Federation of Cuban Women

The Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) was established in 1960 under the revolutionary government with Vilma Espín as its president. Espin fought in the Sierra Maestras with Fidel Castro and Raul Castro and married Raul in 1959. She was the president of the FMC until her death in 2007. The FMC was deeply involved in the 1961 Cuban literacy campaign and in supplying workers after the mass exodus of trained labor following the Revolution. A few of the stated goals of the FMC are: Bringing women out of the home and into the economy Reorganizing peasant households that keep women in subservient positions Developing communal services to alleviate domestic work and childcare Providing equal opportunities for women Mobilizing women into political work and government administration Providing adequate working conditions "to satisfy the particular needs of the female organism and the moral and spiritual needs of women as mothers." FMC & The Cuban Literacy Campaign The Cuban Literacy Campaign was a national effort to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba following the 1959 Revolution. Shortly after the Revolution, motivated by patriotism and sustained by political will, Fidel Castro declared that illiteracy would be eradicated within 1 year. Accordingly, during 1959 and 1960 the groundwork was laid for a mass literacy campaign, La Alfabetización. In the year leading up to the campaign, the FMC was charged with identifying illiterate women and convincing them to participate. During the campaign itself "figures indicate that more than 91,000 women participated with the FMC in La Alfabetización. Thousands of women became teachers and other cared for the young boys and girls ages 11-16, who formed the Conrado Benitez Brigade." "On December 22, 1961, when Cuba was declared a "territory Free of Illiteracy" 55% of the 700,000 new literates were women. FMC & The 1975 Family Code 1966 Fidel Castro made a speech in which he called for the addition of a million women to the labor force. Many women responded to this and entered the work force only to leave again when the burden of family and work proved too difficult. During the 1970s many improvements were made that allowed women to return to work, daycare centers were opened and other services provided. But still women lagged men in the workforce, making up only 25% of the force. In 1975 the FMC made a nationwide inquiry to investigate the reasons behind this. The result of this inquiry was the Family Code of 1975.