A Woman's Place: The Cuban Revolution and Gender Inequality in the Home

Abstract

This thesis is an empirical study of changes in Cuban women's public and private lives from the 1959 Revolution to 1990. It describes the colonial gender ideology that has influenced present-day male and female relations, behaviors, and gender roles, and has perpetuated sexual stereotypes. It also discusses how this ideology has prevented women's full equality in the home and gives examples from interviews, films, and literature to show where these inequalities in the home are still evident.

The interviews, films, and literature utilized in this study represent both Cuban and North American perceptions of women's status in Cuban society and in the home. In using these sources, the author is able to examine Cuban women's postrevolutionary roles, relations, and experiences in the most balanced way possible without first-hand travel to Cuba. The author includes Cuban women's (and a few men's) voices as much as possible through the use of previously conducted interviews.

This study concludes that Cuban gender inequality still exists in both the public and the private spheres, though more acutely in the private, and that this is the result primarily of the perpetuation of Spanish gender ideology. This ideology has placed women in a subordinate position vis-a-vis men and has assigned men and women unequal roles in society and the home. Women traditionally have been associated with la casa (the home) and men with la calle (the street), which has made it difficult for women to escape their domestic obligations.