Woman in Cuba Today: A Photo Essay by Silvia Corbelle / 14ymedio

Trapped in a reality that has spent decades in a profound material and moral crisis, Cuban women try to overcome these obstacles every day

Working for oneself and for non-state cooperatives has opened an opportunity for some of them to return to a working life

Buying food is principally the work of women, on top of their domestic chores and their jobs

Putting food on the table for their children and family is one of the most time-consuming jobs in a woman’s day

Beauty products are sold in hard currency and at a price that bears no relation to real wages

Numerous plays and other artistic expressions denounce women’s role as “sexual objects”

Motherhood is a path full of obstacles for the Cuban woman, among other reasons because of the high price of baby products

Emergency rooms are full of the victims of domestic violence, a drama experienced in silence and with almost no protection

Young professionals don’t want to end up like their mothers, with too many responsibilities and few expectations

Many still look for a man to “represent” them, in a country where machismo continues unchanged inside and outside the home

Women tourists who come to the island are pressured by those who are looking for a foreigner to get them out of the country

Women dress up in costume to earn a few convertible pesos from the foreign tourists in the historic center of the city

It is difficult for a Cuban woman to have a moment of privacy in a public space, a male voice always asks her, “Mami, do you want company?”

Women excel at their studies, but later the demands of their domestic lives hurt them in the professional sphere

From the time they’re small the roles are defined by “girls’ toys” like playing house, musical instruments and dolls

For girls who prefer physical games, popular prejudices label them with the insult of “tomboys”

Black women are doubly discriminated against, for the color of their skin and for being “the weaker sex”

In the countryside, machismo is even stronger and being a housewife is the destiny of many rural women

They take care of everything for the family… but what happens when they are disabled or elderly and need help?

In the early years of this 21st century, young women prefer to maintain their independence and postpone marriage

“I want to leave this country as soon as possible,” is the dream of thousands of Cuban women under thirty