Sister Juana Ines De La Cruz

The seventeenth century in Mexico didn’t know anything about equal rights for women. Women devoted their lives to the building of families and marriage or instead gave their life to God and became nuns. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz chose to live her life as a nun for different reasons, must specially because of her desire for the opportunity to study. She expresses this choice in her Reply to Sor Filotea. She defends her own right, as well as women’s rights in general, to pursue a life of education in this response to one of her critics Sor Filotea, whom is believed to be the bishop of Puebla. Maria Luisa Bemberg also portraits her point of view of Sor Juana’s life in the film “I, the worst of all”.

The 1930s were a period of many changes in Spain, especially because Francisco Franco started ruling the country and the political problems that arose. Things slowly started changing for women because of the foundation of Mujeres Libres, a female anarchist organization that fought for female rights. Until then, the general view of women was that of Proudhon, which meant that women were to be seen as reproducers whose role was to contribute to the society by taking care of their household and their children . This was especially common in the rural areas of Spain, where women could even be forced into arranged marriages against their will and almost had no say in what happened to them. The main oppressor of La Casa de Bernarda Alba is actually Bernarda, the mother of

The picture of pre-revolutionary Mexican women was of a woman who had to lived her life constantly in the male shadow. These women were consumed by family life, marriage, and the Catholic Church, and lived silently behind their dominant male counterparts (Soto 31-32). In 1884 (prior to the revolution) the government passed the Mexican Civil Code. It dramatically restricted women's rights at home and at work (Bush and Mumme 351). Soto states that the code "sustains an almost incredible inequality between the conditions of husband and wife, restricts in an exaggerated and arbitrary manner those rights due the woman, and…erases and nullifies her personality" (qtd. Bush and Mumme 351).

Anachronologically deemed a feminist for her writings, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz stood in the New World as a defiant, female Catholic. Through her work, she displays her head-strong character, illuminating the hypocrisy that was flourishing in patriarchal Mexico while simultaneously creating metaphors that clearly showed how she viewed her situation. Moreover, through extenstive allusions, she displays her aptitude, proving that she had one true love in life: the love for learning. Perhaps doomed from the start because of her sex, any time Sor Juana delved into her passion she was bound to hear insolence from a traditional member of society, namely the Bishop of Puebla,

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was born in Jalapa, Veracruz Mexico, on February 21, 1794. He belongs to a “criollo” middle class family. His parents were from Spain. He was a Mexican politician and military leader who was President of Mexico eleven times from 1833 to 1855. He was president officially six times, and unofficially five more. He was also a disastrous president of Mexico because he lost Texas and much more of the current American west in the United States. However, by far he was an important figure of his generation in the Mexican history. Many people love him during his first years of president, and he was remembered for two major conflicts, the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 during the Texas Revolution, and as a restored Mexican leader during the Mexican-American War in 1847 (tshaonline.org).

“The boys and the girls live in separate worlds.” - House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Simply because of our gender, we are expected to take different roles in our lives, especially in Esperanza’s society, many people view that women have to become a housewife or work in a factory. Anyone can take a role, no gender has to dominate. I learned from Esperanza that more danger is on women, because we are usually viewed as weak and unable to defend ourselves, as Esperanza got sexually assaulted this proved true to some cases, but not all women are the

Few historical figures from the period of colonial Mexico tower as high as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Sor Juana was a criolla woman who lived from 1651 to 1695. She was born as an illegitimate child but was eventually taken in by the Mexican viceroy’s family. A voracious reader as a child, Sor Juana tirelessly pursued an educating herself. As a young woman, she chose to enter into the cloister so that she could avoid marriage and thus devote herself to her scholarship. She became a prominent writer and her works were widely read in both New Spain and Spain. However, in 1990 she published one of her most famous works: “Reply to Sor Philothea”. This critique of a sermon written by a prominent member of the Church proclaimed the ability of women to participate in intellectual pursuits. Facing intensifying pressure from the Church, Sor Juana publically renounced her work before her death in 1965. Sor Juana’s story was shaped by the societal rules governing gender, race, and class during Mexico’s colonial period and, despite the effort of many to consign her voice to oblivion, she holds tremendous influence upon modern Mexican culture and feminist thought.

In a patriarchal society such as colonial Latin America, women were considered second class citizens. No matter their class or ethnicity, all women experienced the social and cultural limitations that are subjected to them by this patriarchal society. Women had limited access to education, women are used to satisfy men’s personal desires and legal systems neglected women’s court rights while heavily advocating men’s. However, not all women are subjected to the same limitations because of the difference in one’s economic status and ethnic identity. Nonetheless, women still found a way to carve out a space for themselves in attempt to overcome these regulations set by a patriarchal society.

Selena was a singer not a criminal like trump would think if she was alive today. Selena Quintanilla is the youngest of three children. She was born on April ,16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, TX. Selena’s father and mother‘s names were Abraham and Maricela. Abraham was in a band when he was a teenager. When he grew up he made a band with his children. He would always tell them to practice. A.B. Quintanilla the third is Selena’s brother , he was the songwriter and producer for her music. Suzette Quintanilla was Selena's sister and she was the lead drummer.

Out from the kitchen and into the world, women are making a better name for themselves. Although humankind tends to be male dominated, men are not the only species that inhabit the world that they live on. In Julia Alvarez's novel In the Time of the Butterflies, the women of the Dominican Republic are expected to grow up to be housewives and lacking a formal education. Women may be cherished like national treasures, but they are not expected to fulfill their truest potentials as human beings.

Mexican women are still suffering from discrimination, violence, inequality and disparity. Mexican society in general has been classified, as a male-dominated society, in which women did not have the same rights as men and they are being branded by their sex. Women in Mexico are still fighting hard to be appropriate in their own country and gain their basic human rights, their right to belong, their right to live and their right to be treated with dignity. In this essay I will explore some of the difficulties and issues Mexican women had and still have to deal with within their daily life.

The perception of inequality was evident in the colonial Spanish America, man belief that women were lacked in capacity to reason as soundly as men. A normal day for European women in the new world was generally characterized by male domination, for example marriage was arranged by the fathers, women never go out except to go church, women didn’t have the right to express their opinions about politic or society issues. Subsequent to all these bad treats European women try to find different ways to escape from man domination and demonstrate their intellectual capacities, for example women used become part of a convent, write in secret their desires and disappointments, and even dress as man to

The call for feminism marks the beginning of an extensive journey with the quest to inspire women and to advocate women right in a male governed the world. Gloria Anzaldúa and Maxine Kingston both scrutinize feminism in the framework of “Borderland: La Frontera: The New Mestiza” and “The Women Warrior” encouraging women to occupy a strong position in the post-colonial male led civilization. The author both traces the journey of women struggle to achieve rewarding role within the structure shaped by men. The alliance of different voice from disregarded women gestures a strong theme that inspires Maxine Hong Kingston and Gloria Anzaldua to write enthusiastically within the feminist topic to dispute the patriarchal society.

In Isabel Allende’s Inés of My Soul, one woman, Inés Suarez, challenges the traditional role of women and society by embarking upon a journey alongside her companion to conquer a part of the New World. Throughout the expedition, Inés faces challenges because of her gender, yet she also manages to use her gender and the traditional gender role to her advantage.

Throughout history, women have been seen in many different lights. From a woman’s perspective she is strong, smart, helpful and equal to men. In the eyes of men, she is seen as the weaker being, the housewife, and the caretaker. By looking at the following pieces of writing, one can see that through the centuries, women have struggled to break out of the mold that man had put her in and make themselves known in society as important.