Encuentro 4: Cuban Women and Gender Issues

For this encuentro we had the opportunity to speak with two strong and empowering women about the reality of being a woman in Cuba. We first experienced a virtual tour of the Women’s Sewing Collective (Atrevete) and then had a period for questions about it with Naila Torres. This was followed by a conference with Johana Lezcano about feminism and Cuba’s response to women’s rights.

Atrevete Atrevete was started with the goal of helping women who were experiencing violence, it has now turned into a community of women learning, working and trying to help train other women to recognize the different types of violence they may be facing. Initially, the collective also worked with disabled youth to reintegrate them into society but since then they have focused more on educating women on empowerment. The seamstresses, who very generously filmed a video for us, told us that Alena is the one who found the workshop after being helped by the MLK center. She, herself, was a victim of abuse and wanted to help other women identify the violence they might be living in their households. These women are glad the workshop also gave them work as it is a way for them to be more financially independent, live less violence and feel more included in the community. It was a very special video as we got to see the impact the workshop has on Cuban women's lives.

A solidarity-based collective We learned that atrevete operates on the concept of solidarity-based economy. Seamstresses explained to us that this kind of economy allows the profit to be shared amongst all the women who work at the collective. A part of their profit is also set aside into a fund they use for donations to other organizations but more often when they are struggling financially. This system ensures that everyone’s needs are taken into account and that the workers' wellbeing is more important than the profit they make. During the last year within the context of the pandemic, this way of separating funds has served to pay the women who could not risk their health and needed to work from home as well as the women who simply could not work.

Progress on Women Issues in Cuba Johana Lezcano states that even though patriarchy and machismo take a lot of space in Cuba, women have been able to win many fights and achieve great progress. Abortions, for example, are safe and legal. Moreover, it is observed that many leaders in positions of power are women.

Chauvinism in Households Lezcano did not fail to recognize certain issues still present and the ways women issues in Cuba can improve. She explains that within the household women's issues, chauvinism, and feminism are not recognized. As sexism is taught from a young age to boys and girls it can become painful to separate oneself from those ideas. Yohana adds that it is difficult to get out of those frames without suffering moral consequences.

Cuban Feminism The concept of feminism is debated a lot in Cuba as a lot of women do not feel connected to the ideas of feminism and have a difficult time implementing feminist concepts in their personal life. Moreover, women do not embrace feminism as they consider it a bourgeois concept. Lezcano says that even the FMC does not claim feminism and a lot of the women involved in the organization do not consider themselves feminist although they are involved in women fights and support women rights. Johana says that there is no recognition for the term feminism but women still want a liberation movement that is inclusive and anti-racist.

We were impressed by the headway Cuba has made in working towards equality and providing services for women. In fact, the FMC and other organizations have made it possible for Cuban women to revendicate their rights and achieve equality in most fields and sectors of society. Projects like Atrevete show us the creativity and solidarity women have built within their communities despite difficult economic circumstances. The seamstresses from Atrevete are a reflection of the success and relief these workshops provide. Although both Naila and Johana spoke of the progress made for women rights and gender equality they also highlighted issues remaining in the chauvinistic mentality. Furthermore, perhaps due to this same chauvinism, the concept of feminism is still not accepted and normalized within Cuba showing us that there is still a way to go in terms of gender matters. By: Camille, Shannon