Women's Organisations and the Politics of Gender in Cuba's Urban Insurrection (1952-1958)

Abstract

This article sheds new light on Cuba's urban insurrection to oust Fulgencio Batista by focusing on two all-women's anti-Batista groups. It charts the origins and developments of the groups, explores their conceptions about the importance of women's political action and examines the impact that participating in the insurrection had on group members. The article complicates long-standing assumptions about women's low levels of participation in the insurrection and the absence of demands for gender equity among those who did participate by noting that some older women militants had histories with the feminist movement of the 1930s, and that many younger women were forced by the circumstances of the insurrection to confront and challenge contemporary gender norms.