Havana. - Cuban law now protects mothers and fathers who decide by mutual accord that they want to share the child-raising role after the breastfeeding period, without having to worry about irate bosses.

Accumulated experience shows it is preferable that babies be cared for at home in the first year of life, and only later brought to childcare centers, of which there are hundreds in the country, until they are ready for kindergarten.

For that reason there is a "postnatal license" in Cuba by which a mother -and through Article 16 of a new law, a father- can either opt to return to work or remain at home at 60 percent of salary until the baby is one year old.

More than overturning taboos and machismo barriers, this new law reflects the present socio-economic reality in Cuba, where women are 44 percent of the work force in the civil sector and more than 66 percent in the technical workforce.

Although somewhat controversial, the recent State Council Law No.234 is the legal instrument of the Family Code marriage contract: "to attend, care for, protect, educate, help, give profound affection to, and prepare for life" the fruit of their love. This responsibility is a right and a duty, recognized equally for adoptive parents by the Family Code in 1975.

Law No. 234 of August 13 2003 also covers up to a six month absence from work, without reprisal, for either parent should one of their children under 16 years of age become ill.

The revolutionary part of the law is that the father can take over the major caretaking role once the mother's presence is no longer indispensable.

Should a mother die within the 12-week postnatal period, that full-pay right reverts to the working father, or to whichever working maternal or paternal relative he delegates to feed and care for the child during the first year of life.

The extension of this to other relatives is recognition of the fundamental role of the family in society and facilitates better integration of its members in helping working parents.

Without doubt these changes will have positive repercussions in an aging society showing increased longevity and diminution of infant mortality rates.

It is very rare today in Cuba to see families with several children. Many couples have only one child, or none, or delay child-bearing until the future in order to dedicate themselves completely to the baby.

This is especially true of women of child-bearing age who begin working as soon as they finish their studies: high-performance athletes, teachers, doctors, scientists, all who feel they have a limited time to demonstrate their ability before becoming mothers.

The law has done an important part, perfecting it is up to the family, the society and, first and foremost, to those who want to be called mommy and daddy.

Cuban Women's Federation 43 years dedicated to the women of Cuba

In 1960, soon after the victory of the Revolution on January 1, 1959, diverse women's organizations fused into a unique organization to develop policies and programs to achieve the full exercise of woman's equality in all social milieus.

It was an enormous task. Cuban women, a determined presence in all the battles to end colonialism, and later neocolonialism, arrived at the first of January revolutionary victory as 55 percent of the illiterates of the country and with poor (17 percent) incorporation in the workforce, with much of their hard-working number in domestic service or as bar waitresses, so that only 12 percent carried out truly productive and worthy work. These women could only hope to live 63.8 years and 60 of each thousand of their children died before reaching one year of age.

The advancements of Cuban women, framed in the social revolutionary project, are unquestionable. Today, Cuban women are more than 44 percent of the labor force of the country in the state-civil sector, 36 percent of the members of Parliament, and more than 33 percent of all people on managerial levels. Women are more than 66 percent of all technicians and professionals in the country, and 62 percent of university graduate students. Women in Cuba enjoy recognized sexual and reproductive rights, a very advanced legislation that protects them, universal and free health care and education systems, special programs for maternity and child protection, programs to promote their quality of life, as well as cultural and social support. Their life expectancy is 76.8 years and infant mortality is 6 per thousand live births.

The FMC has 3,800,000 affiliated women, organized in 76,000 grassroots organizations all over the country, the only indispensable requisite for membership being female and older than 14 years.

In the more than 175 Guidance Houses for Women and the Family, the capacities and potential of thousands of women are developed through training and actions aimed at the empowerment of women as well as their growing insertion in all spheres of the Cuban social project