Havana: Cuba today celebrates the International Women’s Day with undoubted achievements in their leadership in society and aware of the challenges it still faces in relation to gender equality, Prensa Latina publishes.
The Secretary General of the Cuban Women Federation (FMC), Teresa Amarelle, highlighted the Government’s commitment to this purpose, which led to public policies to promote the integral development of women and guarantee the full exercise of their rights.
Cuban women constitute the 53.22 percent of the deputies to Parliament and 49 percent of the workers in the state sector, according to data from the National Office of Statistics and Information.
Widely recognized in the country is the decisive role of the female force during the confrontation with the Covid-19 pandemic, being on the front line and representing 69.6 percent of those who work in the health area.
They are also essential in research on new drugs and care protocols, and their footprint is part of obtaining five vaccine candidates that go through different phases of clinical trials.
Women make up 53.5 percent of the Science, Innovation and Technology system in general and 48 percent of Cuban scientists, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez highlighted.
Also noteworthy is their performance in the Henry Reeve medical contingent brigades that provide help to other countries against Covid-19, as well as their growing incorporation into agricultural work.
However, there is still a long way to go, the FMC general secretary acknowledged to the press, which is why the country approved in November 2020 the National Program for the Advancement of Women (PNAM).
This government agenda, made up of 44 measures, makes it possible to address the existing gaps in the search for gender equality, based on actions such as the promotion of an education with these approaches, aimed at families and communities, as well as public servants.
In addition, the PNAM includes aspects related to public policies for the economic empowerment of women, facilitating care work and the fight against gender violence and forms of discrimination, which mainstream all the objectives of the Program.
“In Cuba we will not allow impunity in the face of violence”, Amarelle said, adding that a gender observatory is being prepared in the country, which will make it possible to measure the impact of what has been done and improve its implementation.