Real Women Have Curves Analysis

Common stereotypes about women in the Mexican-American culture include that women are uneducated, good housewives, and very fertile. Many parents still believe it’s the woman’s job to stay home and be the homemaker. The concept of gender, which is socially constructed, is reinforced since birth. (Sociology Lecture 08/24/2015) Ana was caught in the middle of gender politics. Her mother oppressed her daughter so she can become a grandmother. The film “Real Women Have Curves” deals with gender stereotypes and struggles of poor women living in East LA. Carmen was trying to have Ana chained to the notion of women being inferior to men. Carmen believed men to be superior, whereas Ana thought differently. However Ana strived to liberate herself from traditional cultural norms by pursuing her college education. Her mother’s negative influence only caused Ana to rebel.

The play Real Women Have Curves was written by Josefina Lopez, it depicted the hard ships of immigrant female workers and the power and strength of women working together as one. About a decade later a movie was made. However the movie Real Women Have Curves still shows the same struggles these women in the play face and also shows how strong women working together can be. The key differences from the movie and the play are that they depict two different stories and almost give off completely different messages, especially when the movie has

The film, “Real Women Have Curves” is about a young Hispanic girl named Ana Garcia who is finding her voice as she is leaving her adolescence and entering the adult world. The film takes place in Los Angeles, California, during a time where Ana, is graduating high school and must figure out what her next step will be. Ana has the capabilities to further her education but unfortunately, her family does not have the financial capabilities to allow Ana to take that step. Ana is immensely woeful and is left working for the family business at a dress factory. As the film progresses, Ana is informed by one of her professors that she is accepted to Columbia University and makes the executive decision to go even though her mother disagrees with this, Ana becomes her own woman and does what is best for her. This film’s most prominent themes is definitely coming of age but it also deals with class and gender. Class is shown through family’s lower financial status and how Ana’s family does not have the financial ability to allow her to attend college. Gender is shown by the way Ana’s mother constantly nags her for her weight and persistently tells her that she will not find a husband due to her weight.

Young Chicana women typical expectations are to follow the parents’ rules. In the films “Mosquita Y Mari” and “Real Women have curves”, the young Chicana women resist these gender cultural norms. The resistance of these gender norms is not a challenge to others but away to voice the opinion that I am my own person and not somebody else.

As I read “Real Women Have Curves” by Josefina Lopez I was reminded of what it is like to be raised in Chicanx household and the beliefs that come with it . I was touched on a very personal level I felt many of the characters in the play reminded me of my own mother and the older women in my family. In much of the play Josefina Lopez brings to life the issues that Chicanx women face in our everyday lives.

Women have long been fighting for their right to be seen as equal to men. Even to this day, women continue to fight for their rights, things such as the right to non-gender discriminatory wages. While there may be some arguments over the state of gender equality in the modern world, it is undeniable that there have been great strides made toward recognizing the female 's worth in the workforce and as a human being. Despite these strides, however, things are still not yet ideal for women and many of the issues females face today are the very same issues that have been plaguing them for decades. While it is unfortunate the oppression of women has been so long-lived, the length of that exposure has thankfully enabled many talented writers to both lament over the fact and emphasize the need for gender equality.

This concept illustrates gender inequality because even in a field that is dominated by women, gender perceptions about men’s roles, abilities, and skills, privilege them and ease their advancement within the occupation. (Wingfield, p363-365)

Today play review is going to be “Real Women Have Curves” by Josefina Lopez. This story is about five women that know each and they have to make 100 dresses by the end of the week because Estela needs money to pay for a lawyer to get her papers because the Glitz Company will pay her for the last two weeks and this week if she gets all 100 dresses in. This story takes time on the first week of September 1987 and place in a house located in East Los Angeles. The context of Immigration Law is part of the story, therefore, it allows them to get her legal papers and it brings them together because they are all afraid of the migration, always forget that they are legal so, whenever they see a van they run back home and hide. Another context to this story is Gender

Gender inequality has engulfed the United States and placed copious varying roles onto the male and female sexes. According to Leila Aboulela, Minaret, “All through life there were distinctions - toilets for men, toilets for women; clothes for men, clothes for women - then, at the end, the graves are identical.” Discrimination places women into different roles and takes away numerous privileges. However in America today after more than a century of struggles by dedicated activists who fought to alter these ideals and gain further rights, the perception of women in society and their contributions to society have been greatly transformed.

In many ways, feminists feel that traditional ethics have failed in the world of women’s equality; however, feminist ethicists as a whole share the same target, as cited by Tong, R. & Williams, N. (2009), “the creation of a gendered ethics that aims to eliminate or at least ameliorate the oppression of any group of people, but most particularly women.” Many organizations have been created whose mission is to protect the rights of women such as women’s coalition in various states, Equality4Women, National Organization for Women (N.O.W.), and the Ford Foundation to name a few. These organizations collaborate to restructure culture so women can triumph in other humanitarian areas like economic, political, and social equality. What is known as the “glass ceiling” is considered a possible contributor to the wage gap and inequality in the workplace. “Similarly, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 prohibit discriminatory practices in the workplace that have traditionally impeded women's ability to achieve occupational parity with their male coworkers” (Housh, 2011, p.118). More often than not, even a woman’s health, both mentally and physically, comes into question. “This can be explained by women’s and men’s different positions in the gender order, meaning that in gender unequal situations at work it is often women that are disadvantaged whereas men have

In addition, The Movie and the play illustrate a few ideas that present the economic status of Mexican Americans. In “Real Woman have Curves” Ana’s father and sister have their own business; however, both of the family businesses are low paid jobs. All the members in the Garcia family have to work, including Ana. Ana lost her job at the burger joint forcing her to start working at her sister’s factory. Ana is concerned about working in her sister Carmen’s business because they all

Women today have progressed to unprecedented levels, however, in all the ways women have advanced, “There has been remarkably little change in the gender balance of some of the most common occupations for either women or men during the last forty years “(p. 5). There was a large decline in the 80’s in workplace segregation, but since then, gender integration in the workplace has been relatively stagnant. This is largely related to the gender stigmas attached to fields such as teachers or health care workers that are largely dominated by women. There is an undeniable wage penalty for working in predominately female occupations that also deters men from these fields. The Department of Labor suggests many possible policies to be made in order to tackle this issue if the goal of equal opportunity for women wishes to be

Stereotype threats are negative consequences about one’s race, sex, nationality, or social group. Stereotype threats are used a lot more frequently than people realize. Gender is a powerful stereotype that affects many people’s decisions and actions. The stereotype of women in the workplace has come a long way even in the last twenty years. Many businesses tend to want to diversify their demographics by making the ratio of men to women almost equal. “Demographic projections anticipate that by the year 2000 women will exceed 50 per cent of the total workforce…” (Johnston and Packer, 1987). Women were able to make their way in to the workplace when men were off at war during the 1950s. During this time, women proved their ability to do the same kind of jobs men did. Many women worked as machinist, factory workers, and clergies.

Some people say that sexism no longer exists in the workplace, yet only "19%" of women are in a presidential or chief position at work(Bomey ). Women are less likely to be hired for a job despite having all the qualifications, women earn less than men, and women are continuously harassed in the workplace. Despite the fact that women are capable to "perform with the same skill and success" as men, the issue of gender discrimination still continues to rise( ). In society, sometimes it can be difficult to recognize issues of sexism not only at work but in life. With the failure to realize gender discrimination and harassment in the world, educating people on the issue of sexism can make the workplace a success.

Women have experienced a historic situation of inequality in the social as well as professional aspects. Women were normally the ones that would take care of children, do the chores in the house, and in rural areas; they would work in the field with the rest of the family. However, today’s women have become more self-sufficient and independent from the predominant male figure within every historical family. Gender inequality in the workplace is becoming less common; yet, gender is a factor that affects men and women. Especially women have been subjected to a historical discrimination that has influenced society to decide which job is more suitable for women than men. However women have confronted and tried to break down the barriers that