Gender and Democracy in Cuba (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Gender and Democracy in Cuba Elizabeth Dore Ilja A. Luciak. 2007. Gender and Democracy in Cuba. Gainsville, University Press of Florida. 144 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8130-3063-0. Cuba's electoral system is labyrinthine. While few Cubans understand its ins and outs, few give it much thought because they do not equate voting with the exercise of political power. Ilja Luciak presents a clear, detailed explanation of national and municipal electoral politics, and an analysis that is both balanced and nuanced. If you want to understand how Cuba's electoral system works, this is the book for you. Building on a solid analytical foundation, Luciak investigates women's participation in the electoral sphere and in the all-important Communist Party. His major conclusion is important. The more weight an institution has in decision-making powers, the fewer women in positions of authority. The National Assembly, Cuba's Parliament, boasts an admirable number of women among its ranks. However, the Assembly sits but several days per year, and has little power in the Cuban scheme of things. Power in Cuba is exercised by a handful of mostly white, elderly men who head the Politburo, the highest body of the Communist Party. In 1997, among its twenty-four members the Politburo had two women. Luciak concludes that women are largely marginalized from the real seats of political power. Luciak studiously assesses improvements in women's lives, and advances in gender equity, of which there have been many examples over the course of the Revolution. Drawing on this analysis, he argues persuasively that expansion in women's political influence will come only when the government permits an independent women's movement to exist. The only women's organization allowed in Cuba is the official Federation of Cuban Women. Rather than campaigning for policies that promote a feminist agenda, the Federation seeks to mobilize women in support of government policy. So long as Cuba's only women's organization is subordinated to the male dominated Party, the possibility of measurably altering Cuba's machista political and social culture is limited, in Luciak's view. Another major contribution of Gender and Democracy in Cuba is Luciak's presentation of detailed transcriptions from interviews with an impressive array of political leaders, from Ricardo Alarcón, the [End Page 213] President of the National Assembly, on down. Luciak makes it plain that Alarcón and others recognize the need to expand women's representation in Cuba's major political institutions. It hasn't happened, argues Luciak, because the self same politicians who confess that something should be done, assiduously squash social mobilization outside the reach of the Party-State combine. Gender and Democracy in Cuba makes major empirical and analytical contributions. It is well written, forthright, and covers a lot of important ground. My only major gripe is its bland, off-pink cover. That's the fault not of the author, but of the University Press of Florida. It's a pity this excellent book is hidden behind a boring, blurry photograph of an elderly woman who looks meek and resigned. What this book merits is a photo of Cuban women demanding their rights. Surf the web and you will find them. Elizabeth Dore Department of Modern Languages University of Southampton E.Dore@soton.ac.uk Copyright © 2010 Instituto de Estudios del Caribe, Universidad de Puerto Rico