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11th post, reflection

While doing the research, I felt like I was diving deep into an issue that I thought I knew. I have learned more about machismo and how it was developed and mirrored by the U.S. I have also learned the term ‘Marianismo’ which turned out to be a prime factor in the oppression of immigrant mothers. I feel that learning about this issue can help people see the world differently because once this topic is discussed, it invites solutions to be suggested. When people think about immigrant mothers and families, it is usually believed that they assimilate into American culture. In reality, they bring along with them sexist ideals which limit what they can do with their lives here.

When learning about the background of machismo, I found out that it started during the revolution in Mexico. During that time, being violent and brave in order to defend the country was necessary. However, now it is not needed. Learning about the history makes you think about the present and how it has been twisted and implemented into a culture. Now men in Mexico grow up feeling like that is how they are supposed to act, yet there is no war threatening them. This has personally made me view the world differently because I thought it was just always that way, but it has only recently become that way.

All in all, I feel that this research has shed new light onto this problem for me. I have learned that when immigrant mothers become oppressed, their children do as well. They learn from their parents and so I have learned that in order to fix it, it will take time and effort to forget about gender roles.

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Resources

1. The Influence of Marianismo Beliefs on Physical Activity of Immigrant Latinas Karen T. D’Alonzo Link: http://tcn.sagepub.com/content/23/2/124.full.pdf+html Note: This is the article where I found the research on the 28 Latina women, talks about Marianismo.

2. Paredes, Américo. 1971. “The United States, Mexico, and Machismo.” Marcy Steen, trans. Journal of the Folklore Institute 8 (1):17- 37. Link: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/stable/3814061?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents Note: This is the reading that gives a background on machismo and how it started and viewed.

3. River, Alaska. Delta Winds: A Magazine of Student Essays. San Joaquim Delta College. 1997 Link: https://www.deltacollege.edu/org/deltawinds/DWOnline97/thegreathispanicway.html Note: This is the reading where the girl was limited by her mother yet her brother was not. More of a personal story.

4. Women, Men, and the Changing Role of Gender in Immigration. Institute for Latino Stuidies. University of Notre Dame. 2009 Link: https://latinostudies.nd.edu/assets/95245/original/3.3_gender_migration.pdf Note: This is a very helpful web article that talks about gender and gender relations among Mexicans.

5. Orozco Vargas, Arturo Enrique. Mexican Mothers’ Experiences with Depression, Intimate Partner Violence, and Immigration: a Mixed Methods Study of Maternal Self-efficacy. Denton, Texas. UNT Digital Library.http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc407749/. Accessed November 24, 2015. Note: Here is a link to a paper regarding Mexican mothers if you are interested.

6. Deborah Cohen. Review of Gutmann, Matthew C., e Meaning of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City. H-Urban, H-Net Reviews. August, 1998. Link: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=2229 Note: Here is a shorter read about machismo.

7. Arcia, Emily. Johnson, Alice. When Respect Means to Obey: Immigrant Mexican Mother’s Values for Their Children. Link: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1022964114251#page-1 Note: This article talks more about the relationship that immigrant mothers have with their children.

8. Gonzales-Lopez, Gloria. Mexican men and the Virginity of their Daughters. University of Texas at Austin. Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00082.x/epdf Note: This is an interesting article about Mexican Father’s and their relationship with their daughters.

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9th post, solutions

A way in which this problem of ‘marianismo’ and ‘machismo’ to be solved is by eliminating the gendered roles in the house, allowing the children to get hobbies, and parent’s treating the children equally. Also, elementary schools providing short basic English classes while the students are in school to their mothers.When the children see that both mother and father do tasks, instead of having them do certain tasks, they will see their gender not having a specific role. This was seen in the last post, how gender roles limit the person. It will also allow them to learn how to take care of themselves in the future without the need of another person of the opposite sex. By allowing children to get hobbies, they will be exposed to things outside of the home. If they choose something artistic, they will have a way to vent and be able to create things. If they choose to do something athletic, they will be able to be fit and also be able to vent their emotions through there. The key would be to allow them to choose what they want to do and not allow the girl to only choose hobbies their gender is supposed to take on. This will allow them to be exposed to new ideas of thinking instead of making them believe the house is the only thing there is. Treating the children equally is a very important and easy way to solve oppression. The children begin to think of each other as equals and this leads to the boy not treating women as maids and the daughter to not think she should obey whatever the brother says. I believe that solving the issue of oppressed immigrant mothers is by preventing their children from being oppressed by not following the ideals that they themselves followed. Having schools providing the basic English classes would greatly benefit the immigrant women because it can potentially help them want to take longer classes to learn the language which in turn can help them get a job and understand their children.

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8th post, Summary

This problem can be seen as huge considering the amount of Immigrant families there are in the United States, and not just Mexican. The D’Alonzo reading was by far the best one that had research pertaining this issue. The women that she talked to all had the same notion that they belonged to their families alone and needed to give their attention and energy to them. They believe they are helping their children when in reality, they are possibly hurting them. The children grow up thinking that they have gender roles they must perform. The daughters are trained to be submissive which later on affects the way that they perform in school. The boy’s grow up thinking they do not have to perform house chores and this leads them to not knowing how to take care of themselves later on. This also leads to the boy’s believing that machismo is correct and many times this can lead to them being aggressive to their partners.

This was just a research on how the mothers were affected, I feel that having more thorough research on how it affects the children will uncover more issues. Although it is not seen as a huge problem, this affects the Latino community in the United States which is increasing. Thus, it is a problem that is affecting the future citizens. This relates to the Lorber and Martin reading because when we restrict the moves that boy’s and girl’s are able to make, we are not allowing them to excel. Thus, the growth of a nation cannot excel if it only allows a person to perform a certain type of task.

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7th post, How it is an intersectional issue

Both ‘marianismo’ and ‘machismo’ are intersectional issues because both girl’s and boy’s feel that these are the ways in which they must live their lives. Young girl’s feel that they are supposed to be submissive and that they were born with a job to do. Young boy’s also grow up feeling that they have to be the leader and this could lead to possible problems like anxiety at the idea of always knowing what to do and what to tell people. In the Bornstein reading, she mentioned how the difference between men and women was really just the way they were treated. In this case, the girl will grow up being treated like she is not a person of authority, instead she will be seen as “bossy’. On the other hand, the boy will grow up feeling like he always has to be right because he is treated like a man once he reaches puberty. He will also be seen as needing to have a job at all times because he has to pay for everything while also having to keep up his grades and having hobbies as well.

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6th post, discussion of an institutional example

Having the idea that Latina women should just become mother’s early on leads to them dropping out of high school. This is both a problem for employers and public education. Having many women dropping out of high school makes it hard for them to find a job. Many employers who do not need a high school diploma in order to hire, have many issues. Since the people working do not have a higher education, they are less aware of their rights. Thus, these workplaces take advantage of them. The employers can possibly have less safety precautions or pay them lower wages/not pay them their correct wages. These potential women being hired will not argue or file a complaint because they are just happy that they have a job and that they have some sort of income.

It can be a problem for public education, specifically their children, because the mother’s will not be able to help their children with school. These children will most likely feel that college is not an option because they did not see their own parents go to college. The young daughters who see their mother’s not having education will then feel that they themselves do not need it, and it will create another vicious cycle. This relates to the D’Alonzo article because both of these issues will lead to the women and their children possibly feeling a low self-esteem. They will both feel that they will end up with a minimum wage job and also feel that they have less options available to them.

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5th post, discussion of an everyday example

The oppression of Mexican Immigrant women in the family affects not only Mexican immigrant mothers, but their daughters as well. These women are raised with the belief that they must perform household chores and take care of their children, and perhaps find a job. During this process, the women begin to fall into a routine where it is very robotic and they feel like they are not progressing. However, because of ‘machismo’ and ‘marianismo’, the daughters in these homes see a lifestyle that they believe will be there’s some day. This can lead to them believing that school is not important and many end up dropping out to pursue this “career” faster. This idea can be seen by the D’Alonzo article.

Growing up, like I have mentioned throughout my posts, I was exposed to this type of upbringing. When I was younger I believed this was going to be my career as well and early on planned how many children I wanted and also what age I wanted to get married. I also had many Latina friends’ who had come to the United States and had their immigrant mother’s encourage them to pursue this lifestyle. I have personally witnessed a few of these girls drop out of high school because they did not like it, and got married when they were 17. I have also witnessed a couple of them being isolated because they do not have anyone else to talk to except their husband’s when they get home from work. Although it is their decision, I feel that having ‘marianismo’ present, it made them not consider other possibilities that the could have had if they pursued education.

The education available is not taken advantage of and in the future, it makes it harder for these women to find a job once their children are older or if they divorce their husbands. Mother’s also do not take advantage of the education and don’t learn English which makes them dependent on their husband’s who have more time to learn it, or their children.

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4th post, Analysis of scholarly article

This scholarly article is about Marianismo and how it impacts immigrant Latina’s lives. Marianismo, in short, is the role that the women are supposed to do in a Hispanic family. In her research, Karen has talked to 28 Latina women ranging from ages 18-40. In the results she found many women agreeing to this ideal being present in their homes. One of the major themes she found was “Life is too fast here” which included women saying they felt isolated in their homes much like a prisoner and that they had no time to themselves. It was also included that women felt they had more tasks to do and less help to do them. The second major theme found was “The woman is the center of the family” which included women feeling that family was a priority to them. A quote from a woman is that “Woman are not only the foundation of the marriage, but also of the raising and development of the children and society.” Another women states that she would love to go to the gym but that she felt she was robbing time from her children, in turn, neglecting herself. Also that she did not have any energy left over because she had to go to work just like her husband, yet was still expected to clean, cook, and clean the house. Low self-esteem was noted by many who felt they were the center of the family because they were taught to believe that all they need to learn is to cook and clean which left little time and energy for them to grow personally and find their interests. When the men are the providers, as well, they said that they want to go work out but they cannot have someone else to take care of their children.

This scholarly article spoke about how the Latina women do not have time or want to take care of themselves. They spend their entire day thinking about the children because ‘marianismo’ has made it so that they must live their lives in constant care of them. Although times have changed, why do men still leave the household and child care to the woman? I feel that men who were raised with a marianismo type of household try to keep this tradition alive and were taught that it was the only way to raise children. They feel as though it is not their place or duty to help. Although they have come to a different country where they have many opportunities, they are unable to take advantage of them because their lives are still being restricted in some sort of manner. Especially when woman have many children, it is difficult for them to leave them in care of someone else and also having to feed/take care of them all. I feel that this article is the one that I can relate to the most. Low self-esteem is something that I have personally witnessed because as a first generation in America Latina, I was not encouraged to find hobbies that I liked because my parents felt it wasn’t necessary. Also, because I have a large family, it was hard for my mother to be able to take us places that were far because she was not taught to drive.  

The term ‘marianismo’ can be easily connected to ‘machismo’. Marianismo is the belief that the women have a certain role they must perform at home while machismo is men being dominant. In a home that has ‘marianismo’ present, there are traces of ‘machismo’ because the men are in charge yet doing nothing. The women are supposed to know what she has to do before the men get home, and how to treat them when they get home.

The class reading about suburban housewives can easily be interconnected to this article. Women are seen as homebody’s who are supposed to be educated yet decide to stay home with their children. The roles that they perform are limited and once the children are gone from the house, they are left feeling more isolated and have lower self-esteem.

The Influence of Marianismo Beliefs on Physical Activity of Immigrant Latinas Karen T. D’Alonzo

Link:http://tcn.sagepub.com/content/23/2/124.full.pdf+html

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3rd post; Scholarly Article

The character traits that machismo has are being loud, being compared to a male animal, and treating women as an object. According to Americo, they conceal their emotions by being aggressive. He goes on to say that there are two types of machismo. The first being brave like and the other being boastful and bravado.

Men in Mexico have always looked up to being seen as the “macho”, and these have been seen in corridos which are songs that are used to talk about real life problems. A great example in this article is a verse in a corrido that says “I am your king; and my horse is second only to me! Now you will bow to my law, or I’ll send you from this world?” This verse clearly shows the machismo idea that they are above everyone and suggesting that his horse is at a higher position than women. It is also mentioned how a sexual symbol used by Mexicans is the “pistol” and how it is interrelated with the penis. It is also suggested that these symbols began during the revolution when the guns were used daily to fight against people in the border. A great observation is that these Mexican machos still feel that they are in the times of Pancho Villa in which guns and violence was needed. These men would be on horses holding guns while defending their nation.

This scholarly source was chosen because it talks about machismo. I agree with the definitions and the examples used. Men during the revolution felt that they had to be bravo and in charge because they were having a war which they could not control. After the revolution, as it was mentioned, these ideals were transferred to the media by having movies and corridos surrounding it. The ideal “macho”, as I have also personally seen in these movies, is men dressed up in their suits riding horses and shooting guns. Then after they kill their enemies, they go to their women and the women themselves are seen as vulnerable and wanting these men to protect them. These women are always at home looking out of the window waiting for their loved men come and rescue them. Thus, these gender roles were supported more even though there were also women helping out during the war. I personally believe that these women were not shown in movies or sung about in the corridos because the men wanted to take all of the glory for winning the war. They wanted to depict themselves as macho as possible and so instead of talking about the women, they chose to talk about their horses that guided them into the war. Perhaps this was because the men believed that someone was to be in charge, just like someone is in charge of guiding people into war.

This scholarly source relates to my web source because it talks about Mexican gender relations. The only way in which they differ is that the web source was more of a personal story while this scholarly article talked about the history of machismo. Alaska was restricted with the things that she was allowed to do while her brother was not and I believe this ties with machismo. The son, in the revolution times, would have been the one that was sent to war to defend the family which the sister was supposed to wait by a window for someone to come and save her. This could also be compared to Cinderella, where the prince was on a horse and she was stuck in a room waiting. This reading also relates to the Merlan reading because just like trucking is seen as a masculine job, so is being in war. Being in power, then, is seen as something that a man has to do. Treating women like an object and being aggressive instead of using their emotions are traits of Machismo according to Paredes. This can also be seen in the household because the men think of women like being the servant or a broom, they are there to get work done. Then if the work is not done, they become impatient and instead of voicing out these concerns, they can become aggressive towards their wives. The women is then oppressed because she has limitations and is following orders.

Paredes, Américo. 1971. “The United States, Mexico, and Machismo.” Marcy Steen, trans. Journal of the Folklore Institute 8 (1):17- 37.

Link:http://www.jstor.org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/stable/3814061?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents

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2nd Post, Analysis of a web source

    ‘The Great Hispanic Way’ by Alaska Rivera is a first person account of the oppression that was faced growing up a woman in the Mexican culture. Her mother had spent 30 years in Mexico and so she believed in the customs that were made many years before. Alaska talks about how she was always being restricted while her brothers were allowed to do as they pleased. She was not allowed to be on horses for more than two hours, nor was she allowed to wear shorts or tight pants. She mentions how her mother felt it was her duty to teach her how to be a woman and so she would threaten to take her out of school if she felt was not behaving. A woman is supposed to behave and be quiet, things that she was not. She ends this piece by stating that restrictions stunted both the mind and their emotions and the only way to solve this would be by educating the person.

    Reading this piece, I felt that I connected to this personally. My mother believes in the same things as her mother did. I completely do not agree with the way that girls and boys are both treated so different. The way in which these children are raised are in order to get them ready to live their lives when they are married. In other words, that is the ultimate goal. Girls are taught from a young age the way that they should act and be so that they can have a happy marriage and thus a happy household. Alaska is in the United States and her mother is still trying to convert her to the ideals of machismo. Machismo is the idea that men being aggressive and being in charge is a good thing. Her mother has carried along these ideals from Mexico, yet why would she want her daughter to follow the same “job” if she is in a different country? This is a question I feel that many people would raise when reading this article. Another would be, why don’t the mothers make the sons work at a young age if they are supposed to raise a family as their main “job” when they are older? It is a double standard that can only be answered by custom. This can relate to the Merlan reading where she mentions the trucking business and how the entire job was seen as masculine. The men were allowed to not follow the rules and take advantage of women while the women were not allowed to even get their license if they did not follow the strict policy of driving for a certain number of days. It is a double standard that is set in place for the male to advance.

River, Alaska. Delta Winds: A Magazine of Student Essays. San Joaquim Delta College. 1997 Link: https://www.deltacollege.edu/org/deltawinds/DWOnline97/thegreathispanicway.html

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Introduction

The issue that I want to approach is the oppression of Mexican immigrant women in the family. I chose this topic because I was raised in a Mexican immigrant family and I have seen first hand how the women are treated. Although both men and women come for a better life, women are forced to stick to the customs that they were brought up with. The men, however, are allowed to be changed by the American culture and better themselves. While growing up, we would go to Mexico every summer and I would see the way that my female family members were raised. When I would come back to the U.S. it seemed right for my mom to do the same exact things they did and be treated the same way. As I grew older, I felt that she should be allowed to steer away from that path because now she has more opportunities. The men in my family disagree and still feel that no matter where the women are, that is the person that they were always meant to be. However, men are able to come and become the men they always dreamed of. Men feel as though they are in complete control of the women and they make it known to their children. They do this by undermining what their wives have said and even make fun of their wives to their children. I do not agree with this and feel that these women come for better lives and they should do more than just stay at home and wait for their husbands just because that is what they would be doing in Mexico. Women crossed the border in order to end the oppression that they were living in, and they only come to find that in America they live under the same oppression in their families.