SOCIAL SPEECH ON WOMEN IN THE BIMESTRE CUBANA MAGAZINE (1910-1923)

SOCIAL SPEECH ON WOMEN IN THE BIMESTRE CUBANA MAGAZINE (1910-1923)

EL DISCURSO SOCIAL SOBRE LA MUJER EN LA REVISTA BIMESTRE CUBANA (1910-1923)

Bárbara Lisett Márquez-Montoya¹

E-mail: barbara-marquez@uho.edu.cu

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2148-5620

Adrian Arévalo-Salazar²

E-mail: ludetarevalo@gmail.com

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8782-9492

Rebeca Torres-Serrano¹

E-mail: rserrano@uho.edu.cu

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3204-963X

¹ University of Holguin. Cuba.

² Western University. Canada.

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, the study of the first half of the 20th century from serial publications is becoming more and more frequent, with the aim of reconstructing periods and processes that allow the preservation of historical memory. For this interpretation of the past, it is necessary to study the Bimestre Cubana Magazine from 1910-1923, in order to understand the social discourse that predominated about women at the time. Its pages contain articles that provide information on women in the period from the educational, cultural and charitable point of view, through the use of lexicon, anthropological studies, among others. Reference is also made to the role of women in the preservation of national identity.

Keywords:

Women, social discourse, historical memory.

RESUMEN

En la actualidad se torna cada vez más frecuente el estudio de la primera mitad del siglo XX a partir de publicaciones seriadas, con el objetivo de reconstruir periodos y procesos que permitan la conservación de la memoria histórica. Para esta interpretación del pasado es necesario el estudio de la Revista Bimestre Cubana de 1910-1923, con el fin de comprender el discurso social que predominaba sobre la mujer en la época. En sus páginas resaltan artículos que referencian información sobre la mujer en el período desde el punto de vista educacional, cultural, de beneficencia, mediante el uso de lexicografías, estudios antropológicos, entre otros. De igual forma se hace referencia al papel de la mujer en la preservación de la identidad nacional.

Palabras clave:

Mujer, discurso social, memoria histórica.

INTRODUCTION

Historical research based on the analysis of serial publications is essential to understand the past and specially to reconstruct feminist struggles in Cuba. For such reason, a re-reading of the Bimestre Cubana Magazine from the social discourse point of view allows us to understand how the role of women was visualized in the first Republican decades.

The Bimestre Cubana Magazine, was one of the most important magazines published in Cuba, with a stable position taking into consideration the political and social situation of the time (1910-1923).

For its study, we will need several elements to be able to analyze and interpret the social discourse on women. This period is rich in women's issues, from a quantitative and qualitative point of view. It is characterized by the presence of works on feminism, the publication of conferences and speeches given in associations and congresses. The increase in the production of works on women corresponds to a boom in women's movements, not unrelated to political movements in general.

When analyzing the social vision on women from the Bimestre Cubana Magazine it is necessary to channel the study in two directions, the first one centered in the mention of women in society and the second one taking into consideration the role of women as influential when talking about national identity. In order to support the previous approach, it is necessary to consider articles such as Elogio póstumo of Marta Abreu, Poesías líricas de la Sra. D. a Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, I Congreso Nacional de Mujeres, among others.

Let us let clear that within this context we are analizing, women had specific and differentiated experiences from those of men. Far from being determined by essentially biological differences, these experiences are marked by the social constructions of gender and of the patriarchal society of the early twentieth century; therefore, the formation of culture and language will not be the same for men and women.

During the years 1910-1923 the Bimestre Cubana Magazine assumed a social discourse of defense towards Cuban women, departing from the process of republican transformations in her favor and the socio-political reality. This allows a holistic understanding of women in the reconstruction of the historical past of the Cuban nation in that period.

It was necessary to define the concepts of social discourse. It consists of elaborating a message through different mechanisms and expressive resources available in the language; it is a communicational act involving the sender and receiver of the discourse. In the specific case of social discourse, it is of great importance for understanding the limits within which a given society thinks and writes; it is an unavoidable step not only for the discourse analyst but also for the historian of ideas and the social science researcher. All historical periods are characterized by a supremacy of the thinkable and a series of rules that establish legitimate ways of arguing and narrating, of persuading and proving, which can be ascertained through the analysis of social discourse.

The objective is to analyze the main elements that typified the social discourse on women in the Bimestre Cubana Magazine (1910-1923).

DEVELOPMENT

To support this research, it was essential to consult the text El activismo social y político de las mujeres durante la República de Cuba (1902-1959) by Manuel Ramírez Chicharro that allowed understanding the privatization of rights for women from the approval of the 1901 Constitution in a context marked by the first feminist wave in the United States.

Moreau- Lebert (2015), in her work Las mujeres en Cuba de la colonia a la contemporaneidad: antiguos retos y nuevos protagonismos, approaches feminist issues from a novel perspective becoming a theoretical reference for research.

Sabas Alomá (2003), in his work Feminism, explains the rights obtained by women in the first three republican decades, ranging from the approval of parental authority and the divorce law to the formation of women's organizations and the development of the movement. This text is useful for the analysis of women in their historical context.

For his part, Díaz Canals, in his work Mujer-Saber-Feminismo, evokes feminism with a great reflective charge that encompasses the triad of woman, knowledge and the polemic movement in which it is immersed.

In the work of González Pagés (2003), En busca de un espacio, historia de las mujeres en Cuba, an analysis is made of the process of struggle of Cuban women in the defense of their rights, making use of the press, but her observations are focused on Havana and some points in the interior of the country.

The article Evolución de los derechos de la mujer cubana a partir de 1868 by Arencibia Fleitas & Hernández González (2009), where the evolution of Cuban women's rights in the history after our independence wars is exposed, exemplifies the most radical feminine attitudes and their position before the existing discrimination and the conquests in the juridical field. It is specified the moments of beginning of their right to vote, to the equality before the marriage and to the claim of the divorce, proving that these rights conquered by them were the fruit of great fights for their political, social and cultural vindications.

We must clarify once again that the period under study is determined by inadequate actions in the preservation of the documentary heritage, when a process of decanting was carried out, which caused the loss of the issues of the magazine from 1924 onwards. In order to direct in a coherent way, it was essential to determine a series of indicators among which stand out: education, culture, charity houses, lexicon, prostitution, anthropological studies.

During the American intervention (1898-1902), in order to encourage the modernization of Cuban society and awaken feminism, the intervening government opted for the preparation of teachers as a long-term strategy.

In the Bimestre Cubana Magazine, reference is made to the role played by women in the teaching profession and also as students in preparation, it states: in the schools of this Institution directed by Dr. Justo P. Parrilla and by Miss Caridad Pardo, the notable success of the teaching of the English language, introduced at the beginning of this year (1910) can be registered. Recent examinations demonstrate the success of the creation of the respective language classroom and the appointment of Miss María Cabrera, who is in charge of it. (Cuba. Sociedad Económica Amigos del País, 1910)

At the beginning of the establishment of the Republic, teaching methods on the island were influenced by North American canons, and in 1909, the First Law School was approved, regulating primary education, which was insufficient and the quality was limited by the scarcity of resources destined to education. In the first republican years, teaching was characterized for being disorderly, since teachers were given freedom to carry out their work, so the curricula were not applied in a similar way in the Island, playing an important role the creativity of teachers, mainly women, being the majority in this profession.

The same article refers to the case of the La Encarnación School in Marianao, which was directed by Mrs. María Teresa du Bouchet. The only noteworthy case is the division of the building in order to lease to third parties the remaining part of the building, which was unnecessary for their purposes. However, the note allows us to understand that the administration by women was becoming more and more recurrent (Cuba. Sociedad Económica Amigos del País, 1910).

Another example was María Luisa Dolz y Arango, who received the Luz y Caballero award, instituted by Gabriel Millet, who was characterized by her tireless, creative and proactive work and was able to break through the educational limitations and incorporate North American and European experiences in the curricular plans. She directed the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de La Habana and in her staff, she was able to gather other pedagogical and literary figures such as Mercedes Matamoros, Carmen Casal, Pilar Romero, Adriana Bellini, Esther Fernández among others (Cuba. Sociedad Económica Amigos del País, 1912).

The role of women in pedagogy and social recognition are also evidenced in the Bimestre Cubana Magazine when a note is published, which states: “by Agreements of the General Board in the Ordinary Sessions of May 30 and June 25, 1912... To adopt the agreement proposed by the president of the Education Section, on behalf of the latter, to equalize the salary of Ms. Ferraez Ferraez, kindergarten teacher at the Zapata School, to that of the other teachers, in consideration of her excellent services”. (Cuba. Sociedad Económica Amigos del País, 1912)

However, if a second reading is made, it becomes evident the social discrimination to which women were subjected in spite of exercising a worthy profession, of assuming management positions, of being artifices of Cuban education. The above statement is supported by the phrase "to equalize the salary to that of other teachers" in the journalistic note.

In the work entitled La prensa médica en relación con los farmacéuticos, by González Curquejo (1912), the social value of Cuban women is exalted: "And before finishing, let us say, to dissipate the dryness of this writing, that pharmacists have had in Cuban women a valuable company and support. The purple cap of Doctor has adorned the forehead of our women on a great number of occasions and today there are women pharmacists at the head of several establishments, holding other public positions and even being assistants in our laboratories”. (p 220)

Women were making room for themselves in trades that had previously been reserved for men and their capacity was recognized even in middle and high sectors of Cuban society.

In the Cuba Abroad Section, readers are informed about Piedad Zenea de Bobadilla: “This fellow countrywoman of ours, wife of our popular compatriot Mr. Emilio Bobadilla, has attracted the attention of the literary world in Paris, for her lectures on Spanish art and artists. The splendor of the subject lent to the Cuban literature, suggestive matter so that it could shine on it all the talent and fantasy of which it is endowed. Cuban literature, which has always had enthusiastic priestesses, congratulates itself for the triumph of our compatriot". (Hernández, 1910, p. 66)

Although it is true that Piedad Zenea de Bobadilla was born in Cuba, daughter of Juan Clemente Zenea, she was educated in the United States, traveled through much of Europe, and married the Spaniard Emilio de Bobadilla. Piedad was considered a cosmopolitan woman capable of using her words and of enamoring the public in several languages, displaying her intelligence.

The Revista Bimestre Cubana incorporated among its pages El catauro de cubanísimos (a mamotreto de cubicherías lexicográficas (Ortiz, 1921b), which began to be published in 1921 and became very popular over the years. According to Fay (2010), "Catauro had an operative capacity in the configuration of modern thought on national identity" (p. 45). In its pages are incorporated terms that refer to women and make it possible to understand social aspects, highlighting the following:

Mesitera. Name given to the woman who sold fruits and refreshments on the tables, which were temporarily located on the sidewalks of the streets and promenades, on the occasion of carnivals, popular festivals and even private dances, frequented from the public road by curious patients who were served or exploited.

Nowadays this trade is still carried out by the ladies and is lexicographically recognized as candongueras, vendedoras, quincalleras.

Sabanera. It is the woman who sabanea, that is to say, who lives with several men at the same time, successively and in turns, something that is observed, as a curious form of polyandrous survival, among some social groups of the Ciénaga de Zapata, according to Cosculluela and others.

This term was applied in a rural and intricate zone to allude to the woman who prostituted herself as a way to generate her economic income. On the other hand, according to Fernando Ortiz, the Bembera woman was characterized by living in the semi-barbarous area of the Ciénaga de Zapata and living with only one man.

Similarly, Ortiz (1921b), defined the term Tipa, "Despicable slut. From the masculine tipo, in a derogatory meaning, we have taken the feminine tipa, a vulgarism of use favored by the frequency with which we have to resort to euphemisms to qualify certain women. That is a tipa" (p. 328). This term does not clarify what it refers to, so it can have two approaches, the first for her sexual preference and the second for her appearance and behavior with masculine traits.

It also refers to a typical garment of the aboriginal communities, the Enaguas or also known as Naguas, a word that is the origin of the word enaguas, so used in Spain and Latin American countries to designate the undergarment, or under the dress worn by women, and all those who describe the Naguas, agree that they were cotton skirts, tied at the waist, and that they reached to the knees, and many assert that it was not a garment proper of maidens". (Ortiz, 1921b, 1921b, p. 328)

To support his lexical definition Ortiz (1921b), alludes to the first chroniclers such as Bartolomé de las Casas and reproduces his words: "women maidens neither wore nor covered anything, only the corrupt or duennas covered their shames, or with certain well-made skirts and carved cotton cloth, which took them from the navel to mid-thigh". (p. 328)

To allude to the sensuality of Cuban women and to the actions of feigned flirtation, he uses the term Bullarengue. He justifies it by stating that a woman has a bullarengue in her waist, when she has an excessive movement, so it can be a deception. He clarifies that this term came from the 19th century when women used the term "polizón" or "false hips" (Ortiz, 1921b).

Significant is the incorporation of denigrating meanings for women such as corúa and gurrumina. “The first to allude to the bad and hypocritical woman and the second to catalog her as an insignificant thing". (Ortiz, 1921b, p. 189)

Fernando Ortiz incorporates in El catauro de cubanísimos, words from the ñáñigo vocabulary. Bombo Saguaca, genital organ of the woman, pubis. Eñene, honest woman, Eñeneguana Acuará to refer to the woman of bad living, Eñeneguanadibó is the maiden woman, EñeneguanaIbondad, the pregnant woman, EñeneguanaIsóIsó, the widow woman, Eñerená, a black woman, Ibana, woman and Ibana Moró, the prostitute, the woman of bad living (Ortiz, 1921b).

Through his lexicographic study, more is known about terms that are essentially applied to refer to activities performed by or attributed to women (Ortiz, 1921b), for example, Tertulia, a place originally intended for women in a theater, as provided for by law, but which in the period under study means a casserole of preference in certain large theaters, where women and men can go. Said Cazuela, is the last floor of the theater, it is called this way to the place of the general entrance destined exclusively to women. This place was also called in Cuba, and is still called, the henhouse or place of hens, as, ironically, it can be said that it is also the casserole. In Cuba we prosaically called the place destined to the women in the theaters tertulia.

He explains that the word Gatazo is attributed to the ugly woman, but with a beautiful body, when she turns around and shows her face (Ortiz, 1921b). The historical writing is present in the Bimestre Cubana Magazine by Mercedes Herrera Reyes, who wrote an article titled Apuntes históricos sobre la ciudad de San Felipe y Santiago de Bejucal, through which she delivers in a simple and chronological way the history of Bejucal, since its foundation and until the end of the XIX century. It reflects the geographical and architectural characteristics of the city. It makes a logical reconstruction of the Governors who headed the administration in the same and the main achievements of each mandate. It also relates the inauguration date of each institution or place of importance for the economic, political and social development of Bejucal (Herrera, 1920).

In the article La casa de beneficencia y maternidad, bajo el punto de vista moral, he discusses the operation of this institution that housed women. We must begin by pointing out that the charity centers were created by the Church as charitable institutions to help the sick and homeless, their main mission was to offer shelter, food and comfort to the helpless and sick.

"It is unquestionable that none of the philanthropic establishments that exist today in this Island have rendered and render more useful services to humanity than the Casa de Beneficencia y Maternidad, founded in this town with donations from a small number of pious citizens”. (Carranza, 1912, p. 297).

In the asylum, women were guaranteed moral and material education "adequate to their sex" and had to remain in the institution until they were 17 years old. If they had maintained good conduct, once they married, they were given a dowry of $500 pesos. The Asylum supported a department known as Refugio, for women in labor, founded by Father Mariano Arango with the donation of Mrs. María Antonia Menocal, which gave shelter to all women, regardless of class or color, who due to lack of resources and other private causes, would leave their newborn babies there for safekeeping. The internal regulations of El Refugio severely prohibited the doctors and other employees from even trying to save the incognito of the births, and they had to keep the strictest discretion in their actions and questions (Carranza, 1912).

In another text ideas about the houses of charity in the preceding century are exposed, Cuban Archives. Real Cedula granted to Dn. Juan Valdez declaring the foundlings of the Real Casa Cuna as belonging to the plain state and exempt of the penalties and revenge, allows us to understand according to royal letter... the miserable situation in which the children are in almost all my dominions... It is recognized that the effects of the independence process in the Island caused a high number of abandonment of infants issued by royal ordinance: "In vast territories, women who are breastfeeding their own children should be encouraged to decide to do the same for their spouses, resulting in continuous infanticide, all to the horror of nature, offending Christian charity and seriously harming the State by the detriment of the population". (Cuban Archives, 1912)

The analysis of the document allows us to understand the state of desperation, misery and psychological damage in which women were submerged at the end of the 19th century, which makes it understandable that at the beginning of the period of American military occupation (1898-1902) and in the first decades of the Republic, the incorporation of women into the social, cultural and political life was gradual.

Ortiz (1921a), published in the magazine the work Los cabildos afro-cubanos, expressing that women were part of the cabildos during the colony and that during the Republic they occupied directive positions. The following lines are dedicated to a tour of the Latin American continent to establish a comparison with respect to the incorporation of women in the associations and brotherhoods of slaves. He describes in detail the religious ceremonies in which women participated: "Each queen brings her court of young slaves, pampered by their aristocratic ladies and who were lavishly adorned. Then followed the populace of the tribe with candle in hand women and men playing African instruments" (p. 9). It shows the structure of the society Sons of the Nation Arará Cuévano that had as objective the protection of its associates in all the forms. Apart from the structure of male direction, it was composed of a board of ladies, composed of a matron, two to six waitresses, a stewardess and six members.

In the same way he analyzes the structure and objective of other associations such as the Union of the Araré Cuévanos, the Society of Mutual Help of the Mina Popé Nation of the Gold Coast, and the Cabildo Araré Magino, that to belong to this one was required to be honored and not to have never belonged to the extinguished association of ñáñigo and the women now occupy twelve positions of vocal in its board of directors (Ortiz, 1921).

The article Cuba in The Peace of Versailles, which was a speech delivered in the House of Representatives, in the session of February 4, 1920 by Dr. Fernando Ortiz. It should be noted that the Peace Treaty had been signed on June 28, 1919, between the Allied Countries and Germany in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles, which put an end to World War I and came into force on January 10 of the following year. Through this speech Don Fernando Ortiz makes a defense of the women when exposing: "The woman, that in the Pact of the Peace conquers the international right to the public protection like worker and mother, does not deserve in Cuba a protective legal consideration?". (Ortiz, 1920, p. 122)

Again, he emphasizes the need for compliance with the Treaty of Versailles and incorporates women as part of their claims: "The signatories of the Treaty of Versailles want every State to have a body of labor inspectors, composed of workers and women, perhaps to stimulate those like Cuba, which have not yet organized a governmental and official center that can face and direct, with the competence and energy they demand, all these social conflicts". (Ortiz, 1920, p. 122)

Bimestre Cubana Magazine, in the year 1914, incorporated among its pages a work by Israel Castellanos, who called it El tipo brujo (annotation of Cuban criminal ethnology) (Castellano, 1914). It refers to a study carried out with the use of 100 photographs, considered images of "witches", of which 87 were women. To justify the idea of being a witch or not, they were based on physical anomalies. Of the total number of photographs of women, 38 showed the most constant anomalies: Morel's ears (5%), no lobe (5%), facial asymmetry and hydrocephalic forehead, deviated nose and prognathism. It is suggested that the anomalies are related to criminal acts, although they are minorities and if there are visible physical alterations, they try to cover them up.

"The black witches," says Dr. Ortiz, "mainly if they are Africans, as well as the old black women, wear their heads covered by a handkerchief tied to them, a custom of overseas origin, also maintained by the other old black men who are not witches; but this handkerchief does not constitute a garment of priestly character". (Castellano, 1914, p. 335)

Later Castellanos (1914), establishes an ethnographic comparison between Spanish and African women, on the meaning and use of the scarf. He explains that the Spanish villagers used it covering the skull and the sides of the face knotted to the beard to protect themselves from the sun, while the Africans used it from the hairline to the inio. She clarifies that the women who live in the most uneducated areas of the Cuban capital (to make reference to the marginal neighborhoods), the black washerwomen, cover their heads, but not in the way of the witches, but in a way similar to that of the Spanish villagers, but they cover the entire forehead and the back of the skull.

The Cuban Bimestre Magazine of 1916, incorporates in its number 2, a new article with anthropological approach where a racial comparison of the relative longevity for white, free and slave women is established, that according to the statistical data offered those women with a superior longevity were the black slaves.

The work pointed out that, according to the 1877 Census, there were 42,257 free women of color in Cuba, from 16 to 40 years of age, it is deduced that they give a birth for every 5 women, that is to say 20 per 100. The slaves censused were 67,745, from 16 to 40 years of age, so 8 women correspond to a birth, that is to say 12 and a half per 100. With respect to the white women there were 133,646, from 16 to 40 years of age, so there is one birth for every 5 women, or the same average obtained in the free women of color (Dumont, 1916).

According to the statistical analysis made through the article, it is stated that the slave woman of color was less fecund than the white woman and that of the same race living in free condition. The relative infertility of colored women was due to the feeling of terror caused in slave mothers by the thought that their children would share the unfortunate social condition of their black sire, who could be sold even when they were only a few days old. Another cause can also be assumed to be the heavy work they performed, the poor diet, the illnesses and the psychological damage they suffered. This, perhaps, is the reason for the limited birth rate of the colored race in Cuba. However, we believe in the greater fecundity of the white race. In fact, the blacks, by their social position, by their state of abandonment, by the absence of any economic calculation, and mainly, by the lust, by the licentious life that men and women of African blood lead, should offer a much higher figure than that contributed by the Caucasian race (Dumont, 1916). The previous approach allows us to assert the belief in the superiority of the white race and separates the statistical data from reality.

Within the content referring to women found in the Bimestre Cubana Magazine, the article written by Lamar (1923), is preserved, entitled Fight against prostitution and white slave trade, in which he expressed significant ideas to create a conscience that favors the eradication of these evils: "those filthy sores that corrode humanity are diseases, which although they seem to have been born with it and still persist in this degree of civilization, like every disease and every evil, are curable, being only a matter of patient study, firm will and time to find them remedy and extirpate them”. (p. 130)

In his lines Lamar (1923), explains that prostitution and white slave trade are evils that corrode humanity, which for centuries had been relegated to the background and society turned a blind eye. However, he points out that science was developing studies on the subject, which generated concern for being a social evil that was increasing every day.

Beings who have studied and observed in the living, throbbing and aching body of humanity, in the light of science, the infectious pool of prostitution, where it still pleases to wallow a part not freed from hereditary and contagious morbidities, declare and point out that as a disease, and as such it needs treatment. All moral conscience, enlightened by scientific culture, reproves and rejects, energetically, totally, without concessions, the need, the necessity of that ulcer, as even erroneously maintained by many, and is concerned about the remedies to remove it, considering it a duty of human solidarity, inescapable, to contribute in some way to the struggle to overcome the evil (Lamar, 1923).

He considers that in the face of these two social evils, society pretended not to know about them and forbade itself to call things by their name, growing indifference, resignation or ignorance, and thus becoming complicit or supportive of the crime that was increasing day by day. Other causes, according to him, that contributed to predispose society to the practice of these acts were "unhealthy, sexual or openly pornographic readings, which make low natures descend quickly into the darkest abysses of impurity. The cinema with its erotic productions". (Lamar, 1923)

Throughout the centuries, prostitution has been a social problem. Its manifestations have been in correspondence with the context and the time in which it develops. The birth of the bourgeois Republic opened the period of greater manifestation of prostitution in Cuba. Prostitution constituted for many the alternative to get out of a difficult socioeconomic situation.

He exposes that, although some authorities have shown interest in containing prostitution, but still maintain the prejudice that it is a necessary evil, supported by a false concept of a physiological function, which is the law of life and not an instrument of destruction: "they are cowardly traffickers and careless buyers, who mortgage their own health, of the future or present wife and children, defrauding life". (Lamar, 1923, p. 1)

Traditionally, the analysis of prostitution revolves around the almost exclusive sexual sale of women, in which there is no emotional but economic interest. Seeing the body as a commodity only, and taking into consideration that what is sold and bought is sex. Accordingly, this approach does not value the ethical, moral and social conditioning factors associated with prostitution.

Prostitution had a negative impact on society, as prostitutes were involved in criminal acts and public disorder, as well as the transmission of venereal diseases.

In 1912 Don Fernando Ortiz published the article, Elogio posthumous de Marta Abreu, where he recognizes that the Sociedad Económica Amigos del País, for the first-time paid tribute to the Cuban woman.

"And, undoubtedly, by chance of circumstances, but by a very eloquent chance, it is Marta Abreu, and not another Cuban woman, who first deserves the posthumous honor of this public exaltation by the Sociedad Económica. There have not been few, by chance, Cuban women whose names enamel the pages of our history and proudly recall the national conscience of our people. The Avellaneda, for example, when deserving for her literary genius the crown of queen of the Castilian poetry, wins the first rank in the history of the mentality of the Cuban woman, and others, after her and like her, are worthy that their image accompanies that of the men who gave to Cuba teachings, glory and sacrifices, The Countess of Merlin, Luisa Perez de Zambrana, Ursula Cespedes, Aurelia del Castillo and many more will always have for their art tributes for their just fame (Ortiz, 1912).

Don Fernando Ortiz exposes the importance of this homage in a patriotic commemoration party and the distribution of prizes to the children, because he considered that the childhood should be offered a lesson of Cuban hood. He explains the reason why he considers that the posthumous tribute to Marta Abreu was the right choice: "Other Cuban women have passed to posterity for the brilliance of their literary genius, others will survive in their names for their virtues; but it seems that what is only due to the happy chance is a meditated work: Marta Abreu passes to posthumous life and reaches before others this homage, not for the brilliance of her mind, not even for the temper of her inexhaustible virtue, but because she knew how to extend her charity for all those who suffered to charity for the homeland that also one day, like the beggars, suffered hunger for freedom and thirst for justice". (Ortiz, 1912, p. 92)

It is worth mentioning that Marta Abreu y González y Arencibia, was born in Santa Clara in 1844 in one of the wealthiest families of the region. She married the lawyer Doctor Luis Estévez y Romero, who was poor and honest, a professional worker and a lover of his country and literature. Marta Abreu founded, with her own resources, in Santa Clara, an asylum for the poor under the devotion of the saints, built public washing places, built the Charity Theater, because she felt attracted by the progress of her homeland. Marta Abreu financed the modern scientific apparatus for the astronomical observatory of Santa Clara; she mainly contributed to the construction of the building for the Fair-Exhibition. She defrayed the expenses for the installation and instruments of the Dispensary for poor children and contributed to the construction of the Municipal Fire Station, the building of the Police Headquarters and the Conyedo School; with the purpose of giving instruments for the musical band. Marta Abreu put her personal monetary resources at the service of the cause of the 95 war for independence from Spain.

Marta Abreu "was born rich, loved much, lived loving, loved her home, loved her poor, loved her country and died sad, loved by her people and the good people" (Ortiz, 1912, p. 97). She achieved the recognition of her fellow countrymen and the nation thanks to her virtues as a public benefactor and for her private virtues as a woman.

Praising Marta Abreu, Don Fernando Ortiz also lists other Cuban women he considered important in the history of the country and of great influence for the national identity. Among those mentioned is the Countess of Merlin (Maria de las Mercedes Beltran de Santa Cruz y Cardenas Montalvo y O'Farril), founder of Cuban literature written by women, mainly in the biographical and memoirs genre. Among her works, Viage á La Habana (1844) stands out, with two editions, one in French and the other in Spanish, published in Madrid with a prologue by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. This text in its original publication was composed of 36 letters, but the Madrid publishing house only authorized 10 because they considered that they were impregnated with reformist ideas. In spite of writing in French, the Countess of Merlin participated in the national discourse and emphasized her Creole condition.

Luisa Perez de Zambrana, who is considered one of the most significant Cuban voices of the 19th and early 20th centuries, capable of gathering in herself all the exemplary roles that satisfied the romantic feminine ideal. She reflected in her work the reality of the Cuban woman of the 19th century and her concerns about their future on the island (Calderón, 2022). Another lady who should be remembered was Ursula Cespedes, who used the pseudonym La Calandria, was a poetess from Bayamo who was related to Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and from whom she received help to make her work known. She published in numerous magazines and newspapers inside and outside the Island such as: "La Regeneración", "Eco de Villa Clara", "Hoja Económica", "El Kaleidoscopio", "Cuba Literaria", "La Idea" and "La Moda Elegante" (Cádiz). In 1861 she published her book "Ecos de la Selva", with a prologue by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes who wrote: "That is why her verses, in spite of the defects they suffer from, rapture and seduce, she paints what she feels, but she does it with so much colorful truth, that her feeling is transmitted as a magnetic fluid to the heart of those who listen to her inspired accents". (Echoes of the Jungle, 1985, p 40).

Finally, he mentions Aurelia del Castillo described by Roig de Leuchsenring (1920), with the following words: "This in the physical; as for the moral, the closest to perfection, predominating in her three great loves: her homeland, her home and poetry. And before this glorious trinity officiate her two distinctive qualities: kindness and sincerity" (p. 55). Aurelia del Castillo was the most outstanding Cuban writer and journalist of the 19th century, who was expelled from the country by Valeriano Weyler for her ideals. She published her work in "El Fígaro", "La Habana Elegante", "El País", "El Progreso" among others. She was a member of the board of directors of the Liga de las Labores and founder of the Academy of Arts and Letters of Cuba. Aurelia incorporated black and mulatto women in her works, enunciated recommendations for the development of the female intellect so that they would be able to debate with men on issues such as their rights, but in a creative and solid way.

The article Poesías liricas de la Sra. D. a Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, by Juan Valera, was incorporated in the Bimestre Cubana Magazine of 1914, where he highlights: "But the works of Sra. de Avellaneda are already very high; and the river of oblivion, although it comes very brave and rough, will not swallow them". (Valera, 1914, p. 5)

According to Valera, Avellaneda puts much of her most intimate feelings in her lyrical poetry. He establishes a comparison between Vittoria Colonna and Avellaneda, exposing as points of similarity that both sang and praised in their youth to some mortal subject, for whom they felt the liveliest affection; and both, disenchanted later, and always full of love in their hearts, put this love in God, and to him they consecrate their lyre and their songs. In both it is not clear whether profane and earthly love is preferable, or celestial and divine love.

He also notes that Avellaneda's work is impregnated with sincerity, realism and inspiration. However, he recognizes the misanthropic disdain, the contempt for the world and men, is a feeling typical of this century, and very general in almost all. He turned his verses into a psychological and intimate story, sweetened by devotion to God or the Virgin.

According to Valera, La Avellaneda possesses a high degree of descriptive talent; she incorporates the beauty of nature in her work, there is feeling in her descriptions; she manages with balance the knowledge of art and language. He recognizes his aptitude to translate into Spanish the works of any foreign poet, such as Victor Hugo, Lamartine, Parny and Byron.

In order to analyze the characteristics of the lyrical prose of La Avellaneda, Valera analyzes the influence of Christianity on women, stating that it has not been favorable for the development of certain active qualities, "of certain brilliant energies of the soul" (social and intimate behavior). He points out that modesty, recollection, resignation, submission, sacrifice and humility are the virtues that Christianity instills in women's souls.

"The advice of the first woman brought death and sin into the world. How can a humble Christian woman dare to teach the crowds? Our religion lowers her pride and subjects her to man. If a woman saved us from death and sin, it was not by wisdom, nor by teaching, nor by the active energies of the intelligence, but by humble conformity and great obedience to the divine decrees. All in her were passive virtues. She carried the Savior in her womb, she bore Him at her breasts, she wept His death at the foot of the Cross. The ideal type of the Christian woman is the Virgin and the Sorrowful Mother". (Valera, 1914, p. 6)

She recognizes that the real and social manifestation of the Christian woman is that of a retired wife, taking care of her home and children, busy with domestic chores and cares; with a behavior of the solitary and silent virgin, of a sister of charity who is only devoted to the relief of the evils and miseries of those who surround her. She also denounces the humiliations to which women were subjected by men:

"Man has humiliated her until he has made her his servant, or has exalted her until he has made her a deity; but he has not known how to make of her a companion, an equal, a subject worthy of all his trust". (Ureña,1912, p. 265)

The writer Max Enríquez Ureña makes an analysis of the life and works of Jesús Castellanos, specifically of the presence of women in his costumbrista narratives. A clear example were the observations he made in El cuento semanal, a section incorporated in the Bimestre Cubana Magazine.

They abound with astute and accurate observations of Cuban life during the war period. The two Fundora sisters give us, from the moment they appear in the narrative, the typical impression of the guajira. “Esperanza was the oldest, Juanilla was two years younger; perhaps she was around seventeen. They occupied a place in the impedimenta, with the old Fundora that, walking its wobbling head of great beast, sniffed for the serones of viandas". (Ureña,1912, p. 260)

According to Max Enríquez Ureña, the country women painted by Castellanos did not give an idea of the Cuban peasant woman. He shows them as free women, capable of being carefree with men regardless of society's criticisms.

Juan Morro wrote an article entitled The Aspirations of the Cuban Woman (Morro,1923, p. 100) through which he analyzes the "First National Congress of Women", inaugurated on April 1, 1923, organized by the "National Federation of Women's Associations of Cuba": "The Bimestre Cubana Magazine wishes to fix in its pages this event that symbolizes the advent to the public life of the homeland of a new and vigorous element, until now neglected, and with which we will have to count forever". (Morro, 1923, p. 100)

She clarifies that the holding of the Congress did not mean that from that precise moment women could have an electoral influence on the destinies of the nation, however, it was a sign of the existence of a coherent, strengthened and defined social activity with the capacity to assert their rights.

In the barren field of our miserable politics, without greenery, and "dog-toothed", the educated women of Cuba will know how to throw seed that will replenish our savannah with new foliage of ideals. In this most dangerous era of political stranding, the arrival of the Cuban woman to the agora can do much, because all the moral forces are necessary, that civilization keeps up here, to fight and defeat the evil, that by suicidal unconsciousness of the people and flagrant criminality of generals and doctors, has usurped the public powers and resists all attempts of patriotic regeneration (Morro, 1923).

He states that in the inaugural session the president of the Congress, Mrs. Pilar Morlón de Menéndez, was in charge of delivering the opening speech. During the seven working sessions, held in Havana, various works were socialized, polarized with modern criteria that were aimed at correcting the evils of the Neocolonial Republic.

In the sessions of the Congress, many women stood out, such as Morlón de Menéndez (1923): "she would be a brightness of our parliament, she will be a brightness of our academies if she persists in her very high work, she is already a brightness of our culture". (p. 104)

He recognizes that Pilar Jorge de Telia and Hortensia Lamar were capable of putting together crude ideas that affect society, with great eloquence and displaying their wisdom: "They are far superior to many of those who in the male world are revered here as prophets". (Morlón, 1923, p. 104)

He considers that Dr. Guillermina Pórtela and María Luisa Sánchez de Ferrara demonstrated the capacity of women to intervene in municipal administrations, both showed this with their work on urban beautification. In the debate sessions there was a section dedicated to the legal section enriched with topics such as hereditary equality among children, an idea defended by the American Mrs. E. W. Newman; the rights of the child, presented by Emma López Seña and a review of the legislation on adultery by Dr. Rosa Anders, among others. In the political section, papers on women's suffrage were discussed by Pilar Jorge de Telia, Esperanza de Quesada, Hortensia Lamar, and others.

Del Morro (1923), said about the First National Women's Congress: "The broad tolerance and respect for all ideas was a note of serious culture, which was the norm of the congresswomen, and which the very able president took care to maintain at all times. Catholics, Protestants, Israelites and Teoso Fas freely expressed their points of view, even on topics very subject to religious creeds. The National Women's Congress was in this a nobly free-thinking congregation”. (p. 108)

The conclusions of the First National Women's Congress (De Morlón, 1923) are set forth in the text and, because of their importance, are reproduced in their entirety:

a.- That an intense campaign be undertaken by all the women of the Republic to obtain the vote, as a first measure of social prophylaxis.

2a.-To work for the reform of education in general, including special schools, and because preferential attention is given to the teaching of eugenics and childcare.

3a.-To work for the reforms of the civil and penal laws, in the sense of equalizing, in rights and responsibilities, women and men.

4a. -To work so that the protective laws of the childhood that are in force are fulfilled, and so that all those that are necessary to make the protection more effective are dictated.

5a.- To give preferential attention to the Reformatories and to work until the creation of juvenile courts is obtained.

6a. -To intensify the love of plants and animals.

7a. -To work for the beautification of the city.

8a. -Creation of popular civic schools, as a means of intensifying nationalism.

9a. -To intensify the fight against drugs and the white slave trade, with all the Associations adhering to the "Women's Club of Cuba" for this purpose.

10a.- Intervention of women in the organization and inspection of education.

11a. -Protection to the work of the woman in the material and moral thing, equalization in the economic thing to that of the men.

12a.- Penitentiary reform.

13a.- Revision of legislation.

14a. -To work intensely and effectively with all the lawful means within our reach and without contracting commitments with any party, to obtain the right of suffrage.

15a. -Vote of thanks to the President of the Congress.

Due to the importance of the works presented at the Congress, the Bimestre Cubana Magazine believes it is responding to its high cultural purpose by reproducing some of these works, which it owes to the kindness of their authors to whom the honor of their authorization to insert them was requested. “We do not pretend nor can we give all the speeches read, only a few, chosen among those that with more relief have marked which are the feminine ideals in Cuba in these sad days that here run". (De Morlon,1923, p. 114)

Among the works reproduced by the Bimestre Cubana Magazine is the speech delivered by Dulce María Borrero de Lujan, presented under the title Mujer, responsable indirecta de la degeneración progresiva del alma cubana (Borrero, 1923).

The text states: "When, from this same tribune I spoke one night to my compatriots, at the inauguration of the Women's Club of Cuba, of the terrible ravages caused by the white plague among the sad and beautiful little workshop workers, and of those caused by ignorance in the humble spheres among the poorest and most helpless classes and therefore more worthy of moral and material help of our society; of the disastrous, anti-human consequences of hypocrisy and mental dishonesty brought into marriage as a hidden seed that soon bore miserable or bloody flowers in the growing family jungle: when I sketched, with my voice trembling with pain, so many years ago, before this same group of Cuban women, the lamentable picture of so much sadness-, of so much misery, dangerous in the long run for the health and vigor of our race-, of so much persistent unconsciousness and clumsiness due to our negligence, to our criminal indifference in a newborn society in a virgin environment, so to speak, where they would have taken hold so soon, if each and every one of us had thrown them with love, the seeds of a simple morality, of a sincere one, of an ambition for improvement that would have given everyone fruitful fruits of peace and harmony, only insinuated, albeit with terrible violence, other exuberant vices today and that permeate the soil of the country with a joyful bloom, at whose contact every other healthy sprout dies, every generous aspiration of resurrection is exhausted, drowned". (Borrero, 1923, p. 111)

In the previous lines the author shows the recognition of social and family problems, it is notorious that she takes them up again because of the importance she gave them as a way of moral recovery of the nation. On this occasion she incorporates in her discourse other problems suffered by the Cuban society, one of them was drugs: "Narcomania, pale woodworm that destroys without noise the most beautiful types of youth and human vigor; ray that kills without compassion, calcining mind and soul in those it wounds; diabolical putrefaction that allows the dead to walk among the healthy so that it infects and wounds them, had not yet spread, as it had done, by the criminal apathy of all, among us". (Borrero, 1923, p. 111)

He also denounced the existence of regulated prostitution, theft, bribery, fraud, bribery, impudence with high levels of manifestation in society: "to the increase of which not only this or that leading group, in this or that period, but all the elements of our population have contributed, some through ignorance, others through rapacity or false, but peremptory need for wealth; some directly, compromising themselves, having to receive and bear under the shower of roses of their ill-gotten comforts, the noisy blow of the opinion that marks them in the face forever; others indirectly and with impunity, as it contributed, as it still contributes, in great part, the element of our society considered until now as irresponsible, as inoffensive, as incapable of weighing in the destinies of the country: the feminine”. (Borrero, 1923, p. 111)

Borrego (1923), exposes that the successive governments in office in the country are not the only ones responsible for the situation in which the nation is plunged, with economic, political and social problems that each time made it succumb more and more, also blaming all sectors of society regardless of age, race or religion: "We were not sincere in lamenting loudly, at a given moment, the seriousness of an evil that we indifferently saw growing and progressing day after day, nor were we sincere in placing all the blame for the material and moral discredit of the nation, culminating at the time in that dilemma still posed to our sovereignty, on a single class, the most obliged, it is true, but also the most exposed to the contagion of vices and corruptness organized and imposed on the directors of the Republic since unforgettable times as the only weapon of government. Had not the evil of disapproval already spread to other spheres simultaneously on the occasion of the obvious economic disaster that had recently brought the Republic to the brink of death?". (p. 117)

She makes an analysis of the moral devaluation of society, which involves the family as the main nucleus of its preservation and women as active members of it. She severely criticizes women who adopt an indifferent attitude towards social problems, who were not capable of thinking about the underprivileged, who were only concerned about accumulating wealth, about fashion, about listening quietly to their husbands without objecting to any decision.

"No; you cannot imagine this picture. The car is the goal, the bell, the parchment of honor, not for the wealthy element who will not sacrifice reputation or peace in acquiring it: For families of modest fortune where young women, still imbued with the holy ancestral honor of street work, strike all day or entertain their endless hours arranging visits to intimate friends, commenting between crystal arpeggios on the latest piquant social anecdote over the telephone with a decent young man, or studying the weekly cast of aristocratic cinemas and their fashionable tandas, while the men whose names they keep toil, struggle, suffer, resist, accept and claudicate!”. (Borrero, 1923, p. 118)

He exalts the need to assert one's voice, to stand up to problems, to seek permanent solutions to the moral crisis of society for the good of the homeland: "The Cuban soul is deformed to the naked eye because violence, passions, appetites, petty novelties, false needs that were never essential to its happy existence before now, are injected into its old fundamental traits. And the source of all these fatal grafts is only in the unbridled love of luxury, fed largely by the mental and spiritual inconsistency of many of our women, who certainly do not remember that superb type of women of the Revolution, who were the flower and mirror of the brave man who sacrificed everything to the unlikely dream of freedom and the magnificent hope of the homeland!". (Borrero, 1923, p. 118)

The speech read at the solemn opening session of the First National Congress of Women! (De Morlón, 1923), was incorporated in the pages of the Bimestre Cubana Magazine, which begins by alluding to the importance of the meeting, imagining what our ancestors would think if they could witness that moment, he adds: "But this is a Revolution!" A Revolution, yes, indeed it is; Peaceful Revolution or Evolution, no matter the name, but something new, something unknown among us, where until today women had their activities limited to a humbly passive role, something inexorably changed in the usual march of our things.

She states that the celebration of the Congress responds to the awakening of the feminine conscience that was dormant, it is a sign of progress, of cultural improvement, symbol of the legitimization of aspirations, it is the desire to claim, to leave aside the secular prejudices regarding their mentality, it is the desire to show their knowledge and to demonstrate that since the withdrawal of the home their brain has matured and can be subjected to the most subtle comparisons.

"All of us without exception, all of us who here await the moment to test our thinking, we are all sincere. We do not aspire to individual benefits, we do not aspire to vain notoriety, we only come inspired by the purest of feelings to say: You who think me incapable of thinking, here is what I know. You who brand me as frivolous, recognize your error, for you see that I dedicate my idleness. You who doubt my ability, hear me and judge, you who have made my name synonymous with inconstancy, look at my work, made entirely of clairvoyant love, of holy tenacity!” (De Morlón, 1923, p. 122)

She states that the objective of the Congress is dual: firstly, it is the reflection of having made Cuban women co-participants of the benefits of education, being able to demonstrate their cultural level, and secondly, it served as a free exposition of feminine thought regarding the problems affecting the individual, the family, the home and the homeland, it was an act of hope and improvement.

"Instructed in the arcana of philosophy, of the sciences, the woman acquired the firm conviction of having contracted before herself a new obligation, that of contributing to the collectivity the contribution of the gifts of her intelligence, of her heart, of her knowledge, and, and, rising every day more and more in quality, he came to realize that, being also a co-participant of the hardships of life, of its burdens, of the joys and sorrows of the country, in addition to the duty, he had the most sacred right to interfere in national affairs” (De Morlón, 1923, p. 123). Es el factor nuevo, la mujer consciente de un deber que cumplir, pidiendo el ejercicio de un derecho innegable, es la pulsación del pensamiento femenino cubano. It is the new factor, the woman conscious of a duty to fulfill, asking for the exercise of an undeniable right, it is the pulsation of Cuban feminine thought. It is catalogued by the author as a starting point in the history of Cuba, it is an interest in safeguarding the race, science and heritage.

"Come to know what Cuban women think, come to hear their cries, their wishes for a better state of affairs! The debate is open and free. This is our Congress, Cubans, here are your women, what they know, what they are worth. Cubans, here is what you think, what you want. It is worth paying attention, the act is not vulgar”. (De Morlón, 1923, p. 123)

He harangues those present with cultured words to make them aware of the need to rise up in defense of the nation that is being mortgaged economically and politically. "Aren't we tired of so many affronts? Yesterday the Beneficencia was sold, today a convent is being bought, tomorrow the Lone Star will be put up for auction. It matters little to know how and where the little orphans will end up, it matters less to know what will be done with so much Convent, what is urgent is to prepare ourselves to watch with indifference our beloved Star leave its solitude and set out towards a northern constellation on one of those journeys from which we never return!” (De Morlón, 1923, p. 126)

She asks those present that the Congress be the starting point for a disciplined and coherent action, capable of bringing together women from every corner of the Island: "In the year 1923, Resurrection Day, the women of Cuba met to declare the homeland in danger and agreed to save it!” (De Morlón, 1923, p. 126)

She calls for women's unity as a way to fight the prevailing evils. "Let us declare ourselves in permanent session against evil wherever it is and whatever it may be. Let us simply title our action Nationalism, without further ado. It will be the insignia of the pure, of the good, of the true patriots". (De Morlon, 1923, p. 127)

He puts into consideration that the Cuban Revolution had not finished, it was necessary, as well as political freedom, to conquer also that which is achieved with moralization; the moralization of the street, of the home; of the school, of the workshop, of the public administration.

"Timbra of glory, in these times of fierce "arrivismo", of harsh and merciless struggle for life, is the presentation of our works. Intelligence, Knowledge, Virtue. Behold under what aspects, Cuban People, I, the humblest, have the immense pride to present the Cuban Woman!". (De Morlón, 1923, p. 126)

These were women's conquests in the republican stage, but they did not mean, not even remotely, the solution to the problems they had to face both in the public and domestic spheres. Although in this aspect they had notable support among the congressmen, for many years they assimilated with fortitude the mockery and sarcasm of a press, mostly a mouthpiece of the patriarchal and androcentric mentality, for which feminist struggles represented an unacceptable transgression. The prevailing theory was based on the family, which modeled the woman within the home, subordinated to the interests of the husband, who existed to encourage the cult of motherhood and the administration of the home, of course in the domestic part, nothing related to expenses and investments, since this was a primary function of the man.

The different women's organizations and associations in this period struggled to improve the social situation of women and other social sectors. They promoted measures, but without transforming the prevailing political system in the Neocolonial Republic.

Although socio-political conditions can be observed that could lead or encourage the development of a more accurate critical awareness of their reality, the very environment in which they were conceived and the trends of thought allowed a lesser or greater degree of visualization of it from the Bimestre Cubana Magazine.

CONCLUSIONS

The study of women's issues in the Bimestre Cubana Magazine was nourished by methodological approaches and historiographic tools with the aim of broadening the understanding and uses of periodicals for historical research.

The possibility of accessing a primary source such as Bimestre Cubana Magazine allows us to draw new lines of interpretation of a historical period. Its study did not constitute a neutral vehicle of events. Based on this assumption, we must study it as a historical agent and not see it only as a descriptive source of information on women's issues ready to be extracted.

The Bimestre Cubana Magazine, was one of the most important magazines published in Cuba, with a stable production if we take into account the political and social situation of the time (1910-1923). The study of women's issues in the magazine was nourished by methodological approaches and historiographic tools with the aim of broadening the understanding and uses of periodicals for historical research.

The possibility of accessing a primary source such as Revista Bimestre Cubana allows us to draw new lines of interpretation of a historical period. Its study did not constitute a neutral vehicle of events. Based on this assumption, we must study it as a historical agent and not see it only as a descriptive source of information on women's issues ready to be extracted.

The social discourse on women as members of Cuban society 1910-1923 in the Bimestre Cubana Magazine was evidenced in clear correspondence with the context of the period. It highlighted her role as an educator, in literature, in the Casa de Beneficencia, the Cabildo, in addition to the reflection, anthropological studies on women and problems such as prostitution and white slave trade. In this sense, it assumed the defense of Cuban women, from the process of republican transformations operated in their favor and the socio-political reality.

The magazine contributed to enrich the national identity, when it highlights in its pages figures such as: Marta Abreu, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda and highlights the participation of women in the political and social life in the Neocolonial Republic, from the analysis of the First National Congress of Women (1923). Thus, it became evident how the defense of civic rights nuanced the republican sociocultural panorama. Despite the fact that several laws were passed in favor of women's rights, the consequences of their struggles, demonstrations, associations, movements and publications. In practice, most of them were not enforced and discrimination and subtle exploitation remained latent.

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