Cubans are still living under a patriarchy shaped by the revolution

See Cuban Women Await Their #MeToo Moment. By Wendy Guerra in The NY Times. Wendy Guerra is a Cuban poet and novelist. Her most recent book is “El mercenario que coleccionaba obras de arte.” Excerpts:

"To this day, however, most Cuban women are unaware of what their individual rights are, and few know how dangerous it is to become aware of them. In Cuba, various forms of harassment, abuse and violence against women persist, and there are systems in place for punishing those who do not put down their heads and surrender to the reality that men are in control of our daily lives.

Throughout my life, I’ve seen how powerless parents are in matters regarding their own children. Parents have no say over how their children should be raised, whether they will be conscripted or sent away to school in rural areas, and what dangers could befall them being so far from home and such a young age. They have no say over their children’s manners, religious teachings and political ideologies. There are only two choices: Run with the herd or be crushed by it.

As a teenager in the 1980s, I was taught in a “scientific communism” class that family was the heart of society. But from what I could see, that was no longer the case; organizations with mass followings like the Young Communist League had taken its place.

Things do not improve after leaving school. The intrusive way in which some men treat us, no matter who is present, is plain harassment. In Cuba it is considered normal for you to be shouted at, bossed around, touched without permission, because women are seen as subordinates.

When it came time to choose potential successors for a post-Castro Cuba, not one woman was considered. This was by design. In high school, a teacher and former member of the military once told me, “Men are in command because men made the revolution possible.”

The truth is that Cuban women possess great strength and proved their valor on the front lines of the revolution, too.

The guerrilla fighter Celia Sánchez Manduley was one who did. Without her and a small group of female soldiers known as the Marianas, Fidel Castro’s victorious march into Havana in 1959 wouldn’t have been possible. But because Ms. Sánchez is described in her official biographies as “one of Fidel’s closest collaborators,” and not as a revolutionary in her own right, many Cuban girls are unaware of her achievements.

She opposed executions by firing squad and the forced-labor camps where Mr. Castro sent gay men and other so-called counter-revolutionaries. Despite her role in the revolution, Ms. Sánchez was never granted the title of “comandante.” She also was an outspoken woman who, surrounded by a male-dominated military, was not able to carry out her own objectives.

Today, being a woman in Cuba who is unwilling to keep silent is complicated. We are also policed by other women: Family, friends, neighbors and colleagues can all be enlisted to report on, betray and bad-mouth us. This ends up hurting all of us.

While the #MeToo movement has reached countries around the world, Cubans are still living under a patriarchy shaped by the revolution. Cuban men don’t see a problem, and convincing them otherwise is futile, because for generations they’ve been taught that women were liberated 60 years ago during the revolution and that we require nothing more. Doing anything that doesn’t benefit the state makes you suspicious."

"I am not allowed to publish works in my own country that describe Cuba’s stark reality."

"In Cuba, endemic sexism is politically correct."