Essay On Latin American Women

     Throughout United States history oppression of people has always been prominent, whether through African American’s and segregation or Asian American’s during the Vietnam War. What is often ignored is our history of the oppression of women. No matter what time in history, there is always a case to be found of the discrimination over gender. Many people know of how African American’s came into freedom and the long perilous road it took, but few know the struggles, changes and hardships that women have perceived to get where they are today. As the civil war halted and industrialization and urbanization came into play, the role of women changed dramatically and their status

In The First American Women, Sara M. Evans describes the changing roles of the respective populations of indigenous, white European, and black slave women, from before Columbus’s arrival to the American Revolution, and how the perception of these roles were shaped by the sociocultural context of each group. For example, although indigenous women in North America had significant political and economic power, especially initially, most white European settlers did not recognize this power-- their Eurocentric lens conveying women as inferior-- and thus they instead saw these female political leaders as slaves, basing this conclusion on a comparison to black slaves.

When thinking about feminism in today’s society we tend to direct our minds and thoughts to a more radical and powerful train of thought. Feminism has been going on for centuries, with two main ideologies at the forefront; liberal and cultural feminism. Someone who identifies as a liberal feminist is someone who believes that women and men are a like and equal in most respects and deserve equal roles and opportunities (Wood & Fixmer-Oraiz, 2017, p. 58). And cultural feminism is someone who identifies as someone who believes that men and women are fundamentally differently; you have different rights, role and opportunities (Wood & Fixmer-Oraiz, 2017, p. 58). The women’s rights movement can be understood and broken down into three “waves”.

Being stereotyped is used in many races, however Judith Ortiz Cofer, a Latin woman, was going to take a stand for the Latin women. Cofer describes her personal experience throughout her lifetime dealing with racial slurs. She also shows the important events and she uses pathos which took place when she was being stereotyped on many different occasions.

Human trafficking doesn’t happen in third world countries only. It doesn’t just happen to poor people and it certainly doesn’t solely happen to women. It is present here in the USA but it is hidden, and even worse, so are their victims. They are everywhere yet invisible. They are silently crying for our help through their eyes and smiles. According to Polaris, “…the prevalence of sex trafficking in the United States is still unknown, we do know that women, children, and men are being sold for sex against their will in cities and towns in all 50 states”. Human trafficking can happen to anyone even to Theresa Flores, the author of “The slave across the street”(“Sex trafficking” 2015). An average 15 year old American girl, coming from a privileged background and a respected family became a victim of sex trafficking and through her book, she convinces us that human trafficking doesn’t have a specific demographic.

European Americans are comprised of a variety of different countries. Some of the countries that they represent are Ireland, England, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Poland, etc. All throughout history European Americans have been known to be conquerors. They conquered the US by taking over the land that rightfully belonged to the Native American Indians. There were no apologies made for this conquer, it simply took place.

Between the year 1750 and 1914 the roles of women in Latin America and Western Europe did not change, however, their mindsets and goals impacted society. Women in these regions shared the similar role of homemaker and also experienced gender inequality. In Latin America, because of the expectations of women due to Catholicism, little changed in terms of gender inequality. However in Western Europe, this was not the case. Women in Western Europe were subjected to unrest because of the inequality amongst men and women and organized women’s suffrage movements.

When people hear the word prejudice, they think that refers to it as a racial prejudice among those who have fair skin and those with dark skin. However, prejudice is more than skin color. Prejudice is among gender, religion, culture, geographic origin and race. Prejudice has become a complex problem in our society. In the story "The Myth of the Latin Woman" written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, she discusses how people impose the identity of Latinas as terms of social stereotype.

Feminism is a very popular and controversial concept in today’s world. Feminism is a range of ideologies as well as social and political movement all aiming for a common goal to define, establish and achieve equal rights and position to women legally as well as socially. The people with these ideologies are commonly known as FEMINIST. Feminism theory is not only about understanding but also to take action. Naturally people expect women to be related to the idea of feminism and be a feminist rather than men. Men have taken part as significant cultural and political responses within each wave of feminism movements.Feminist men have also argued alongside scholars that liberation of men from the socio cultural constraints of gender roles and sexism is a significant part of feminist activism and scholarship.

We have all heard about the challenges of being a woman in foreign countries comparable to India, Asia, and many other countries. But we rapidly forget the challenges we face here in America. Women that put their lives on the line daily to contribute to something greater than themselves, such as the Navy, National Guard, Air Force the Coast Guard Marine Corps, our own town's firefighters and active officers of the law. Women contribute greatly to all of these aspects and face different forms of discrimination daily. In my essay, I will discuss the life and role of retired police officer Wanda C. of the Durham county police department.

American history is primarily concerned with the evaluation of imperative events affiliated with the primordial American society (Kellogg & William 439). It sheds light of the past on the present hence, establishing a significant correlation between the precedent, present, and future. Slavery, the revolutionary war, the colonial period, and the U.S independence are some of the predominant events that characterize the American history.

The definition of feminism is very elusive. Maybe because of its ever-changing historical meaning, it’s not for certain whether there is any coherence to the term feminism or if there is a definition that will live up to the movement’s variety of adherents and ideas. In the book “No Turning Back,” author Estelle Freedman gives an accurate four-part definition of the very active movement: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently part of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies” (Freedman 7).

Secondly, many of these women is transported from their small rural towns into big cities for sex work, typically by vehicle, where they would be less noticeable. In this case, many of the women come from within Mexico, but there are other women who are brought from Latin America for the purposes of prostitution to the red-light district. The trafficker is in charge or transporting and delivering, and in some cases, the transporter is the pimp who will oversee the women during the duration of the time he has control over them. Many of these women are taken to hotels or apartments where they will work either in private sectors, such as clubs or will work on the streets as their pimps keep a watchful eye over them.

Over the course of the semester, we have examined a multitude of issues facing women across Latin America. The complex struggles are diverse and vary greatly throughout the region, however parallels can often be drawn based on shared historical roots and influences. The access to full sexual and reproductive health and rights, is one of these parallel-presenting instances – and is the issue confronted in Gideon, Leite and Minte’s article titled “What is hindering progress? The marginalization of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights in Brazil and Chile.” Along with summarising the nature of this specific issue as described in the article, this paper will be connecting the phenomenon to other occurrences and realities that we have

The word feminist is believed to be characterized as an individual who demonstrates huge support and advocates that women should be just as equal as men, both being given the same rights and opportunities. A feminist might make the comment, “As a woman, I should be given the same opportunities to be as successful as a man.” Although there is still ground to make up in America, equality between men and women is becoming something that is generally expected (Samovar, Porter, McDaniel, & Roy, 2012). American culture in many instances promote gender equality in relation to home and in the workplace for instance, women make on average 80% of what men do, yet other countries place great emphasis on inequality (Samovar, Porter, McDaniel, & Roy,