Women Seek Bartending Jobs in Cuba As Tourism Industry Grows

VOA
14 Sep 2018, 04:05 GMT+10

HAVANA - 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.

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.

"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.

But female bartenders are still struggling to gain more ground on the island.

Fewer than six women were contenders at The Pan-American Bartenders competition held at the end of August in Havana.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Peking Press.

More Information

2 ℃

Beijing

Business

Section

Could Northern Ireland and Scotland secede from UK?

Behind the scenes at Westminster and the teetering fate of the British government lies an even more profound change in ...

Canada falling behind in share of global exports

With the difficult renegotiation of the trade agreement with Canada’s largest trading partner now resolved , it’s time for Canada ...

U.S. stocks bounce back after Trump shelves new tariffs

NEW YORK, New York – U.S. industrial stocks gained ground on Friday with news that President Trump was considering not ...

Battery-driven and driverless vehicles to be developed by VW

WOLFSBURG, Germany - The Volkswagen Group has allocated almost €44 billion ($50 billion) for developments in electric cars, driverless cars, ...

Five-star hotels being probed by China's tourism regulator

BEIJING, China - The woes of one customer in China, have managed to provoke a nationwide investigation into five-star hotels, ...

Ofcom slaps fines on Virgin Media and EE for overcharging

LONDON, U.K. - After facing allegations of overcharging their customers, Virgin Media and EE have both been slapped with huge ...

China

Section

Movie Review

Arrival [Blu-Ray]

Featured story

Ireland's Keywords Studios acquires Canada's Snowed In

DUBLIN, Ireland - Following its successful acquisition of Hollywood-based Blindlight, Irish video-gaming company Keywords Studios has now announced its latest accomplishment. Keywords r ...