Women And The Mexican Feminist Movement

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,

The story “Woman Hollering Creek" by Sandra Cisneros describes the lives of Mexicans in a Chicago neighborhood. She depicts the life that women endure as Latino wives through her portrayal of the protagonist, Cleofilas. For Cisneros being a Mexican-American has given her a chance to see life from two different cultures. In addition, Cisneros has written the story from a woman’s perspective, illustrating the types of conflicts many women face as Latino wives. This unique paradigm allows the reader to examine the events and characters using a feminist critical perspective.

Esperanza tells us many stories where it is evident that women are treated as possessions and often have little or no say in the affairs of the family. Too often it seems that in Esperanza’s experiences women are beaten by their husbands’ or fathers’. One such example of a beating is when Sally explains to Esperanza why she often has so many bruises. “He never hits me hard” (92), is how Sally tells Esperanza that her father often beats her.

Despite being outcasted by other feminist groups such as the mainstream Chicano movement, and the second wave feminist movement, they wanted to set themselves apart through the use of their own personal experiences with gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class structure, and so forth. This term relates to Mexican-American and Hispanic women who oppose the traditional “household wife” role. They challenged the fundamental ideologies women, and young women are taught at an early age, and breaks away from the idea that men have dominion over women. This can also be categorized as a movement that fights against stereotypes against women. This term is important in context to our reading’s because this movement paved way for Chicano women to make their voice heard in their community. Just like we familiarize ourselves with key men in the Chicano movement, women also wanted to describe their experiences, and social injustices they were challenged with because they were women on top of other

The Mexican Revolution began as a movement of the middle class protesting against the long-standing dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. Diaz was an army officer who had came to power after a coup against former president Benito Juárez. Unlike Juárez, Diaz established a stable political system, in which the Constitution of 1857 was bypassed, local political bosses (caciques) controlled elections, political opposition, and public order, while a handful of powerful families and their clients monopolized economic and political power in the provinces.

Social standards may confine individuals from pursuing their own personal interests. Through the relationship between societal standards and individual interests, Sandra Cisneros’ short story, “Woman Hollering Creek,” introduces the roles of men and women in a Hispanic culture. The protagonist, Cleofilas Hernandez, is trapped in an abusive relationship with her newly-wed husband, Juan Pedro. However, Cleofilas tolerates the toxic relationship due to the social norms of her society, which reveals that the Hispanic culture revolves around a patriarchal society and that women have to be submissive to their husbands. As the story progresses, Cleofilas abandons the gender norm to lead an independent lifestyle.

During the Mexican Revolution, Mexico as a nation torn in many directions, people gave up simple farming lives to take up arms against causes that many of them did not fully understand. Gender roles during the period in Mexico were exceptionally degrading towards women. Having little more rights than slaves and treated as trophies or property more than human beings, women role in society was nothing near that of a man’s. In The Underdogs, Mariano Anzuela highlights the issue of gender roles by continuously illustrating the punitive role of women and their mistreatment. Augmenting Anzuelas work with citations from Oscar Lewis and Stephanie Smith will paint a picture of the degrading gender roles for women during the Mexican Revolution. Highlighted points brought up by Azuela are how men speak with and treat women, women’s place in society, and general disregard for women’s feelings.

Mexican Americans defined the Chicano/Chicana movement. They took pride in their own identity, and they declared their civil rights. They worked towards improving their financial, social, and political situation. The Chicano/Chicana movement brought light to the injustices that Mexican Americans suffered. The movement brought up the struggle for land grant restoration, rights for Mexican American farmworkers, and access to education and politics.

The Progressive Era is generally applied to a variety of responses to the economic and social problems to rapid industrialization introduced in America. Although the era can be narrowed down to focus on the history of Mexican American women living in the Southwest and Midwest of the United States between 1890 and 1919. Some of the events involved within in the Mexican community during the time were a variety of processes including restriction, deportation or Americanizing immigrants from Mexico. Women and their children were especially involved in some of the American groups trying to assimilate large numbers of the Mexican community. The history of Mexican American Women in the Southwest and Midwest is mentioned in detail in Vicki L.

Although immigrant women play a big role in America’s society and economy, they have been constantly mistreated and looked down upon throughout history. Not only do they face the burden of the stratifications that their gender entails but they also struggle to adopt the American culture and norms. America was viewed as the land of opportunities and economic prosperity, a perspective that draws in many immigrant women who were willing to leave their families and possessions to come to this foreign country in hopes of a better life. In America, they faced many challenges as they not only had to work long hours but also took care of their families and do housework as well. They struggled to make a standard living out of low wage jobs and assimilating into America’s society. Today, the treatment of immigrant women has improved greatly as they have stood together and fought for their rights. Immigrant women have built communities and held strikes for better pay and treatment. Although America has made great strides in improving treatment of immigrant women, there is still social injustice. Immigrant women have come a long way from the first time they entered America until now, but their stories are often left untold and omitted from American history.

The story illustrates the overlapping influences of women’s status and roles in Mexican culture, and the social institutions of family, religion, economics, education, and politics. In addition, issues of physical and mental/emotional health, social deviance and crime, and social and personal identity are

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).

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.

Since children, girls are always told to act a certain way and which behaviors are appropriate or “lady-like.” Even as little girls, we have a lot of expectations set on us and the way we should handle things. We grow up with skinny Barbie dolls with makeup, baby dolls and kitchen playsets to play mom. We love to argue that women oppression isn’t a thing nowadays, so why it is the women still have to fight for basic equality and rights? As a Mexican women I stand for the Chicana Feminist movement because I believe I have to go through a “double-struggle” being a woman and Mexican as well.

Women of Latin American culture have incessantly ensued the potent gender roles that have become a social construction of their society over innumerable decades. The profound author of Insurgent Mexico, John Reed, imparts his experiences with the revolutionary leaders of the Mexican Revolution, like Pancho Villa, and was able to witness their culture and more specifically the roles these Mexican women were forced to render by their chauvinistic counterparts. This period of revolution, started to grant women new mantles usually reserved only for men, like participating in fighting for the success of the revolution; any preeminent changes would soon approach, but in the meantime Mexican society run by men enjoyed the regulated traditional