The Cuban revolution has brought about great change for women. Prior to Castro's reign, women mainly had lives that revolved around the household, and very few had professional jobs. Also, they were traditionally seen as subordinate to men in political and social situations. Gradually, women became more active outside of the household and started to participate in revolutionary pursuits, as well as take care of the family. Along with the revolutionary ideals of social equality in Cuba, came a strong women's rights movement- a struggle against the historical structures of machismo. Although much has been accomplished to better the gender discrimination and sexism, women in Cuba are still in a situation where they have to sacrifice themselves. As we see in three films from throughout the post-revolutionary period, the situation has changed, but not improved for the women of Cuba.

In Mihail Kalatozov's 1964 film, I am Cuba, the second vignette comments most about the situation of women. There are many shots of scantily clad women that suggest the importance of physical beauty. The story begins in at a hotel with Cuban women participating in a ba

In the most recent film, Carlos Marcovich's 1997, "Who the Hell is Yuliet," we see a modern perspective of women in Cuba. Most women work and start college and also get married. Yuliet is a young prostitute who works upholding Havana's sex-tourism reputation. She has grown up with out a father and was raped at 14. Throughout the film, we see that men are highly sexualized to Yuliet; she uses them and has no problems using her body. We learn that for only one dollar a day, she sells her body to foreign men. This horrible situation shows just how desperate the Cuban women of today really are. Although the country has worked through the revolution to improve equality in the workplace, Cuban women still hold a social stigma that represses them from being successful. The film displays Cuba as an infamously erotic country that continues to exploit women. This is exemplified by Yuliet's decision to stay in Cuba instead of being a model in Mexico. Sex has been such an emotionless part of her life that she would see no difference in modeling and selling sex. We also see this theme again while she is dancing sensually with a blank expression on her face. Yuliet represents Cuban women who have a hard edge and little aspirations because of gender expectations. This recent film shows explicitly that there has been no successive improvement in the situation of women since the revolution.

thing suit contest, while rich tourists watch. The viewer already notices how the Cuban women are being degraded for the satisfaction of the Americ

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