IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH | Page 16

The social fissure the structural crisis has brought about has deeply shaken our traditional norms for coexistence. Many are the women who must become heads of household and take sole charge of supporting the household and raising the children. Sometimes this also includes taking care of elderly relatives. Given real, yet unacknowledged, unemployment and under employment, the permanent increase in the cost of living, and the reduction of purchasing power, any reader can imagine how difficult existence has become for this segment of the population. Yet, our leaders have not deigned to even consider measures and mechanisms to protect it, or offer these sacrificing women any help with the difficulties of everyday life in today’s Cuba. Cuban leaders, in the hegemonic alienation, are not capable of valuing the importance and reach of activating those mechanisms for social protection. They should realize that socially and materially assisting those single mothers would help prevent many of the behavioral dysfunction and problems among the children and youth who will be the citizens and heads of family in the near future. Cuba is still very behind regarding progress that has been made worldwide in areas of great social impact, Black grandmother: a buyer and seller of raw materials 15