Gender, Work, and Family in Cuba: The Challenges of the Special Period

Abstract

It is within the context of the Special Period, the economic crisis that began in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tightening of the economic blockade by the United States, that we analyze work and family relations in Cuba. Although women made significant gains in the labor market after the Revolution, the Special Period has eroded many of these gains. Using interviews collected in Cuba, we document the struggles that women workers encountered in order to continue to support their families and stay in the labor market. The growth of jobs in the tourist sector has led to worker redistribution and occupational downward mobility, as workers moved from professional to less skilled jobs in the tourism industry with little opportunities for mobility. We also capture how the Special Period has impacted Cuban families. Despite state attempts to legislate gender equity within the family, patriarchy was never fully eradicated in the home. This failure of the revolutionary project has been exacerbated by the country’s current economic crisis. The burden of this crisis has fallen more heavily on women who continue to shoulder the responsibility for household work and childcare.