The Federation of Cuban Women
The deepening of the Cuban revolutionary project
The Federation of Cuban Women was established in 1960 in the context of the revolutionary formation of mass organizations. But it was not the first women’s organization in Cuba. The National Federation of Feminine Associations of Cuba was established in 1921, and it convened the First National Congress of Women, held from April 1 to April 7, 1923. The delegates represented thirty-one organizations. They were primarily middle-class women with a variety of political, social, and religious perspectives, but on common ground with respect to the issue of gender.
In the early 1920s in Cuba, women experienced profound prejudice and discrimination, reinforced in law and social convention. Working women received salaries much lower than men for the same work. Women did not have the right to vote or hold public office. The minimal rights of women in the family were illustrated by a law effectively granting a husband authorization to kill an adulterous wife.
In the context of this pervasive denial of rights, the National Congress of Women called for a campaign for women’s suffrage and for a struggle for the attainment of full and equal social, political, and economic rights for women. The Congress also called for a battle against drugs and prostitution; the enactment of laws for the protection of children; and the modification of teaching and education. The Second National Congress for Women was held in 1925, and it put forth a similar platform.
During the next decades, women were increasingly involved in the struggle of the people in neocolonial Cuba, a struggle for the attainment of national sovereignty and a political-economic order that protected the socioeconomic rights of all. The active and courageous participation of women in the people’s struggle was a powerful argument, made in political practice, for the right and the necessity of the full inclusion of women in the construction of a democratic society. It was an argument that was reinforced by the forces of repression, which beginning on January 8, 1930, included women among the detained, the tortured, and the assassinated. The integration of the issue of gender with questions pertaining to class, race, and national sovereignty was forged in political practice in Cuba.
In the context of the democratic opening of 1938 to 1940, a Constitutional Convention was convened on February 9, 1940. It approved a new constitution on June 8, which was signed on July 1, 1940, in the place where on April 10, 1869, the first constitution of independent Cuba, establishing the Republic of Cuba in Arms, was signed. The Constitution of 1940 was the product of advances in theory and practice of the people’s movement in Cuba. It was one of the most advanced constitutions of the world for its time, including in its provisions the principles of state intervention in the economy and state control of natural resources; the prohibition of large-scale landholdings; and restrictions on foreign ownership. It recognized the full equality of all, regardless of sex, race, color, class, or social condition; and it affirmed the rights of women to vote and hold public office.
Following its taking of political power on January 1, 1959, the Revolution embarked on what would become a process of construction of a form of democracy that would have characteristics different from representative democracy, which the Revolution viewed as structurally flawed from the vantage point of the needs of the people. One of the dimensions of this alternative construction was the expansion and creation of mass organizations, each of which were to be inclusive, with leadership named via direct and indirect elections.
Accordingly, organizations of workers, farmers, and students were expanded or created, inasmuch as each of these sectors had particular interests that must be formulated and addressed. Workers were organized according to place of work, without distinction based on levels of education or skill, and including professionals. In agriculture, a distinction was made for organizational purposes among cooperativists, agricultural workers, and independent small farmers. Among students, organizations were formed according to level, with university students, secondary students, and primary schoolchildren organized separately. In addition, neighborhoods were organized, initially with an emphasis on the threat posed by U.S.-sponsored terrorism. In this process, mass organizations were not formed on the basis of race, in accordance with the view that skin color was a natural but superficial basis for differentiation; and taking into account the historical practice of using the distinction for reactionary purposes with divisive intent.
With respect to sex and gender, the natural differences between men and women were seen as generating differences with respect to needs and interests that must be formulated and addressed. Accordingly, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC for its initials in Spanish) was established on August 23, 1960. This date marked “the beginning of the carrying out of specific actions that make possible the full incorporation of women in the political, economic and social life of the country,” as was expressed by the Website of the government of the City of Havana this past March 8, in its commemoration of International Women’s Day.
Today, the Federation of Cuban Women has 3,244,000 members nationwide, who comprise 91.47% of women fourteen years of age or older. The mass character of FMC membership prevents it from being captured by ideological radicals who are out of touch with the mainstream concerns of Cuban women. To be sure, ideological debates are present, but not in a form that is disconnected from the concrete needs of Cuban women or alienated from the patriotic and revolutionary sentiments possessed by the great majority of Cuban women, grounded in decades of struggle.
Since the triumph of the revolution, women in Cuba have attained significant political empowerment. In the 2022 elections to local assemblies of People’s Power, women comprised 44.42% of the elected delegates (8% higher than the previous term), elected by the people in secret voting in 12,427 voting districts. In the subsequent elections to the National Assembly of People’s Power, some 55.74% of the elected deputies were women, elected by the elected delegates of the local assemblies. The National Assembly of People’s Power is the highest political authority in Cuba, constitutionally authorized to enact laws and to elect and recall the highest members of the executive branch, including the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister.
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The Eleventh Congress of FMC
On March 7-8, 2024, the XI Congress of the Federation of Cuban Women was held, declaring itself as dedicated to the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro; the mother of the country, Mariana Grajales; and the founding president of the Federation, Vilma Espín, who presided over the organization until her death in 2007, and who is known today as the “eternal president” of FMC.
Teresa Amarelle Boué, General Secretary of the Federation, explained that the principal objective of the Congress was to evaluate the results of its work during the five years since the Tenth Congress; and to highlight the gains and challenges before the economic, commercial, and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba. The slogan of the conference was “Cuban women, conquerors of the impossible.”
Boué noted that the National Congress was preceded by assemblies of the membership at the level of the cities and towns, followed by assemblies at the level of the provinces. This process included the election of 323 women as delegates to the National Congress, who included workers of all economic sectors and the home as well as students and retirees. On the morning of March 7, the delegates were organized into four commissions, which held interchanges on themes such as the economic empowerment of women, the educational work of FMC in the formation of values, the community social work of FMC, and the internal life of the FMC and its attention to youth. Reports of the four commissions were subsequently presented to the Congress in plenary session.
Various issues were raised by the delegates in the commissions and the plenary sessions. Many issues were related to the vitality of the organization: the important role of youth in ensuring the continuity of the organization, including the need to preserve historical memory and to elevate ideological work among adolescents; and the importance of voluntary activism and the involvement of the local FMC base organizations in the activities of the local community, breaking the tendency of holding meetings without active follow-up.
Other issues were related to the difficult economic situation of the nation in the current moment. The creation of community projects that promote solutions to the principal shortages of necessities was advocated. Also proposed was the elevation of the incorporation of women in the workforce by means of their greater participation in work fairs, with priority given to work that contributes to food production, import-substitution, savings in material resources, and the efficient use of energy. The greater incorporation of young women in voluntary military service also was mentioned.
In addition, social problems and issues were addressed, such as sexual and reproductive health, sexual education, the prevention of adolescent pregnancy, and attention to pregnant adolescent mothers as well as the consumption of drugs. The strengthening of the struggle against drugs, negative conduct, and crime was stressed.
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Recent constitutional and legal gains
During the five-year period between the tenth and eleventh congresses of FMC, various public policies of benefit to women were approved by the National Assembly of People’s Power. The National Program for the Advancement of Women (PAM for its initials in Spanish), approved in 2021, while recognizing the substantive changes in law and in objective and subjective conditions that have been attained since the triumph of the Revolution, contains initiatives designed to advance the economic empowerment of women and to continue to advance in equality of rights, opportunities, and possibilities. It seeks the prevention and elimination of all manifestations of discrimination against women, by virtue of the creation of a culture of equality through education in schools and the media. It particularly notes the need for the empowerment of women in industrial management and for greater inclusion of women in occupations and professions not traditional for women.
The Integral Strategy for the Prevention and Attention to Gender and Family Violence was approved in 2023. Its preamble notes that the Constitution of the Republic guarantees protection from gender violence in all its manifestations. The Preamble further notes that mothers and fathers have responsibilities with respect to their essential functions in the education and integral formation of new generations in moral values. They have the responsibility to contribute actively to the full personality development of girls, boys, and adolescents. Parents have the duty to respect and guarantee the full exercise of rights by girls, boys, and adolescents; and to protect them from all forms of violence.
The document notes that gender violence is directed primarily against women and against any person that confronts the heteronormative gender system in their sexual orientation or gender identity. It describes gender violence as having various manifestations, including psychological, verbal, physical, sexual, economic, and symbolic.
The document calls for the implementation of an integral strategy of social communication that intends the prevention of gender violence. It calls for the strengthening of local mechanisms that ensure the participation of mass organizations and other social organizations and community actors in the attention, identification, detention, and prevention of gender and family violence. It also calls for mechanisms that guarantee access to justice for the victims of gender violence.
These two major pieces of legislation were developed as initiatives complementary to the new Constitution of 2019, the provisions of which required new legislation to facilitate their implementation. Teresa Amarelle Boué, general secretary of FMC, declared in an interview with the magazine Bohemia that many of the points of the 2019 Constitution and subsequent legislation coincide with the essence of the mission of the Federation of Cuban Women, ratifying the commitment of FMC to equality and social justice for women. She further noted that the approval of the strategy for the prevention and attention to gender and family violence represents a significant advance in juridical norms that will mean a greater effectiveness in working toward the prevention of violence, in accordance with the constitutional right of women to live a life free of violence.
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Final Considerations
The women’s movement in Cuba has focused on the fundamentals: political and legal equality, equality of opportunity in employment, and the elimination of violence. It has sought the attainment of these goals through a common political will forged through education and cultural formation, a process that was greatly aided by the strong and clear voice of Fidel on the question. Cuban women have attained significant gains without any state-imposed program of affirmative action or preferential treatment, in accordance with the Cuban revolutionary belief that democracy cannot be imposed on the people.
Cuban women have an ambiguous legacy with respect to the issue of the double burden. On the one hand, there are occasional statements coming from the FMC concerning the need for men to do more housework. But this occasional request is offset by custom, as Cuban women define work in the home as women’s work. In the fulfillment of this task, Cuban women have a strong extended family of support, including mothers, aunts, sisters, cousins, and life-long friends, thus enabling them to combine women’s work in the home with employment in an occupation or profession. In exchange, Cuban women expect men to manage home repairs, which is a time consuming and sometimes physically demanding activity in the Cuban context.
Cuban women today announce pride in their achievements in contributing to the economic development and political project of the nation, a project of universal human significance, while at the same time continuing to care for their children, grandchildren, and other family members in need, including elderly parents. They proudly proclaim that they have “conquered the impossible,” and in the process, they have won the respect and admiration of Cuban men.
The thought of the Cuban women’s movement is almost entirely devoid of post-modern tendencies, in contract to the women’s movements in the West. Cuban women do not view their interpretation of the significance of the Cuban Revolution and their important contribution to it as a narrative based on their lived experiences, convenient for the attainment of their interests. Rather, they believe that the right of their nation to sovereignty and their right as women to full and equal participation in its revolutionary project is consistent with universal principles and moral concepts that ought to guide humanity, in accordance with the Enlightenment project of truth attained through reasoning based on empirical evidence. They view proclamations of an epoch of post-truth as a sign of Western decadence.
The Cuban women’s movement affirms the political, economic, and social rights of all persons, and the right of all persons to live free of violence, regardless of sexual orientation or sexual identity. But it has not formulated a philosophical analysis of Cuban history and political economy from the point of view of sexual practices or sexual identity. The Cuban women’s movement pertains to the international anti-imperialist movement for the construction of an alternative world order, with a concept of truth and justice forged from the vantage point of the colonized, a position to which Cuban women have been assigned by history, and from which they seek political, economic, and social emancipation.
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