
Subject: WHAT DO CUBAN WOMEN HAVE?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


                         WHAT DO CUBAN WOMEN HAVE?


   It  has  often been said that the world is divided between  the
   "haves" and the "have-nots".  In this division, the "have-nots"
   tend  to come in disproportionate numbers from  the  developing
   nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America, and tend to be found
   especially among the very young and the very old -- and women.

   But  it doesn't have to be that way.   Since the Revolution  in
   1959,  Cuban  women are more noted for what they have than what
   they  don't have -- and some of the things they don't have  are
   those  no woman would want:  rape,  prostitution,  drug  abuse,
   wife-beating, sweat-shops, poverty, racism, illiteracy, hunger.

   The  following  poem was written to give women of the world  an
   idea of what it is like to be a woman in Cuba today.

   I HAVE

   I, Juana, woman
   Who before had nothing
   And today I have everything.
   Let's see,
   What do I have:

   I have, let me see,
   I have that I can walk down the street
   any street
   any time of day or night
   without fear of violence
   and without fear of scorn.
   I have that my decision to marry
   or not to marry,
   is mine alone.
   I have school
   for as long as I want to go.
   I have work
   in any field that interests me.
   I have that when I marry, I do so for love.
   I do so as an equal partner.
   I relinquish nothing.
   I have that my children and my house
   are equally my husband's
   and the work and responsibility they entail
   are both of ours.
   I have a job and an education and I am free to choose
   the kind of life I want to lead.

   I, Juana, woman
   What do I have?
   I have that when I am sick, I am healed
   by skilled and caring doctors and nurses
   I have a comprehensive health care system
   that is mine by right, free,
   because we working people
   have won that right.
   We earn it.
   It is not a gift.

   I have, let me see
   I have a country
   where infant mortality is not
   three hundred
   babies who die for every thousand born
   Or 150/1000
   Or even 60/1000
   as  in our sister nations
   of Latin America, Africa, and Asia
   but 12/1000
   a figure equal to that
   in the developed countries
   of the world
   (Better than in those countries
   because even there
   they have "pockets of misery"
   ghettos and barrios
   where the rates equal those
   of the Third World.)

   I have, let me see
   I have that when I go to school,
   no one tells me
   "This subject is only for boys"
   "You're wasting your time; that's
   a man's field".
   I have that half of all university students
   are women
   Half of all medical students
   women.
   I have that I can study to be
   an engineer, an agronomist
   a sculptor, a physicist
   a writer, a military officer
   a captain of a ship.

   I have that when I get a job
   the pay is equal to that of a man
   And we women make up
   47% of the labor force.
   I have that when I, as a worker
   decide to have children
   I am granted 18 weeks paid maternity leave
   and a year's job security
   if I choose to stay home with my new child.
   I have, as a working mother, access to low-cost
   childcare centers
   where all my child's developmental,
   nutritional,
   health
   and nurturing needs are met,
   giving me the peace of mind
   that enables me to work.

   What do I have?
   I have the right to control my own body
   To learn how to have
   or not have
   children
   I have access to birth control information
   and devices
   And when necessary, abortion
   performed by qualified
   medical personnel
   in modern medical facilities.
   without cost
   and without stigma.

   I have a country that believes
   "sex education" means
   Not just learning about the "birds and the bees"
   but about equality of the sexes.
   And that starts teaching
   both the how to and the role concepts
   in pre-school
   and keeps teaching them
   at all levels
   through medical school.

   I, Juana, woman,
   What do I have?
   I have a society that does not sell products
   by advertising the semi-nude body of a woman.
   That does not need drugs
   to distract the mind
   from the misery of existence
   because our existence
   is full of hope.
   I have a society
   where I can raise children
   without fear for their future.

   I, Juana, black woman
   What do I have?
   I have that I walk down the street
   sit in a restaurant
   go to the theatre,
   to the beach,
   to a park
   together with my sisters of other colors
   and no one raises a hand to stop me.
   No one says: "For whites only"
   No one motions me to the servants entrance.
   I am no longer a maid
   a wet-nurse
   a governess
   a prostitute selling my body
   to feed my children.
   I have that nobody says,
   "Black mother, why do you waste your time
   trying to send your children to school?
   Send them to the cane fields
   where they can earn some money."
   My daughters are engineering students
   And I am earning my Ph.D.

   I, Juana, campesina
   Woman of the countryside
   What do I have?
   Let's see:
   I have my own plot of land
   that no landlord can take from me.
   I have a house with running water, electricity.
   My children do not run in bare feet
   with bellies swollen by parasites.
   My children go to school.
   My husband and I work the land
   cooperatively
   with the other campesinos
   Who before had nothing
   and today have everything.

   I, Juana, vieja
   Old woman, but no longer useless,
    no longer cast aside.
   What do I have?
   I have that I spend my days
   working in my block committee
   vaccinating the children of my block;
   working for the Women's Federation
   teaching young women
   the facts of life;
   working in the school
   as a valued volunteer.
   And I have that I spend my nights
   (when it is my turn)
   guarding the homes, the schools, the day care centers
   and the offices of my neighborhood
   which is now truly mine, truly ours.

   I, Juana, woman
   Still have many problems to face
     My country is underdeveloped
     It is attacked in many ways
     And there is the reality that
     Old ideas and habits are hard to change.
   But
   I have a Women's Federation
   1.2 million women strong --
   82% of the women of my country.
   I have a government that is sensitive to
   the needs of women
   And pays close attention to the issues
     we raise in our community meetings
   or Women's Federation Congresses
   whether we are talking about jobs,
   education, health care
   or social problems;
   A government that moves, concretely
   to resolve the problems
   we point out.

   I have, let me see:
   I have a government
   that responds to all the people
   because the people are the government
   and women, slowly emerging
   from our centuries-old cocoon
   are already taking our place in that government
   participating at all levels
   in ever growing numbers.

   What do I have? Let's see:
   I have a gun
   training in the militia
   or in the regular army.
   I have the ability
   to defend my country, my people
   against any attack
   and the determination to fight
   to preserve
   the gains we have won
   through so much blood and tears.

   I have, let me see,
   I have a new awareness
   of my sisters around the globe.
   I'm no longer separated from them.
   I have the ability to reach out and help them
     as a teacher in Nicaragua
     a doctor in Angola
     an agricultural adviser in Vietnam
   And I know that my interests are the same
   as those of the Indian miner's wife in Bolivia
   the trade union organizer in Peru
   the artist in Kampuchea
   the pharmacist in Kenya
   the prisoner of the Bantustans in South Africa
   the sociologist in the Dominican Republic
   the mother whose child has "disappeared" in Chile
   the migrant farmworker in the California fields
   the black woman who can't get a job anywhere in the US
   the secretary who makes the coffee
   and suffers the humiliation
   of her lecherous boss
   in London, Tokyo, Paris or New York
   For all these women are my sisters
   And we can never be divided again.

   I, Juana, Cuban woman
   What do I have?
   I have, let's see,
   I have    what I had to have.
   I have    what I fought to have.
   And I will keep fighting until
     we all have
     what we have to have.


        **********************************************************

   Karen Wald is a journalist from California who has visited and written 
about Cuba frequently since 1969. Her book on Cuban children (CHILDREN OF 
CHE) was published in English by Ramparts Press, California in 1978 and in 
Spainish.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Subject: CUBAN WOMEN IN DEFENSE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


  WOMEN IN DEFENSE
  by Karen Wald


   Women's role Cuba's armed forces, militias and other aspects of national 
defense was one of the theses prepared for the Congress, but was not a real 
topic of debate, since women seem to have encountered few problems in this 
area. In the last five years, in fact, their participation in all areas of 
national defense has multiplied impressively. This was most effectively 
documented in the film (shown the first night) entitled "Mama Goes to War". 
The documentary showed women going off to a militia training camp. They 
included housewives and construction workers, students and professionals, 
some very young, others grey-haired grandmothers.

   With humor and empathy, the film showed the variety of attitudes, 
abilities and problems of the women when they first began their training. 
The women themselves talked about the support -- or lack of it -- they got 
at home from husbands and family members, and at times from their workplaces.

   At the beginning of their training, most of the women had never held a 
gun before; many flinched, some cried. But by the end, when they were 
carrying out dress-rehearsals for a real invasion, every woman was in her 
place, carrying out her assigned job with aplomb.

   In his final speech to the Congress, Fidel Castro noted that women now 
make up 48% of the militias, as well as filling the civil defense units and 
health brigades. Twenty thousand women have received officer training in the 
militias. Women throughout the country have gone through practice drills, 
simulated invasions, and "war games" aimed at preparing the entire 
population for the possibility of a real invasion from the United States. 
(The Cuban government has been very edgy since Ronald Reagan's election 
brought a right-wing administration to Washington in l98l, and was convinced 
that his reelection presented the imminent danger of armed intervention in 
the country.)

   Calling women a "decisive force" in the country's defenses, Castro added: 
"This isn't just a Congress of women, it is a Congress of half of our 
Territorial Troops Militias, a Congress of the defenders of our country, a 
Congress of the new combatants and soldiers of the revolution!" He observed 
that the country feels "stronger, more secure, more invincible" because of 
this massive participation on the part of women.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Subject: CUBAN WOMEN - STILL A LONG WAY TO GO
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


 CUBAN WOMEN - STILL A LONG WAY TO GO
 by Karen Wald


   A socialist revolution can make fundamental changes in the people's 
lives. By changing the economic and political structure of a country, it can 
lay the groundwork for the elimination of racism, sexism and class 
oppression. But a socialist revolution by itself cannot automatically 
eliminate sexism and sexual discrimination. It is up to the women and the 
men of each country to analyze the problems they have inherited and 
determine how to bring about the necessary changes. This is a long, slow 
process, but ultimately an extremely rewarding one. Nowhere is this more 
evident than in looking at the progression of demands and results expressed 
in the Congresses of the Cuban Women's Federation, the most recent of which 
was held this past March.

   Cuban women have clearly come a long way from the days when a proper 
young lady went out at night accompanied by a chaperone, and a virgin bride 
was transferred from father to husband like so much property. And the 
situation for both rural and urban poor was even worse. With almost no 
education or job-training, women who did not stay under the protective 
umbrella of husbands or fathers were generally forced to become either maids 
or prostitutes, and thus at the mercy of other men -- employers, "johns", 
pimps, racketeers -- because there was very little legitimate employment for 
women.

   These semi-feudal conditions, in which women were subjected to an 
inherited patriarchy that permitted them little or no leeway to live 
independent lives, have disappeared since the revolution. Women now study on 
a par with their male counterparts, and are entering the productive 
workforce in increasing numbers. They play an active part in the political, 
economic, military and social life of their country that would have been 
inconceivable for previous generations of Cuban women.

   The Revolutionary Government, spurred on by the Cuban Women's Federation 
(FMC), has enacted legislation and waged ideological campaigns to bring 
about equality for women. But it hasn't been an easy process, and it didn't 
take place overnight.In fact, in l962, when the First Congress of the 
Women's Federation took place, full equality wasn't even an immediate 
organizational goal, nor a realistic possibility. At that time, women who 
had already been taking part in the revolutionary process in a variety of 
ways were primarily concerned with how to involve more women, how to 
organize them, and how to start getting them out of their traditional role 
of homemaker. Just introducing the concept of education for women at that 
stage was revolutionary. Voluntary work was proposed as a way to accustom 
women to the role of worker, but the Federation did not yet make an attempt 
to get women involved in the productive workforce. No one was yet talking 
about women's liberation or the full
 equality of men and women.

   For a variety of reasons, the Second Congress wasn't held until l974 -- a 
span of 12 years. The changes were extraordinary. By then, 25% of the women 
were involved in the active work force, and concepts that would have seemed 
startling in l962 became basic demands. For the first time, the Federation 
began to talk about how to create conditions for the full equality of women 
in the society. It was then that Fidel Castro described the liberation of 
women as a "revolution within the revolution." In this sense the Second 
Congress of the FMC in l974 was a clear turning point. Women began to look 
at the ideological aspects of a women's movement and to understand the 
long-range work that would be needed to implement the goal that had been so 
clearly stated: to bring about full equality.

   By the time of the Third Congress in l980, adult women were being urged 
to complete their sixth grade education, and equal rights was no longer a 
concept to be established but a concrete objective to be won. Now the 
discussion was how to exercise those rights. A nationwide plan was set up to 
take on the ideological and practical work this entailed.

   A primary aspect of this Fourth Congress was to carry out an evaluation 
of that process. It asks the questions, What have we done, what have other 
organizations done, to fulfill these goals? What has women's participation 
in all spheres of life meant for the country? What has it meant for women? 
And perhaps most important, What remains to be done? The incredible spirit, 
the pure joy, which abounded in this Congress seemed to belie the immense 
job that still lies ahead. Perhaps it is that Cuban women, seeing how far 
they've come, are supremely confident of their ability to keep moving 
forward, despite what would look to an outsider like insuperable obstacles 
of built-in machismo interwoven with underdevelopment.

   The incorporation of women into the productive workforce has been much 
faster than the change in attitudes. The delegates to the Congress, in 
looking at both the progress over the last five years and at the remaining 
problems, made a series of proposals to strengthen and deepen what was 
already begun in the long effort to bring about full equality.

   In l959 there were fewer than 200,000 women in the active workforce. 
Today there are over one million, 38% of adult women. Getting women out of 
the house and into the productive life of the country was a combined effort 
of the FMC and the government, one passing needed legislation and setting 
guidelines, the other working door to door (and sometimes workplace to 
workplace) to change old ideas and attitudes.

   The superstructure has been built. There are 838 childcare centers 
serving 96,000 working mothers (still not nearly enough); a maternity law 
benefitting women workers that is one of the most generous in the world; a 
Family code, Constitution and labor regulations all mandating equality of 
women, equal pay for equal work, equality of opportunity.

   But all of these mean little if they are not fully implemented, and one 
of the jobs of the Women's Federation is to find out how well the system is 
functioning for women, where it is falling down, and why.

   If the problems a decade ago were to create the subjective and objective 
conditions to get women out of the kitchen and into the workplace, the job 
today is to eliminate the remaining vestiges of discriminatory attitudes 
toward (and sometimes by) women. The delegates attending this Congress 
confronted the problem, raised at the grass-roots meetings prior to the 
Congress and widely reported in the Cuban press, of job discrimination in 
both hiring and promotion: the male managers and administrators who don't 
want to hire women workers, the women who are loathe to take on additional 
responsibilities (or to give such responsibilities to other women). The 
subjective factors that lead to this situation are supplemented by the 
objective reality of women's continuing "double shift", which often 
translates into high absenteeism by women workers, or inability to attend 
evening meetings and work sessions. These same factors were cited as the 
primary reasons so few women hold position
s of leadership in political as well as economic areas.

   In addition to calling for a frontal attack on the old attitudes, the FMC 
is taking a hard look at some of the objective factors. The failure in many 
homes to do any more than give lip- service to the Family Code requirement 
that all family members share equally in housework and responsibility for 
the children is one of these factors. Another is the custom of having only 
women care for sick family members, at home or when hospitalized. The custom 
was reinforced by the practice in work centers of giving sanctioned (but 
unpaid) leave for this purpose only to women, and by regulations that 
permitted women, but not men, to stay in hospitals to care for sick family 
members.

   The FMC is now officially challenging this practice. "Must it always 
necessarily be the woman who gets leave to care for the ill?" it asks in the 
draft thesis for the Congress, "Cuban Women: Twenty-five Years of 
Revolution". Calling for a change in both hospital regulations regarding 
access to wards and in work-center practices regarding the issuing of paid 
leave, the thesis suggests that whichever family member can most easily be 
spared from his or her work, or the loss of whose salary would least hurt 
the family income, be the one given leave. "It sometimes happens that a 
pediatrician or other female professional whose work is of great importance 
to society has to take leave to care for a sick family member", the thesis 
points out, "when her husband or some other male family member who isn't 
engaged in such fundamentally important work could do it as well."

   This point generated some of the liveliest and most prolonged debate of 
the Congress, joined in by pediatricians, hospital directors, the Minister 
of Public Health and Cuban President Fidel Castro, who sat in on most of the 
Congress, paying close attention, and often intervening to ask a question or 
raise a point. One of the issues was the question of who decides whose work 
is more important, and how? (Fidel Castro opted for letting each family unit 
decide.) A variety of doubts were raised, including those of the labor 
minister, who feared men would be less trustworthy than women and might use 
the pretext of caring for sick children as an excuse to slack off from work, 
and those of a woman who felt that the children should be given the choice 
of which parent they preferred (she was convinced most children would rather 
have their mother there). Both doubts were rejected by the majority of 
delegates.

   Aside from these concerns, the concept of men sharing the obligation with 
their wives of caring for hospitalized children gained ready acceptance. 
More highly debatable was the question of men caring for wives, mothers or 
sisters in women's wards of hospitals (most Cuban hospitals do not yet have 
such modern conveniences as curtains that can shut off one bed from view of 
another; an addition which Dr. Ada Ovies, l8-year director of a small-town 
hospital, suggested could resolve most of the problem). The question of men 
in women's hospital wards was left for further study, and for time, 
presumably, to prepare the Cuban population to accept this innovation. (Even 
Fidel Castro, who is usually extremely well-informed on almost all matters, 
was taken aback at the suggestion of several of the doctors that men 
accompany their wives during labor and delivery. He promised to visit her 
hospital soon to learn more about the modern practices she has quietly been 
implementing there.)

   The FMC recognizes that sometimes it is the old-fashioned attitudes of 
women themselves that perpetuate these discriminatory practices, and sets 
itself the task of changing these ideas.

   The thesis also comes down hard on those who, "counter to the established 
norms of the Revolution", try to "block women's access to non-traditional 
jobs," or who use the personal, family-related problems of women workers as 
an excuse to fire them or fail to promote them.The delegates also spoke out 
against the double- standard often applied to women when considering them 
for political or job-related posts. The thesis and resolutions of the 
Congress condemned applying any kind of moral or sexual criteria to women 
that were not also applied to men. It urges closer work with the organized 
labor movement to deal with such "flagrant injustice".

   Given both the objective and subjective obstacles, promoting women to 
positions of leadership is a major ongoing battle. The youngest members of 
the society suffer little from this problem, but it seems to increase with 
age. In the Jose Marti Pioneers organization, which includes children from 
fifth through ninth grades, girls in fact predominate in leadership, making 
up half the membership and 66.3% of the leadership. But as the children get 
older, it seems, female proportion of membership in student organizations 
increases -- and their percentage in leadership positions decreases. In the 
secondary school student organization (FEEM), 57% of the membership and 6l% 
of the leadership is female. By the time they reach college, young women -- 
who by now account for 59% of the membership -- have dropped to 48% of the 
leadership. And although girls outnumber boys in membership of mass-based 
student organizations at the high school and college levels, their 
membership in the more
 selective Young Communists League is lower -- only 41%.

   These figures are cause for concern to the Women's Federation, which also 
points out that the rise in female Party membership from 14.1% in l974 to 
21.9% in l984 is encouraging, but far from satisfying.

   The FMC proposes that to enable more women to both work and assume 
leadership roles, three factors must come into play: l.) Help and 
understanding from family members, concretely, in taking on more household 
chores, not as a favor, but as an acknowledged responsibility of every 
family member; 2.) the elimination of subjective attitudes, prejudices and 
discrimination; and 3.) the creation of more services such as childcare 
centers, laundries, workers' cafeterias, etc. Of these three, there is 
little doubt number 2 will be the most difficult. The sharing of 
responsibilities in the household, mandated by the Family Code, is slowly 
but steadily gaining widespread acceptance. But there are still many men 
holding on to their privileged position in this regard, and too many women 
who are equally guilty in perpetuating the old style of relationships. 
Pointing out that the old division of labor that consigned women to the 
house bears no relation to today's reality, when so many wom
en are working or studying, the FMC condemns such division of labor as "a 
profound injustice...that generates other injustices," and a bad example for 
the younger generation. (Among the "other injustices" the FMC thesis names 
is the failure to promote women or choose them as leaders because of their 
family responsibilities, whereas no one would ever consider the same 
criteria in evaluating a man. FMC President Vilma Espin explained that male 
administrators sometimes take on a paternalistic attitude, claiming that 
they "couldn't give that poor woman more responsibility, when she's got four 
kids and so much work to do around the house".) If the Family Code were 
really being implemented, there would be no reason to make such an 
assumption about a woman worker. The FMC calls for continued persistant work 
in raising consciousness on this issue.

   There are other aspects in which women are often judged differently from 
men when evaluating them for leadership positions. The thesis cites moral 
attitude and sex life among the criteria which are discriminatorily applied 
to women seeking job promotion or political leadership. This topic, too, 
raised some of the most interesting discussion in the Congress. Cases were 
cited in which women who were being considered for promotion or leadership 
positions were rejected because they were single mothers, or were having an 
affair with a married man. This presented a thorny issue for the Congress. 
No one wanted to appear to be condoning marital infidelity, on the one hand, 
or imposing a moral standard on the other. At least one older woman delegate 
expressed the opinion that when a worker loses prestige among her 
co-workers, she can no longer be considered eligible for leadership 
positions. Other delegates had to once again point out that male workers 
would not "lose prestige" for
 such behavior. "And what about the married man she was having an affair 
with?" asked one. "Would he lose prestige too? Would it even be a topic for 
discussion?" In the end, the FMC stated that no criteria should be applied 
to women that are not included in the official requirements for the position 
she is seeking, or that are not required of men.

   All these remaining problems, however vital, should not be allowed to 
overshadow the enormous gains made by women over these decades of 
revolution. The rate of incorporation of women into the labor force has 
continued to increase in each five-year period. More than 53% of 
middle-level technicians now are women, and if this figure is somewhat 
bolstered by the large number of women teachers and nurses (which are 
included in this category), it is encouraging that the FMC is actively 
calling on young men to take up these professions as well, as one more step 
in breaking down the traditional roles of men and women in the labor force.

   Women have, in fact, been slowly but steadily breaking into many 
non-traditional jobs, especially in the construction industry. Women now 
slightly outnumber men in the universities. They make up 48% of the 
Territorial Troop Militias, the mass-based fighting force which the country 
will depend on to resist any outside invasion, as well as a sizable chunk of 
the regular armed forces. Women make up a significant amount of the 
internationalist brigades of health, education, construction and other 
workers Cuba sends to more underdeveloped countries around the globe. While 
their problems sometimes seem massive, and frustrating after so many years 
of revolution, members of the French delegation attending the Congress as 
invited guests pointed out that French women and those in other developed 
countries have still not gained some of the basic rights Cuban women already 
take for granted, such as equal pay for equal work. And a Guatemalan woman 
observed that most other women in Cent
ral America and the Caribbean "are just fighting for bare survival of our 
families."

   Unlike at the First Congress in l962, the goal of full equality has at 
last become immediate and realizable, not just a far-off dream. The first 
steps have already been taken. But the women at this Congress recognize all 
too clearly that it will still take a lot of hard work on the part of both 
women and men before they can say that the battle has been won.


 End main text.
 Via The N.Y. Transfer News Service 718-448-2358, 718-448-2683
---
[ This file has travelled through the Socialism OnLine! BBS
  at +1-203-274-4639, 24 hours, 300-9600 bps HST/MNP/V42bis,
  on its way to you, the reader of this file.  Please share
  any information you have about "big brother."  Venceremos! ]



