Family Code - Socialism’s Straight Jacket

Family Code: Socialism's Straight Jacket / Cubanet, Miriam Celaya
Posted on March 2, 2015

The newspaper Granma insists that "it's a code for the rights of women".
But in 1919, as many women proportionally graduated from the University
of Havana as graduated from universities as in the U.S. And with the
Revolution, Cuban women are forced to raise their children under the
mores mores of socialism, with the slogan "We will become like Che."

Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 28 February 2015 — In an extensive
full-page article published on February 14th, the newspaper Granma ("Un
Código de Amor para la Familia"), is full of praise for the 40th
anniversary of the Cuban Family Code, which – in the words of Dr. Olga
Mesa Castillo, president of the Cuban Civil Rights Society and of the
Family of the National Syndicate of Attorneys, and faculty professor of
and consultant to the Faculty of Law of the University of Havana — "is a
code about the love and the rights of women."

Paradoxically, not even the most politically correct academic discourse
of a second-hand law officer can hide certain flaws that reveal the
passive role of Cuban women since, with the arrival of F. Castro to
power, their autonomy was appropriated and, along with it, their ability
to freely associate to defend their gender interests, issues relating to
the family, the right to choose their children's education, etc. In
fact, it can be argued that the Revolution of 1959 put to rest even the
last vestiges of the Cuban feminist movement.

That explains why, when Dr. Mesa refers to "those who conceived and were
involved in [the code's] drafting," she mentioned ten people's names and
only one of them was a woman, which means that the Family Code, which
"enabled Cuban women to fly" was – just like the Revolution itself and
all of its laws — essentially conceived and drafted by men, though by
then 16 long years had elapsed under a system of supposed gender equality.

Nevertheless, we must be aware that this law, de jure, benefited the
interests of minor children born in or outside marriage, it favored the
allowing of divorce, and constituted a guarantee for families based on
informal (or consensual) marriages, and for the right of children born
from those unions. Another question would be to determine how effective
the law has been in practice, if it has been applied extensively, and
how the subject of civil law would be justified at a preset ideology,
when sanctioning the obligation to establish a family and raise children
"according to socialist standards."

Cleaning up history

So, beyond the official vice of collecting calendar anniversaries for
whatever reason, the issue moves us to question and to calling to mind,
not just because of the usual compliments to justice and female equity,
achieved thanks to the Revolution, or because of the monumental
tackiness of adopting the law on Valentine's day, but for the perversity
of intentionally misrepresenting the role of women in Cuban history,
omitting the unquestionable legal gains made by the women's movement
during the Republican period.

An in-depth historical analysis of the role of women since the Cuban
wars for independence in the nineteenth-century would be extensive, but
it is essential to recall the Republican period because it was then that
the foundations of legal conquests were seated, from a women's movement
that — while not claiming the participation of women in politics, as was
happening in developed countries, such as the US — at least was
struggling for a larger share, employment opportunities, and social
protection connected with maternity and family.

Thus, as early as 1914, discussions began about the relevance to
legislating divorce. In 1916, a legal bill was presented guaranteeing
married women self-management of their assets – managed by their
husbands, fathers or guardians until then – which was approved in May,
1918. That same year the divorce bill was passed.

As for educational and cultural strides, by 1919 Cuban women had reached
the same level of literacy as men and in the decade of the '20s
proportionately as many women graduated from the Cuban University as did
from American universities. [1]

Between 1923 and 1940, Cuban feminist groups influenced the political
forces in support of legislation for women's rights and founded several
associations and media publications to defend women's interests. There
were also women's associations that promoted class actions, such as the
Women's Labor Union, an organization that placed the issue of working
class women ahead of women's suffrage rights. [2]

At the same time, there was an increase in women's activism aimed at
influencing legislative decisions, partnerships were established with
various influential political and economic groups – entirely controlled
by men — there were street demonstrations, ideas about women's rights
were published in newspapers and the radio, obstetric clinics were
built, night schools for women were organized, women's health programs
were developed and contacts with feminist groups abroad were
established. [3]

It is true that women just took part in legislative debates, but the
demonstrations organized by activists and the first feminist groups of
the time were instrumental in modifying civil and property rights that
changed the rules of property management — a distinctly masculine role
until then — and along with them, of women within the family, thus
taking a significant step forward for women's rights compared to other
countries in the region over the same period.

New laws favored citizenship status of women, establishing their
autonomy and rights, which proved a decisive factor for the development
of women's movements in the following years.

In 1923, with the participation of 31 associations, the first women's
national congress was held; the second one in 1925, saw the
participation of 71 associations.
In 1933, a strong feminine campaign claimed the right to vote (which had
been proposed by Ana Betancourt since the previous century), which was
formally acknowledged in the

Interim Constitution of 1934

In 1939, the Third National Congress of Women was held, whose final
resolutions demanded "a constitutional guarantee for women's equal
rights," a demand which was discussed in the Constituent Assembly and
finally recognized in Article 97 of the 1940 Constitution: "Universal,
equal, and secret suffrage is established for all Cuban citizens as
their right, duty, and function." [4]

Thus, in spite of the traditionalist nature of the feminist movement in
Cuba, of the shortage of legal mechanisms and limitations of our
ancestral culture and idiosyncrasies, Cuban women could vote and be
legally elected to public office even before many suffragists in more
developed countries.

To summarize, important legal strides were attained during the Republic,
as important as the right to vote, full capacity to make decisions about
property, the paid maternity law (though that did not include domestic
or agricultural workers), recognition of the rights of "illegitimate"
children and a gradual increase in protection of the rights of women
workers. In fact, those gains during the Republican era were influential
in a notable increase in the incorporation of women into paid jobs,
especially in urban areas, a process that was becoming stronger in the
years before the arrival of the Castro regime.

Two readings of the same Code

Now the official press and its cohorts of useful shysters, in the style
of Dr. Olga Mesa, aim to score for "the Revolution" of 1959 what were
legal conquests of Cubans many decades before. While it is true that
those female fighters of the Republic did not free themselves of
patriarchal subjection – cultural patrimony that even today has not been
totally overcome — or participate actively in national politics, they
launched a new feminine social model and created favorable conditions to
advance to higher levels of emancipation, compared to many countries in
the world.

In the years following 1959, the ideology that hijacked the power
quickly appropriated all spheres of socio-economic and political life of
the nation, including domestic areas. Thus, the full potential and
aspirations of feminine equality became subordinate to the service of
regime.

The rich tradition of the struggle of Cuban women was finally limited to
"a present" on Valentine's Day of this outdated and anachronistic law
called "Family Code," mechanically repeated in every marriage ceremony…
as long as the ceremony takes place between Cubans.

I was able to evidence this these last few days, when I had the
opportunity to attend the wedding in Cuba of a young Cuban woman,
residing abroad for more than a decade, and her Spanish boyfriend. So,
here is where "the Family Code" which — microphone in hand — was read by
the celebrant before the spouses and guests, had been mutilated in its
essence: the legal imposition of "educating children on the principles
of socialist morality." Since this was the case of spouses who do not
reside in Cuba, they were released from such a legal aberration.

As an additional detail, there was no Cuban flag or Cuban coat or arms
presiding over the ceremony. Perhaps what happens in these cases is that
the services are paid for in foreign currency, and we already know that
socialism takes a step back in the face of capital. Or perhaps it is
just that, in family matters, capitalism really is "clueless."

[1] K. LYNN STONER. De la casa a la calle, p. 184
[2] CASTELLANOS, DIMAS CECILIO. Desentrañando claves (inédito), Havana, 2011
[3] CASTELLANOS, DIMAS CECILIO. Desentrañando claves (inédito), Havana, 2011
[4] PICHARDO, HORTENSIA. Documentos para la historia de Cuba. Volume IV,
Part 2, p.349

Translated by Norma Whiting

Source: Family Code: Socialism's Straight Jacket / Cubanet, Miriam
Celaya | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/family-code-socialisms-straight-jacket-cubanet-miriam-celaya/