Chicana Role in Society

JannineClare Mendioro K. Land Puente English 102 12/07/12 Paper #5 My mom would sometimes look at me and says my generation is lucky. I never did give a thought what she meant about what she said especially when I came from a family, a clan where women are normally treated as equal as men and sometimes are more precious. But as I slowly grow up, I realized my family traditions view of women are different from the majority of people. In majorities, traditionally women are supposed to stay at home, take care of the kids and dependent towards men. The only females that were permitted to go during the old days were wealthy privilege daughters.

During the generation x, women have concerns about equality. Even though Anglo women generally have the same concern with color women, Chicana women have more problem due to their cultural difference which cause Chicana to struggle to adapt in current society means. Regardless what race, majority of women were conventionally oppressed and were not seen equal to men. In “La Chicana: Her Role in the Past and Her Search for a New Role in the Future” by Berinice Rincon, Rincon portrays Chicanas role in the family. Rincon explains that Chicana women are “ … xpected to be submissive, faithful, devoted, and respectful to her husband and to take the major responsibility for rearing the children”(25). The wife’s role in the family is to take care of the kids and the household chores. She is not expected to do anything that’s not related to household chore and taking care of the children. Specifically, “…. Nor is she supposed to share in [her] [husband] political, economic or social activities unless they are centered around the home”(Rincon,25) and she may “… not interrupt when [he] talk about the things that interest [him] and [his] friends”(Brady,25).

As Brady stated, the ideal wife is “A wife who will have the house clean”(25). Brady is a white housewife who is also expected to do the chores at home. Women were not supposed to talk about political and/or economic view because by doing so they would be questioning mens decision. In addition, Kincaid, a caribbean women claims that the mothers also teaches their daughter “How to iron [their] father’s khaki shirt”(Kincaid) because when they grow up they would be the one who will iron their husbands khaki.

The mother is conditioning their daughter to be submissive by teaching them to take care of the household chores and following her footsteps. Furthermore, Brady conveys that men would like a women who will support them in their career. A wife who would work for him to go to school, take care of the family and take care of the house. Then the men would want “… a wife to quit working and remain at home so that [his] wife can more fully and completely take care of wife duties” (Brady,26). Because, traditionally women were viewed to stay at home and not work.

Thus, “It is her place and duty to stand behind and back up her macho” (Vidal,23). Actually, White women and Chicanas tackles the same issues in society. First, “Women are not accepted as community leaders either by the Chicano movement or by the Anglo establishment”(Vidal, 22). During generation x, it is not common to have a women as a leader because they were conventionally portrayed to be submissive and not involved in economic and/or political view thus making it harder for them to gain equality and/or fight for change in their current situation.

In fact, “The white male rulers would want Chicana to accept their oppression precisely because they understand that when Chicanas begin a movement demanding legal abortion, child care, and equal pay for equal work, this movement will pose a real threat to their ability to rule”(Vidal,24). White men want Chicana to accept their oppression because if they don’t accept oppression, they would help their white female counterparts to gain equality considering that they have generally the same concerns therefore posing a threats towards white mens power.

On this occasion women wants equal pay and right to control their own bodies. What’s more, “84% agreed that women do not receive equal pay for equal work” (Vidal, 21). Women were not treated equally. Even though they do the same work as the men, no matter what race they were, women were not getting payed with the same amount of money as the men did which will cost shortage in home income. Less money they bring at home the more they will have problems because the cost of living is going up. Furthermore, Vidal claims the Chicana movement would want “Free legal abortions and birth control for the Chicano community”(21).

Both Chicanas and White women are concerned about the right to control their own bodies as resulted in Roe vs Wade where wade won the case and her right to control her body. Thus both White and Chicana women wanted to have a free legal abortion and birth controls because with birth controls they could have more control on how many children they will have. Their expenses will increase if they have more children. It will be harder to support 5 or more kids especially if they only have a low income job.

Although White women and Chicana women have things in common, Chicana women are more affected due to racial difference thus making it harder for them to cope in current time. In Latino culture a bad women is viewed as “The Mala is hard and impious and independent like the macho” (Rincon, 26). In this instance,“The social station of la mujer mala-Indian women- was […. ] [that] [they] actively participated in the religious, social and commercial life of their own people. They shared the responsibility of the household and also contributed to the economy and social life”(NietoGomez, La Chicana.. 50) but “The Anglo tradition of industrial and political democracy has encourage women to actively seek equal rights and employment outside the home” (Rincon,26). This is where traditional values of Chicana is crushed with modern time. It was harder for chicana to be encouraged by the industrial and political democracy of the Anglo to fight for their independence because Chicanas culture viewed an independent woman and a woman who participates in economic and politics as a “bad” women just like the la mujer mala-Indian women.

Hence “The Chicana is torn between being what her [Culture] wants her to be and what she knows she must become in order to function in today’s action oriented world” (Rincon,26). To function to current time she needs to be independent but her cultural views contradicts it. As a result “84% felt that they were not encourage to seek professional careers and that higher education is not considered important for Mexican women…” (Vidal,21). Because most Mexican women felt like higher education is not necessary, they wouldn’t obtain higher education therefore making them only eligible to have a job as a worker.

To put it another way, “ Raza women suffer a triple form of oppression: as members of an oppressed nationality, as workers, and as women”(Vidal,23). “Because the Chicana may suffer from the sex discrimination as well as from racial discrimination, the Chicanas income is at the bottom of the economic ladder” (NietoGomez, Chicanas in.. ,126). For example, “The median income of the Chicano ($5100) is almost three times as much as the median income of the Chicana ($1800)” (NietoGonez, Chicanas in.. ,126). “Therefore, the Chicana is primarily a poorly paid worker, with ittle or no job opportunities” (NietoGonez, Chicanas in.. ,127). Chicana is basically the most unprivileged people. Their own culture discriminate them to be independent and if they try to get a job they have the least opportunity to earn money and to change their current situation. It would be more tougher if the women is a single parent and/or the only one in the family who has an income. As a result of Chicanas cultural values where women are supposed to be dependent, it made it harder for them to advance in society.

Their cultural values collided with moderns times cause them to be behind in society’s change. That explains why there are only few successful chicanas because it took them longer to be encourage to have a career. In todays generation, generation y, women are encouraged to have careers, especially minority women. In fact, there are scholarship, programs and foundations that encourage minority women to go to male dominant fields. There are still a little discrimination in workplace but it’s not as severe as before and it’s pretty rare too.

If someone discriminate a person due to their gender, that person could sue the person who discriminated them. There are still double standards but as time goes by double standards slowly fades away. “The status quo must go! It is a new time, and we need to make use everybody’s talent and energy” (Rincon,25). For our country to develop and become more successful we need to encourage everybody to strive for a higher standard and provide them the opportunity to reach their dreams no matter what race and/or gender they are.