{"id":198324,"date":"2019-05-07T09:31:24","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T13:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=198324"},"modified":"2019-05-07T09:58:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T13:58:34","slug":"womens-special-periods-in-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/columns\/no-filter\/womens-special-periods-in-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s “special periods” in Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 1990 Fidel Castro gave the <\/span>closing speech<\/span><\/a> of the 5th Congress of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC). He had done it many times before. But on that occasion he heralded a major change. In his speech he acknowledged that the country was on the threshold of a crisis: the Special Period in times of peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are some who say that we\u2019re already in special period. We aren\u2019t in a special period, but we are almost in a special period…. It\u2019s something that we don\u2019t want, something that we hope will not happen, but we have the elementary duty to draw up all our plans for such circumstances…we must be prepared for the worst circumstances…. I want you to know that the general principle \u2015and I will not give more ideas\u2015 would be, at least, that what we have we share among all.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The women gathered there applauded. After such an announcement, the certainty that there would be an egalitarian and cooperative way out was appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The crisis reached a country where poverty levels were low (6.6% in the mid-1980s) and the inequality index (Gini coefficient) was 0.24, one of the lowest in the region. The management of the crisis by the Cuban State produced nothing comparable to the neoliberal adjustments that, for other reasons, countries in the region were experiencing around the same time.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Cuba<\/span><\/a>, the market sphere was also expanded and the state apparatus was rationalized, an attempt was made to attract foreign capital and create conditions for the domestic use of the dollar and other currencies. But no public service or productive structure was privatized. The State did not lose its coordination role. Access to work was not subordinated to the existence of a competitive labor market. Social protection circuits were maintained (universal public health and education systems, basic food basket, pensions, etc.) and an attempt was made to contain the widening disadvantages and exclusions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The crisis, however, had far-reaching social consequences. A macrosocial analysis reveals that the poverty index increased considerably. The last available measurement, from the beginning of the 2000s, speaks of an urban poverty of 20%. When it descends in the scale to the dermis of the families, an unprecedented deep break is verified, worse than the one announced in that congress of the FMC.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Special Period changed everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

All households entered the crisis at the same time; but not all could manage it in the same way, nor have all come out of the crisis at the same time. Some are still there, and the analyses on the growing inequalities demonstrate this. But the crisis also had different effects within families.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cuban women<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the comments of his speech, the then Cuban president called on women to preserve their elegance and beauty even in times of austerity.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was going to tell you to take care of the clothes for the special period; with the clothes that you have, pretty and elegant, you might have clothes for the special period and don\u2019t need a meter of fabric in two, three, four or five years. I am sure that five years of a special period will pass and we\u2019ll meet, and you\u2019ll come as elegant and as beautiful as you have come tonight.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the Special Period, beauty and elegance were different from what they wore that night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00bfEres libre?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n