Cuba: a Materialist-Feminist Perspective
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CUBA: A MATERIALIST-FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON THE SOCIALIST PROJECT by Joseph de la Torre Dwyer A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Political Science Written under the direction of Dr. Mary Hawkesworth And approved by _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey January 2013 © 2013 Joseph de la Torre Dwyer ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Cuba: A Materialist-Feminist Perspective on the Socialist Project By Joseph de la Torre Dwyer Dissertation Director: Dr. Mary Hawkesworth My dissertation develops a rich account of how the two political projects of socialism and feminism were mutually articulated in the pursuit of women’s liberation by the Cuban revolution and through the multifaceted practices and living labor of Cuban women. Grounded in materialist feminism and feminist political economy, as well as theories of care, democracy, and liberation, my research argues for a thorough rethinking of socialist feminism. Through a careful examination of the theory and trajectory of gender equity as women’s liberation within Cuba since 1959, I note significant gains achieved across myriad social dimensions but a marked resilience of gender inequalities cemented by the theoretical foundations of Marxist-Leninism espoused by the Cuban Communist Party and the Federation of Cuban Women through analyses of its keynote texts. I argue, nonetheless, that socialism and feminism are still key to degendering structural differences among human flourishing, and that cooperatively they hold the promise of a deeper social transformation beyond a gender equality purchased at the price of women’s disautonomy and hypertrophied commodity production. My dissertation makes this argument through a materialist feminist analysis of Cuban women’s socially invisible work which challenges the rigidities of gender-blind socialism, labor-blind ii feminism, and masculine versions of liberation and proposes that the identification of care-work as a distinct category of labor illuminates new possibilities for human liberation. This proposal carries within it the explicit critique of the idols of the political economies of both neoliberalism and socialism, commodity production, and begins to chart a third way toward the non-exploited, non-alienated, and interdependent wellbeing of all members of society through a feminist theory of revolutionary democracy. This theory aims toward social justice and the realm of freedom by outlining the substantive social recognition of care-work as a means to empower people to gain control over their economy, temper commodity production, incorporate women fully in politics and governance, and alter the sites, forms, and contents of social democracy. By attending to care-work and encouraging its universal practice, we open possibilities for social justice that have to date eluded us. iii Acknowledgement All human endeavors rest on a foundation composed of the talents and labors of multitudes and I know this to be especially true of this dissertation. I first thank my advisor, Professor Mary Hawkesworth, whose advice and assistance throughout the long and arduous course of this project was truly inimitable. Her enormous breadth of knowledge in the field was always able to point me to the perfectly relevant article and her tireless energy and generous spirit somehow found time to offer comments and discuss yet another chapter draft. Although no amount of gratitude could suffice, I would like to recognize that my entry into the ancient and honorable community of scholars is in large part thanks to her labors. My other committee members also deserve praise and thanks. Professors Drucilla Cornell, Andrew Murphy, and Antonio Vázquez-Arroyo all offered tremendously valuable feedback, warm encouragement, and sharp intellectual provocation to help me improve this project beyond what I believed myself capable of. I ought not forget my fellow graduate students whose friendship and intellectual perseverance helped shape me, this project, and how I understood the very fundamental concepts and ideas I was wrestling with through the classroom and, more importantly, through the informal discussions fueled by our mutual passions for the subject of politics, gender, social justice. Many thanks to Albert Castle, Alexandra Hoerl, Ben Pauli, Benjamin Peters, Christina Doonan, Elric Kline, Lincoln Addison, Nick Martyniak, Rocky Graziose, Vivian Kao, and Vaughn Anderson. iv I also thank my parents who more than most have helped shape who I am. I always like to say that my mom was secretly a Kantian and that my dad was secretly an economist, although neither of those words was ever mentioned during my childhood. Further, it is thanks to their values, labors, and material gifts that social justice matters to me. Put together, feminist political economy made perfect sense. I hope this dissertation has made them proud. v Table of Contents ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ................................................................ ii Acknowledgement ................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................... vi Table of Figures .................................................................................................... vii Part I. Grounding the Project ........................................................................................1 Introduction .................................................................................................................1 Ch. 1. Cuban Feminist History .................................................................................6 Part II. Revolutionary Cuba’s Feminist Agenda ....................................................... 48 Ch. 2. The Cuban Path to Women’s Liberation ....................................................... 48 Ch. 3. Flaws in the Socialist Vision of Women’s Emancipation in Cuba ................. 73 Liberation Through Production .............................................................................. 73 The Role of Women’s Work and Women’s Voices in a Theory of Socialist Liberation .............................................................................................................. 98 Part III. A Materialist-Feminist Account ................................................................. 131 Ch. 4. Women’s Work .......................................................................................... 131 Part IV. The Care-Work Difference ......................................................................... 186 Ch. 5. Care-Work and Revolutionary Democracy ................................................. 186 Means of reaching a Third Way—Civitas carans .................................................. 225 Appendices .................................................................................................................. 241 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 244 vi Table of Figures Figure 1.1: Demographic Change in Cuba, 1774-1791 ....................................................8 Figure 1.2: Percentage Illiterate Persons by Cuban Census: Selected Years, 1899-1961 14 Figure 1.3: Education Levels of Men and Women: 1970 Cuban Census ......................... 17 Figure 1.4: Net Parental Leave Benefits, First Year after Confinement, As a Percentage of a Net Average Production Worker’s Wage in Eighteen Countries with Different Family Policy Models in 2000 ............................................................................ 22 Figure 1.5: Delegates Elected to Municipal Assemblies of Poder Popular (% Women) .. 36 Figure 1.6: Representation of Women in the Council of State [Consejo de Estado], by Legislature ......................................................................................................... 38 Figure 1.7: Women on the Political Bureau [Politburó] of the Cuban Communist Party: 39 Figure 1.8: USSR Commerce and Oil Imports to Cuba: 1989-93 .................................... 41 Figure 1.9: Total Fertility Rate (Children per Woman): 1955-2008................................ 45 Figure 3.1: Women as a Percentage of Persons Employed in Cuban Formal Market: .... 84 Figure 3.2: Ethnic Composition in Cuba: Selected Years, 1774-2002 ............................. 88 Figure 3.3: Female Membership and Leadership in the Party Organizations: 1975-76 107 Figure 3.4: Women as Percent of Party Membership, Partido Comunista de Cuba ...... 108 Figure 3.5: Percent of Federadas who paid dues on time ............................................. 122 Figure 3.6: Autofinanciamiento of the FMC ................................................................. 124 Figure 3.7: Average Dues paid per Federada (Peso) .................................................... 125 Figure 3.8: Logo of the FMC, I Congreso (1962) ......................................................... 126 Figure 3.9: Logo of the FMC, III Congreso (1980) ....................................................... 127 Figure 3.10: Current Logo of FMC (2010) ................................................................... 128