Cuba: empowerment and gender equality on Rural Women’s Day

Cuba celebrates today the International Day of Rural Women with sustained progress in the implementation of state policies that defend gender equality and empowerment of women.

In this sense, the National Plan for the Advancement of Women expresses the Cuban government’s will to equalize opportunities for social benefit between men and women, which rewards the latter who live in the country’s rural areas.

Rural women have a large presence in the Cuban Parliament, the second country in the world with the highest representation of women in national legislative bodies, with 55.7 percent of the seats.

According to data recently published by the Cuban Women’s Federation (FMC), women in Cuba represent 67 percent of the student population, 60 percent of university graduates, 71 percent of health professionals and 53 percent of artists and athletes.

These rights, which are currently only aspirations promoted by the United Nations (UN), are a reality in the hinterlands of Cuba, which favors equal opportunities and resources to participate in the social, cultural, and economic life of our society.