This Sunday, when we put our ballot in the ballot box, we will be voting for a National Assembly that looks a lot like the country we are.

If something has not been missing in recent weeks, it is data about that candidacy that, if approved, will lead the destinies of Cuba in the next five years.

Right among the most commented statistics is the majority participation of women.

And it is that,

if the current proposal of Parliament is confirmed, it would repeat as second in the world for its number of deputies, with 55.3 percent,

a position to which it climbed in 2018, according to calculations by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (UIP).

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the data, more than the amount itself, is that it has already become a trend.

Between the VII Legislature (2008-2013) and the IX, which ceases its functions in 2023, the increase in this indicator has been sustained.

The new candidacy confirms this behavior.

But what are these women like? Where do they live? What do they do?

An inside look at the statistics, in dialogue with the country's demographic data at the end of 2021, provides other keys for analysis.

With 73 percent, the group of Cubans between 36 and 60 years old is the most represented

, followed by the youngest (18-35 years old), which reaches just over 23 percent.

Even though Cuba is a highly aged country, where more and more people are over 60, the fact that practically a quarter of the women proposed for deputies are young speaks of continuity, relief and empowerment.

There is also female representation from all the provinces of the country.

However, the special municipality of the Isla de la Juventud only has men on the ballot.

And although at the level of absolute numbers there are more proposals in those territories with the largest population, such as Havana and Holguín, when the rates of candidates per hundred thousand women are calculated, the representativeness is greater in provinces such as Mayabeque (6.87)

. , Guantánamo (6.75) and Sancti Spíritus (6.09).

In line with the composition by skin color and the educational structure of the country,

46 percent of these Cubans are white and an overwhelming majority have a university level (94.68%)

.

Diversity of knowledge

A quick review of the official data on the participation of women in Cuban economic and social life confirms that they are 66 percent of the professionals and technicians;

82 percent professors, teachers, and scientists;

more than 70 percent of the prosecutors, presidents of provincial courts and professional judges and 53.5 percent of the national science and technology system.

In addition, they represent about 40 percent of people employed in formal jobs.

The parliamentary candidacy resembles that reality and, consequently, is diverse in terms of the professional sectors of the women that make up: it includes leaders, scientists, state businesswomen, athletes, journalists...

With a view to the next Parliament,

almost 22 percent of the candidates come from the grassroots organizations of Popular Power

;

it means that they are district delegates or integrate the administration councils in municipalities and provinces.

Meanwhile, with close to 15 and just over 8 percent, respectively,

education and health are the most represented sectors

, which is consistent with the female majority that characterizes them at the country level.

However, along the same lines, the candidacy also confirms some gaps.

Just to give a few examples,

the least represented sectors are precisely the agricultural cooperative and the productive one

, precisely those with the least participation of women at the national level, due to the work and grace of that patriarchal tradition that still haunts us.

Meanwhile, there is no female representation of the so-called new economic actors.

There is only one and he is a man, which confirms the needs -already recognized in the country- to better articulate this emerging sector with the national scenario and affirmative actions to favor female participation in said space of the economy.