Discurso con motivo del Doctorado Honoris Causa otorgado por la Universidad de La Habana

• Author: Gloria Gloria Bonilla Santiago
• Position: Rutgers University United States
• Pages: 1-4

Estudios del Desarrollo Social: Cuba y América Latina

www.revflacso.uh.cu

Estudios del Desarrollo Social: Cuba y América Latina

RPNS 2346 ISSN 2308-0132

Vol. 8, No. Especial, 2020

DISCURSOS/SPEECHES

Speech on the Occasion of the Honorary Doctorate awarded by the

University of Havana

Discurso con motivo del Doctorado Honoris Causa otorgado por la

Universidad de La Habana

Gloria Bonilla Santiago, PhD.

Rutgers University

United States

0000-0002-5159-4772 Fecha de enviado: 25/02/2020

gloriab@camden.rutgers.edu Fecha de aceptado: 26/02/2020

Good Afternoon. Thank you for inviting to

speak on a topic so closed to my heart since I

have been researching and working on this

topic in the last 30 years visiting and travels to

Cuba.

While the Cuban Revolution made an early

political commitment to gender equality, the

impetus for its implementation came primarily

from its leaders, especially Fidel Castro and

Vilma Espín, and its program was passed down

to women at the grassroots who had limited

chances to participate in the agenda’s design.

As one scholar lamented, «the women’s

movement in Cuba has not been the architect

of its own success»1.

Their well-intentioned policies produced

quantifiable successes, but Cuba’s gender

equality laws have not yet effectively changed

Cuban society. Yes, women were incorporated

into the work force in greater numbers, but

there remains resistance to and rejection of

women in charge. There are laws promoting

greater equality in the home and workplace, but

studies show that Cuban women still spend in

excess of thirty-four hours every week doing

chores and child-rearing, while men contribute

just twelve hours of their time2.

Despite these challenges, the progress

Cuban women have made toward gender

equality is striking, and the world has taken

notice. When international institutions rank

nations around the world on gender disparities

in opportunities, resources, services, and

benefits, Cuba consistently performs well3.

Although data vary year to year, Save the

Children consistently rates Cuba first among

developing countries (ahead of democratic

nations such as South Korea, Mexico, and

South Africa) for the wellbeing of mothers and

children4. The Overseas Development Institute,

a leading British think tank on development and

humanitarian issues, rates Cuba in the top

twenty nations for its progress relative to the

Millennium Development Goals5. The World

Economic Forum ranks Cuba 20th among 135

countries on the health, literacy, economic

status, and political participation of women,

outperforming all but Trinidad and Tobago in

Latin America, and many of its peers in the

developing world6.