Equality: The Role Of Women In Latino Groups

In 2004, the United States Census Bureau (2015) indicated there were approximately fifty-four million Hispanics in the United States, making up seventeen percent of the population. Hispanics who migrates to other places, whether it’s a country, state or city are faced with challenges; one being discrimination.

Women in the Hispanic culture grow up with strong ties to their values, norms and how they were raised by their families. Parents instill a “machismo” and familism ideology into the upbringing of these women (Fuchsel, 2012). “Machismo” is a term to describe what is acceptable and expected of men (Fuschel,2012). Familism is, “the subordination of the personal interests and prerogatives of an individual to the values and demands of the family” (dictionary.com). An example of “machismo” is that it is not seen as a problem for men to be unfaithful (Fuschel, 2012). Women would continue to stay with the men, because of the strong sense of familism and not wanting to break the family apart (Fuschel,2012). Also, the strong tie to family makes it difficult to express the troubles in a marriage, because family may be unwilling to help (Fuschel,2012). Machismo and familism affect Hispanic women in their day-to-day lives and how they approach marriages and relationships (Fuschell,2012).

Throughout this first chapter of Latino Americans the key points in my opinion were the following. Starting with the origin story of the Americas, the book mentions there might not be a definitive starting point because there “500 nations in North America before a European ship ever dropped anchor off the Eastern Seaboard” (Suarez 3). The book from this point on chronologically starts narrating, first about 55 years before Protestant refugees from Mayflower ever stepped on American soil, a Spanish sailor Pedro Menendez de Aviles forced French protestants from their Florida coast settlement to then stablish St. Augustine. From this point the book continues to tell the stories of Juan de Oñate, from witnessing the founding of Santa Fe, the oldest capital of North America, to exploring more than half a dozen of American states, he is one of the most fundamental conquistadors who is the least

In several cultures, women are seen as archetypes more than men. The proposition of women are instantly idealized and glorified and instantaneously ignore the true complexity of a woman. Countless of these superficial images can be seen across various cultures where the societies within these cultures define what it means to be a female and what type of behavior is and isn’t acceptable within those parameters. The persistent restatement of these stories throughout these generations reinforces the gender system. Women who step out of the norm in these societies are then held punishable for their actions. Alicia Gaspar de Alba pinpoints the three archetypal roles that are given to the women in the Mexican and Chicana cultures. These are,

I was once told I had the world in my hands by my vice principal. The reason for his statement was because I was a Hispanic young woman with above average grades, and my involvement in extracurricular activities. Why was being a Hispanic young woman so much more special? This is where the harsh reality set in; Hispanic women have the tendency to not achieve their goals.

Growing up, those two words have always left my stomach in knots and caused my eyebrows to come together in confusion. At the tender age of 8, family parties were meant to be fun and enjoyable, but whenever I heard an uncle or grandfather say those two words I was left in a state of discomfort without really knowing why.

Hispanics or Latinos are defined as a people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish speaking culture. This term “Hispanics” was created by the U.S. federal government in the early 1970’s to refer to Americans born in a Spanish speaking nation or with ancestry to Spanish territories. Hispanics people are vibrant, socializing, and fun loving people. Among various facts associated to this culture is that they have a deep sense of involvement in their family traditions and cultures.

America is most known for its diversity, with immigrants from almost everywhere on Earth. The American Dream has lured many minorities to the land of the free and home of the brave, in search of opportunity. Though the U.S. is known for its “American Dream,” America does not have equal opportunity for all of its people. Women and Latinos, specifically, have been denied social and legal equality, with both movements starting in the 1960`s. Latinos had the Chicano movement while women had the second wave of a feminist movement, with similarities and differences in their goals, means, and results. Although Latinos focused on reforming education and work conditions and women wanted to reform their image in society, both educated the public through organizations and used protests to gain limited success of better job opportunity though are still viewed as inferior to white men.

For this project there was an opportunity for me to interview anybody on the topics of intersectionality and gender discrimination that happens in peoples workplace. I choose my roommate Ria who is 24 years old which is more in the younger side to people might seem as she will not have many encounters with the topics mentioned. In that case, I want to show how it’s the opposite being young Mexican women there comes more discrimination and not many employers hire them. In order to get a better understanding of how other people can be towards some employers I asked her many questions about her jobs environments which are Denny 's and Jasmine Adult Day Health Center. This important to see how young Mexican women or women in general get criticized for their gender and some for their race.

Currently within the United States one of the fastest growing minority population (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) is the Latinos. In 2010 Census Bureau Brief ( Ennis, Rois-Vargas, & Albert, 2011) it stated how an estimated 15 million Latino individuals were living within the United States, which is approximately about 16% of the entire U.S. population. There is one big problem with addressing the Latino population, and that is the family patterns are either misrepresented or not properly understood, due to the label of Hispanic and Latinos being placed together. These two groups may share the same spoken language of Spanish and have similar cultural ancestry but the diversity among Hispanic and Latinos (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) make generalizations about their lifestyles difficult. The term Hispanic came to be used in the 1970’s by government officials (cdc.gov, 2011) in trying to provide a diverse label on this population that had connections to speaking Spanish and the Spanish culture. Latino became more of a termed to be used when distinguishing between Mexican (Hispanics) and Latinos who descendants from Latin America such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.

The following discussion and statements are done so such that they incorporate the ideas and struggles of the Latino races regarding certain subjects down upon chapter 3 “Latinos in the united states” and chapter 4 “borders, immigration and citizenship”. This discussion is about the oppression that people Latinos and Native Americans and other ethnic groups have gone through. Some points in the discussion are oppression towards Mexican American and Native Americans, how they were treated and the impact they had.

First of all, let’s exchange the term Latino for a much more geographical one; to include as many people as possible. The word Ibero-America is widely used when referring to Latin America in a geographical manner: It encompasses any country that once was a territory of Portugal of Spain regardless of their language. There are more than 800 different native languages in Ibero-America. Saying Latino or Hispanic excludes these ethnic groups. According to the anthropologist Jose Matos Mar, They include the Totonaco (with around 200.000 that live exclusively in México and speak 11 languages) and the Mayans (which inhabit Mexico and Guatemala constituting the larges indigenous group of the region with 6,500.000 members that speak more than 68 languages) (1993 pp. 155-234). Now, we focus on the way Ibero-Americans see each other. Francisco Lizcano Fernandez talks about sixth main ethnical categories, including indigenous

Latino/Hispanic Americans cover a much wider demographic then believed. Latino/Hispanic Americans consist of; Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Guatemalan American to name a few. Latino/Hispanic Americans are the largest ethnic group in the United States. The Latino/Hispanic culture is very different than ours. Their culture differs in economics, politics, family traditions, family structure, religion, education, language, fashion, art, music, dancing, and food. As natural born Americans in the United States it is important for us to learn about the different cultures migrating into the United States. Many United States citizens have a hard time understanding other cultures; being culturally insensitive is a common theme in the United

How has gender inequality affected women in Latin American countries? Gender inequality has affected the women of Latin America in a multitude of ways, but it can be argued that the division of gender equality is extremely prominent when analyzing reproductive rights and health care access. Compared to countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, Latin America is far behind in terms of civil rights and reproductive rights. The lack of rights is not in question; women’s barrier to reproductive health can be seen through anecdotes and statistics. The question thus becomes, is there a definite answer to why these rights are absent? Factors concerning the absence of reproductive rights include cultural norms and religion, but the one that plays the biggest role remains the lack of female political leaders in Latin American countries. What exactly is it that is keeping Latin America behind other countries in terms of being progressive regarding reproductive rights? Women’s political absence in Latin America has shaped reproductive rights and health care services immensely.

Advancing women’s power parity at state level seems to be a smart economical approach to boost gross state product (GSP). A recent research by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) finds that maximizing the women’s economic potential and narrowing the inequality gap could add $18 billion in 2025 or more than 10 percent to annual gross state product (GSP) growth in the State of New Mexico over the next ten years. This involves putting more women to work in the formal sector of the economy to achieve a greater gender equality. Realizing the $18 billion addition to GSP requires achieving the potential of gender equality in New Mexico. New jobs will be created to offset the gender disparity and to replace the number of women that will be retiring