Race, Class and Gender
Within the Limits of Survival Between the State and the Informal Labor Market
Maricel Nápoles Journalist and Historian Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
T
he female population, especially the Afro-Cuban one, is the most affected by the economic crisis since the 1990s. There is not a secret that blacks and mestizas are overrepresented in trades of lesser social prestige. Many of them are forced to combine their state employment with the so-called struggles in the underground economy as street vendors, collectors or domestic servants. Santiago de Cuba has one of the highest concentrations of Afro-Cuban population. It is common to find women in the streets in search of daily sustenance. They do not need to advertise so loudly their merchandise, because they walk around showing it
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