Download Women in the Cuban Revolution

"Women in the Cuban Revolution"
"Women in the Cuban Revolution." Primary Source Media Documents: History in Context: Modern World. Detroit: Gale, 1976.
Question: What role does feminism play in the struggle for the liberation of women? What is the
FMC's position on feminist trends?
Vilma Espín: ONE OF THE SOCIAL THEMES which has been debated throughout history is
without doubt that of the woman and her role in society. However, in recent years, during which the
revolutionary movement has gained ground throughout the world, the liberation of women is one of
the questions that is being discussed by sociologists, psychologists, politicians, economists, that is
all those who in one way or another have something to do with the development of society. We
should also say that it is a problem which first and foremost, interests woman herself.
In my opinion, the liberation of women cannot be separated from the liberation of society in general.
There can be no liberation for a social group constituting half of humankind, as long as exploitation
of man by man continues, as long as the means of production are owned by an exploiting minority.
A woman cannot have any political, economic or social rights in a capitalist society where she
suffers from class oppression and discrimination because of sex and race.
I mention this in order to answer your question on the role of feminism. Historically, the feminist
movement has put forth partial solutions, struggling for political rights--as did the suffragettes--but in
my opinion, it has not attacked the roots of the problem, which is the capitalist society.
Of course, the feminist movement as such was progressive in its time, at the start of this century,
because it helped to create consciousness in the woman, to take her out of the narrow confines of
the home. Even now it can play an agitating role, channel dissatisfactions, but its fundamental
weakness is that it strays from the real road which is the struggle for the liberation of the peoples
and confuses many women desirous of struggling for a better life.
This feminist movement is quite strong in the United States and in western European countries.
There are dozens of groups that have different aims, many of them positive. Of course, the woman
is attracted to them in societies that grow increasingly corrupt, where the use of drugs and juvenile
delinquency constitute veritable terror for mothers, where the woman is discriminated against as a
worker, receiving a lower salary than men, with few possibilities of highly-qualified jobs or posts.
Societies which in some cases are very economically and culturally developed but where truly
backward laws exist discriminating against women.
We don't deny that sometimes through this way some women join the struggle, in the measure that
they grow in consciousness, acquiring a political development. But unfortunately many feminist
groups take away forces that could strengthen the genuinely revolutionary movement.
We even know of some capitalist countries where the ruling class stimulates those movements,
they do not persecute them, they let them grow because to a
Source: June E. Hahner (ed.), Women in Latin American History: Their Lives and Views (Los
Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), pp. 165-171. With permission of UCLA Latin
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
American Center Publications, University of California, Los Angeles.
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.