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4 A “Top-Down”– “Bottom-Up” Model four decades of women’s employment and gender ideology in cuba marta núñez sarmiento Since 1959 the Cuban cultural identity nationwide has been enriched by the new needs and values generated in women’s and men’s gender ideology. This essay argues that the feminization of the Cuban workforce, especially among professionals , has contributed to a change in what it means to be a woman and a man in my country.1 The processes linked to the increasing participation of Cuban women in the labor force are similar in many respects to those taking place in other countries of the region, including the United States and Canada. Nevertheless, there are notable differences that singularize the Cuban phenomenon, which I describe in this chapter. Two hypotheses guide my reflections. First, the Cuban programs to promote women’s participation in society have operated at two interrelated levels, that of the general policies promoted “from the top” and that of the reactions to these policies due to specific needs “from the bottom” (which have modified the policies constantly). The dynamics of women’s employment have resulted from a highly intertwined process nurtured by different experiences and ideas for four decades and conditioned by Cuban economic, political, and ideological structures in its recent history. According to the second hypothesis, the feminization of labor has contradictorily impacted the gender identities of all members of society, not only the identity of women, with evident trends toward nondiscrimination. Women have been the engines of these transformations. Gender Transformations in Cuban Society: A “Top-Down”–“Bottom-Up” Model Women’s participation in Cuban society has been part of the comprehensive social justice programs started in the early sixties to eliminate all sorts of discrimination. Since the beginning, criticisms of these programs have aimed to reinterpret the realities that the programs wished to transform, claiming the programs were either obsolete or unable to grasp people’s lived reality. This critical consciousness has been present since 1959, stemming from the highest echelons of the political 76 hierarchies—scholars, intellectuals, and artists—and from the everyday experiences of men and women. Critical thought and its concerns have been constrained by patriarchal trends persistent in Cuba, as well as by dogmatic positions. I have labeled the program to promote women’s incorporation to the labor force as a “top-down”–“bottom-up” model. Conceived and in operation at the higher political levels, the program includes social policies, legal frameworks, economic measures, and new cultural patterns that have been systematically modified as they have been implemented in day-to-day women’s and men’s lives. This critical flexibility , developed through multiple participation, is one of the program’s successes. It is difficult to separate the “above” actions from those that operate at the “bottom,” for the way in which the model functions makes it difficult to distinguish any well-defined structure within it that could be labeled as belonging to a certain level. Nevertheless, in considering how these two levels operate, I have selected certain topics concerning women’s employment and the gender ideology linked to it and have analyzed the interactions between measures dictated from above and the reactions that they provoked from the bottom. There were many economic, political, and ideological conditions that characterized the Special Period in Cuba during the nineties and impacted women’s employment and gender ideology. This crisis affected Cuban society as a whole and was the result of severe economic shortages due to the disappearance of the Eastern European socialist bloc centered around the Soviet Union. These countries accounted for 85 percent of all Cuban foreign economic relations. The reinforcement of the blockade by the U.S. government against Cuba, with the Torricelli law (1992) and the Helms-Burton amendment (1996), were also influential. Throughout these years the Cuban economy plummeted, and the quality of life of the population experienced a sudden and enormous decrease. The extent of the damages can be shown through the following example. For thirty years Cuba purchased 12 million tons of oil annually from the Soviet Union on preferential terms, based on a trade treaty that benefited both countries. The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 ended this treaty and Cuba started buying oil on the world market. That year, and the following, Cuba was able to purchase only around 4 million tons of oil and the economy nearly collapsed. Readjustments were introduced simultaneously in various spheres of society. Overcoming...

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