Gendered Postage: Philatelic Imagery and the Creation of the “New” Modern Woman in Revolutionary Cuba, 1930–80

Fidel Castro rose to power with the desire to radically transform Cuban society.  Upon assuming control of the island in 1959, he and other leaders quickly eliminated dissent and began in earnest to create ‘new Cuban men and women.’  The Revolutionary government took control of the nation’s legal, educational, and media services in order to diffuse its new conception of Cubanidad.  The regime simultaneously worked to reshape Cuban identity in less noticeable ways, for example, through postage stamps.  My paper compares the images of women on pre-Revolutionary stamps with those featured on Revolutionary stamps.  It reveals how the new government immediately began to alter traditional philatelic imagery in order to promote its notion of womanhood.  The images on stamps historically provided a subtle subtext within daily life that spoke to women about what types of citizens they should strive to be.  Pre-Revolutionary stamps generally highlighted women’s roles as mothers and as protectors of the nation’s soul.  Stamps from this era simultaneously portrayed them as subordinate to and reliant on Cuban men.  Turning to the Revolutionary period, philatelic imagery reveals the new demands that were thrust upon Cuban women amidst the government’s programs of radical socio-cultural change.  Leaders wanted them to continue functioning as nurturing mothers while at the same time taking on new roles- producers for the Cuban economy and soldiers to defend the nation from military attack.  My research illustrates that philatelic images were an important part of the Revolutionary government’s broader effort to reshape ideas regarding Cuban womanhood.