Amazonian Cosmos. The Sexual and Religious Symbolism of the Tukano Indians. University of Chicago Press. Chicago.

• Sued Badillo, Jalil. 1985. Las Cacicas Indoantillanas, Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña 87, 1-26.

• Thomas-Woodward, Tiffany (accessed 1/29/2006) Towards the gates of eternity: Celia Sánchez Manduley and the creation of Cuba’s new woman. Project Muse http://muse.jhu.edu

• Trumbull, Charles 2001 Prostitution and sex tourism in Cuba ASCE Cuba in Transition 11, 356-371 [48]

• Valdes, Zoe 1999 I Gave You All I Had. Arcade Publishing; 1st English-language edition. ISBN 1559704772

• del Valle, Adrián 1919 Tradiciones y leyendas de Cienfuegos.

• Villaverde, Cirilo 1882 (New translation 2005 by Sibylle Fischer and Helen Lane) Cecilia Valdes or El Angel Hill. Oxford University Press, USA ISBN 0195143957

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Women in Cuba Herstory", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki