Authoritarian States: Cuba

III
Social impact of the Revolution
Social impact of the Reovlution: Poor people
• Healthcare: The improvement in the economy in
the 1970s meant great advances were made. By
1981, the infant mortality rate had fallen to 18.5
per 1000 while pre-1959 diseases especially
associated with poverty (such as TB and
diarrheal disease) had been greatly reduced.
• Housing: Was failure. From 1949 to 1959,
housing units were built each year. In the 1960s,
figures dropped considerably, although they
rose to 16,000 units per year during.
• The first Five-Year Plan (1976–80). In 1973, a
high of 21,000 units was reached, but by 1980
figures had declined again.
Social impact of his measures: Women

● The lives of women changed greatly under

Castro’s regime after 1959. As well as social
policies affecting them – such as easier divorce,
free abortions and subsidised family planning –
the proportion of women in the labour force
doubled from the late 1950s to the late 1980s
Social impact of his measures: Women and black
people
● Cuban women are guaranteed equal pay, and
the Women’s Commission on Employment
monitors hiring and workplace practices for
discrimination.
● Cuba has one of the highest rates of school
enrolment of young girls. Also, more than
60% of university students are female, and
47% of university instructors are women – in
medicine, women actually outnumber men, Vilma Espin (1930–
forming 70% of students.
2007)
Espin was one of the leaders of the
26 July Movement in Santiago
before 1959. She later married
Raúl Castro and retained her power
base in the FMC when they
separated.
Social impact of the Revolution: Black people
● Cuba’s black and mulatto population –
which was disproportionately poor – saw
their living standards improve considerably
after 1959.
● Policies to end discrimination against, and
improve resources and opportunities for,
black people also began from the start of
Castro’s regime. Consequently, surveys
show support for Castro’s government is
greater among black people than among
whites.
 Balance: Women and black population
● The leaders of the 1959 revolution were
overwhelmingly white, and white people
have continued to fill the top political
positions.
● Consequently, as with women, black
people are still significantly under-
represented in the top organs of both
party and state.
 Social impact of his measure: Homosexuals
● The government was slower to tackle the
discrimination and inequalities affecting gay men
and lesbians. Until the 1970s, the government itself
treated such people unfairly. Described same-sex
relationships as incompatible with the revolution. A
bourgeois decadence.
● Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP), into which
it deposited homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and
other “undesirable” elements
 The revolution and the church
● As regards religion, the state at first
moved to reduce the wealth and
influence of the Catholic Church and, in
1976, formally declared Cuba to be
atheist.
● In 1992, the constitution was amended,
with ‘secular’ replacing the term
‘atheist’.

Feb 1 2019. First catholic church build in Cuba after 60

years.
Source 1
● At present, more than 40% of the workforce is made up of women,
constituting an estimated 60% of the upper levels of technicians
and 67% of professionals. Women constitute 61% of prosecutors,
49% of professional judges, 47% of magistrates and 30% of state
administrators and ministry offi cials.

● Saney, I. 2004. Cuba: A Revolution in Motion, London, UK. Zed Books.

p. 94.

● Disuss: How far have Castro’s policies for gender equality overcome the
pre- 1959 traditions of machismo and patriarchy in Cuba?
Remember: Compare and Contrast
● Compare and contrast either the economic or the social policies of Hitler
and Castro.