A Cuban Feminist Revolutionary: Vilma Espín
- guidetopw
- Jul 12, 2020
- 3 min read
A feminist, a revolutionary, and political activist. Vilma Espín was active during the Cuban Revolution and during Fidel Castro’s regime. She was especially passionate about gender equality and worked hard to achieve many things during her lifetime. She is remembered and honored within Cuba and is especially known among women as a fierce, hard working woman. Here is her story.
Background and her activism in college
Her involvement as a revolutionary
Her work to improve the lives of women and the poor
Background and her activism in college
Vilma Espín was born on April 7th in 1930 in Santiago, Cuba. She had a good child as her father, a wealthy lawyer helped her get education as a girl, even though it was not as normal. She had four siblings and a prosperous childhood. When she went to college, she was one of the first women to earn a chemical engineering degree in Cuba. She attended Universidad de Oriente to study chemical engineering. She then, after being encouraged by her father, went to Massachusetts to complete her post-graduate studies in America at MIT. After returning back she became involved in numerous political activities. She married the younger brother of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro. Together they had four children and attempted to provide the best they could for all of their children.
Her involvement as a revolutionary
Her involvement in politics started while she was in college. While attending the Universidad de Oriente, she became involved in many protests against the regime of Fulgencio Batista. After she returned from MIT, she became involved in politics and the Cuban Revolution even more. One of her most prominent achievements was that she was one of the leaders in the 26th of July Movement. This movement lasted from 1955 to 1959. In this movement she led, along with Frank País, they were able to overthrow the regime of Batista in Cuba. While involved in this movement she met the Castro brothers and eventually married Fidel Castro’s younger brother Raul. The revolution began as a cause of Fidel Castro’s attempt to form a guerilla force by attacking the Moncada Barracks. Vilma was extremely passionate about preventing Batista’s regime. She was also a part of the Politburo Communist Party, and other communist groups. Another movement/uprising she was a part of was the uprising of Santiago de Cuba on November 30th in 1956. As the wife of Raul Castro she served as the president’s official hostess during Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s visit to Cuba which further increased her political presence. Her role in the Cuban government was extensive as well. Vilma served as a member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party from 1965-1989. But her role in the government also extended to her work in order to improve the lives of women and others.
Her work to improve the lives of women and the poor
Aside from being passionate about the revolution and politics, she was extremely passionate about gender equality in Cuba and improving the education system to give access to education and other basic rights to the poor. Her first major step towards gender equality was founding the Federación de Mujeres Cubanas (Federation of Cuban Women) in 1960. This was a mass organization that mobilized women for the revolutionary cause and advanced gender equality in Cuba. She remained in the position of the president of this federation until 2007 (the year of her death). The organization’s primary goals were to educate women, give them skills to seek employment to support themselves, and encouraged women to participate in politics and support the government. She allowed this federation to help in many different ways outside of these main goals. One example of this was by creating the Emergency Medical Response Brigades to mobilize women against counter-revolution in the case of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Her federation was extremely successful and is still operating today. She was even able to help pass the Cuban Family Code in 1975. This required men to help with household chores and childcare to aid working mothers and women. Other things she did in order to advance her ideologies of gender equality and access to education she produced a number of other groups and organizations. Some of these include the Ana Betancourt School for Rural and the Night Domestic Schools which helped in improving access to education for poor or women located in more rural areas. Her work in helping others also was involved with the government. She was the technical director of Industrial Development in the Ministry of Food Industry, the president of the Institute of Childcare and others. Her legacy working to improve women’s lives and her aid in the Cuban Revolution are well known today in Cuba. Unfortunately, she died in Havana on June 18th in 2007. And as a tribute to her hard work, the Vilma Espín Elementary school was opened, and her hard work is still remembered today.
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