Women seek bartending jobs in Cuba as tourism industry grows [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press
Updated 9:23 am CDT, Thursday, September 13, 2018

HAVANA (AP) — For years, Barbara Betancourt has left her two teenage daughters at home and put on black pants and a white shirt to go to the bar.

Elegant and charismatic, she is the face of an increasingly visible phenomenon in Cuba: the rise in female bartenders who break convention to benefit from the growing tourism industry, grabbing job opportunities that have come in the last five years with the opening of new private businesses.

"You have to be a strong woman. With a strong character. You can't be weak or have a husband who says, 'You can't do it,'" she says as she whips a silver shaker.

Known to friends and family as Barbarita, the 46-year-old's career spans two decades. She has been tending bar at the club El Gato Tuerto since 2011. Its location, opposite the emblematic seafront Malecon in Havana, has attracted Cuban music legends and stars throughout its history.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Women-seek-bartending-jobs-in-Cuba-as-tourism-13226493.php



Havana club San Souci in 1958, before the Revolution.



Question in this pre-revolution restaurant: Do you have frog legs?
Answer: No, I just walk funny.



Women could play their little accordians in bars.