Gender approach in the economic modernisation of Cuba

Promoting policies for the development of equality is a priority for the Cuban government. The ‘National Programme for the Advancement of Women’, published in March 2021, reflects this commitment to gender equality. In this context, the Cuba-EU II Expert Exchange Programme, managed by FIIAPP and financed by the European Union has worked with Cuban administrations in drawing up a sectoral analysis of the gender approach in the economic modernisation process in Cuba.   

This study lays the foundations for the development of public policies that effectively promote gender equality. “Any analysis on the development of the gender perspective in Cuba is always relevant. The political nature of the country, its vocation for equity and the inclusion of men and women are fundamental for our society to progress in this direction”, points out Lisbet Lópes, researcher at the National Institute of Economic Research of Cuba.  

Preliminary recommendations of the analysis pointed to the gradual introduction of changes in public finances and the budgetary balance and to the implementation of a gender capacity assessment system in all participating institutions. Also proposed is the adaptation of tools for the design, evaluation and modelling of public policies, support for the compilation and/or use of statistics disaggregated by sex and the exchange of good practices in the EU in this regard, and the exchange of local development experiences with a gender focus between municipalities in Cuba and municipalities in the European Union.     

This review focused on four priority sectors: taxation, statistics, foreign trade and local development. The programme worked with the Cuban institutions in charge of each of these areas: the National Tax Administration Office (ONAT) in taxation, the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) in statistics , the MINCEX, the Chamber of Commerce and Procuba in foreign trade and foreign investment and the National Institute of Economic Research (INIE) in local development.  

The objective of this analysis is to gain a general understanding of the current and potential impact of the prioritised sectors on gender equality and, conversely, the impact of gender inequality in the sector.  To this end, the importance of these sectors in the economy and social fabric of the country, the institutional and legal framework that regulates them, and gender issues in the sector have been studied. In addition, an analysis has been carried out on which measures national gender equality policies are implemented in and how this currently meets the different gender needs and interests of women and men in all their diversity, as citizens, clients, consumers, workers and managers, suppliers, etc.