{"id":240941,"date":"2021-06-30T11:14:51","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T15:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=240941"},"modified":"2021-06-30T11:14:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-30T15:14:51","slug":"impact-of-u-s-sanctions-on-cuban-and-cuban-american-women-and-vulnerable-populations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba-usa\/impact-of-u-s-sanctions-on-cuban-and-cuban-american-women-and-vulnerable-populations\/","title":{"rendered":"Impact of U.S. sanctions on Cuban and Cuban-American women and vulnerable populations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The panel \u201c<\/span>The Impact of U.S. Sanctions on Cuban Women<\/span><\/a>,\u201d which featured presentations by Elena Gentili, representative of the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM) in Cuba, Conner Gorry, editor of Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC), Mar\u00eda Isabel Alfonso, coordinator of Cuban Americans for Engagement (CAFE), and Geoff Thale, president of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), was held on June 22. The panel coordinators were Stephanie Burgos, deputy director of the government affairs section of OXFAM-America, Jorge Quintana, executive director of the Center for the Democracy in the Americas (CDA), and Geoff Thale (WOLA).<\/span><\/p>\n

The keynote remarks were delivered by U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern (Dem-MA 2nd District), who has a long history of advocating for the lifting of the embargo.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Panel (screenshot).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The publication of <\/span>Right to Live Without a Blockade<\/span><\/i><\/a>, an OXFAM report from May 2021, preceded this meeting. Both the document and the panel seek to make visible the amplified impact of the U.S. economic sanctions on women and the most vulnerable groups on the island within the specific context of the pandemic. The Zoom event also preceded the United Nations General Assembly vote on June 23 for a resolution in favor of lifting the embargo, which was supported by 184 countries, and which the United States opposed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event emphasized the comprehensive and demoralizing nature of the embargo, which affects both public and private spaces on the island, in areas as dissimilar as access to technology and the capacity and management of care. Increased during the Trump administration, the sanctions reproduce the status quo of a patriarchal system in which women and the most vulnerable groups are most affected.<\/span><\/p>\n

This does not mean that women are the only ones affected. Sanctions hurt both women and men and other demographic groups. However, they have an impact by accentuating pre-existing gender inequality gaps.<\/span><\/p>\n

OXFAM has been focusing for years on the empowerment of women and on the constructive analysis of gender inequalities on the island. The organization thus occupies a privileged position to detect the degrees of intensity with which sanctions affect this population group. The report illustrates the peculiarities of such incidents and demands the right to live a dignified life in which an attitude of resistance and survival is not constantly present.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cuban women are in a situation of greater vulnerability given the high level of professionalization of this group but the existence of patriarchal structures that still dominate gender dynamics on the island: on the one hand, women occupy a high percentage of the country\u2019s labor force; on the other, they continue to play a leading role in domestic and care tasks.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pandemic does not discriminate; inequalities do: women cushioning the crisis<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n