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Renegotiating the Reproductive Bargain: Gender Analysis of Economic Transition in Cuba in the 1990s
Author(s) -
Pearson Ruth
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-7660.00060
Subject(s) - demise , reproduction , division of labour , distribution (mathematics) , consumption (sociology) , state (computer science) , portfolio , politics , production (economics) , economic collapse , economics , economic growth , sociology , political science , market economy , law , social science , ecology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , macroeconomics , algorithm , computer science , financial economics , biology
This article argues that Cuba's economic demise following the collapse of the former Soviet Union should be seen as a crisis in reproduction as well as a crisis in consumption and production. Using qualitative field research carried out in 1994 and 1995 in Havana and in the province of Matanzas, the author shows that the commodities and services required for reproduction could no longer be guaranteed through the distribution system of the Cuban state. Consequently, people began to devise a range of survival strategies in order to ensure the reproduction of their households, including trading in unofficial markets, leaving formal employment and engaging in a portfolio of income‐generating activities in the informal sector. Such strategies were patterned by the existing sexual division of labour and show a reinforcement of traditional gender roles. The article argues that these changes will have important political as well as economic consequences for Cuba's future.

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