Precarious Politics: Experiments in Market-Socialism and the Prospects for Cuban Women's Unfinished Revolution

For more than 150 years, feminists have debated the comparative merits of capitalism and socialism for women's emancipation. This article explores the transition in Cuba as President Raúl Castro experiments with market liberalization to shed light on that debate. Toward that end, it considers the many gender equity policies developed in Cuba since 1959 as well as the factors that contribute to women's unfinished "revolution within the revolution." The article then turns to assessing the gendered economic and political effects of market liberalization in Cuba, 1990-2004, and socialist Nicaragua, 1985-1990, and argues that further market liberalization in socialist Cuba will threaten gender equity by its effects on an array of social domains, including healthcare, education, transportation, consumption, and others.