Exploring the Role of Mothers in Hispanic Families

706 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Latin american women gender roles

In each culture, there are traditions a customs that most families have in common. There are even customs that aren't as official but are reoccurring throughout. I’ve observed that in a typical Hispanic nuclear family, the mother is usually always a homemaker. She is home 22 out of the 24 hours of the day, she cooks and cleans, and she tends to the children from the moment they wake up, to the moment they go to sleep. She is feared and adored unconditionally. She is also the number one example any of her kids will have. Especially her daughters. Our examples are our homemaker mothers. I want to say that this is a perfectly fine thing with no downsides, but the fact of the matter is, this woman is not only a mom, or a wife, but she is an …show more content…

It's that are little watchful eyes on them, especially if they are mothers. Young girls watch their moms more than anyone else. With more mothers now and days being homemakers comes more daughters having this as their only example. I've heard time and time again of girls looking at their bad grades saying; “Eh, I’ll just marry someone rich” or, “Oh well, I'd rather be a housewife anyway.” What prompts me to despise this concept is the sheer idea of getting all this amazing education, striving for good grades and success, to only end up depending on someone else for basic necessities. Mothers who have decided to live this way are not bad people, I just believe it's a bad example. There should be a greater urgency to push our girls higher. Too many Hispanic girls are seeing their lives head down this …show more content…

I can happily say that at one point my mother got tired of living the way she was, and decided to make a change for herself. But not before teaching me something really important. Being dependent on someone else the way she was on my father, is something that will just cause problems sooner or later. Not only that, but why decide to live that way. I say ‘decide’ because from the moment our parents put us in preschool we have the chance to make something great of ourselves. Striving for success and a career as we enter college. College in fact, is the ticket that I believe, will ensure me from having to worry about these issues regarding dependency along with other things. The young girls I have in my life are a motivational force for my beliefs and goals for success. To someday be dependent is to someday disappoint myself and those girls, along with my mother who of course wants something better for

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Hispanic And American Cultural Holidays

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    In my Spanish 103 class, I have learned a lot about the Hispanic culture. I have looked at the similarities and differences in Hispanic and US culture. In this essay, I will be seeing the similarities and differences in holidays in each culture. Specifically Christmas, Easter, Holy Week, and specific holidays to each culture. I will show how each culture celebrates it then compare and contrast each holiday.

    Read More

  • Family Characteristics Of The Puerto Rican Family In The United States

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    As you can see in the graph above, family characteristics of US and Puerto Rico families differ in many ways. Families in Puerto Rico can be very large with many generations living in the same home for a great period of time. In the United States, this would seem very strange because we put such an importance on being independent and going out into the world and making something of ourselves. Our families tend to be smaller and family outings are not very common but once a few times a year. In the Puerto Rico, your family is your support system, your friends and whatever you do is for the betterment of the family. The United States puts more emphasis on our friends as our support group and what we do is to further our own personal achievement and status instead of our family. At their core, Puerto Rican families are about support and togetherness, while United States families are about stability until we have a chance to make a name for ourselves. The Puerto Rican family aspect and togetherness is something extremely lacking in the United States and something I personally believe we ...

    Read More

  • My Cultural Identity: Growing Up In A Mexican-American Family

    616 Words  | 2 Pages

    Growing up in a Mexican-American family can be very fun and crazy. Having two different perspectives on two different cultures almost daily really shapes you to become a certain way as you grow up, which is what happened to me. Ever since I was about three months old I have been taking trips to my parents home town for a month time each time we have gone. Practically growing up in both Mexico and the United States for six years has really helped me understand my cultural background and the different parts of my whole culture, such as the food, heritage, language and culture.

    Read More

  • Traditions and Holidays Celebrated by Latinos

    1384 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Latino Holiday Book: From Cinco de Mayo to Dia de Los Muertos: The Celebrations and Traditions of Hispanic-Americans, by Valerie Menard, there are numerous amounts of traditions and celebrations for Latinos, most separated by the seasons. In the spring, there are the celebrations of Renewal. During the first week of March, Cuban Americans celebrate Calle Ocho, a celebration similar to Mardi Gras. Named after the street called Little Havana, Miami, this celebration is reserved for salsa dancing to merengue and salsa music as well as eating and drinking before Lent, a tradition where one of the Christian faith sacrifices something for a month. While celebrated mostly by Cuban Americans, the ten day celebration has a multicultural crowd from blacks to other Latinos.

    Read More

  • Patriarchy: The Undermining of Women in the Hispanic-American Culture

    1973 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women have to face a lot of oppression from the patriarchal world we live in, and are treated like object by the male dominance, especially if you are women raise in a Latino culture. A journal article, “Domestic Violence in Hispanics in southeastern United States: A survey and Need Analysis”, by Carolyn Murdaugh, Salena Hunt, Richard Sowell, and Irma Santana states the high domestic violence occurrences in the Hispanic community. The article states, “Latina in the US, with 54.9% reporting violent victimization” (Murdaugh, etc. 107). In almost every culture, patriarchy exists, expecting that female existence to be inferior, and more like an object than an equal. All women in their lives have face oppression, abuse, or harassment because they are women. A woman is not supposed to be an independent persons, they are expected to be a servant for male dominance. When women break away from these sexist norms, they are prosecuted as a whore or are beaten as a punishment. In the traditional Hispanic culture, if you do not take the role of the virgin, mother, or wife, you are judged and criticized of being a whore. Hispanic mothers and fathers have been telling their little girls and women that they must obey their husband. Also, men have been learning throughout their whole life is to be superior and abusive in order to maintain discipline in the household. It is a Hispanic tradition, so it not completely fault of men that women are being treated this; it is society and it is hard to break away from it. Society has portrayed women or the feminine role to be weak and inferior to the male dominance. People believe because of the feminine side, women should be discipline and treated as object with only sexual purposes. I believe that Latinas should have the rights to live their lives, without being criticized of what they done.

    Read More

  • Family Structure In Mexican Culture, And Dating And Marriage In A Mexican Family

    1612 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every culture has its own unique values, beliefs and norms. Culture defines the identity and interests of a society. Understanding other’s culture is crucial in preparing ourselves for the global experience in the twenty-first century. As the world is becoming more connected to each other, interaction between cultures is unavoidable. I consider myself lucky to live in one of the most diverse cities in the world where I get chance to interact with people of different cultures. In this paper, I will discuss my findings about Family Structure in a Mexican culture, and Dating and Marriage in an African / Gabonese culture. Having a chance to understand various cultures, I realized that beliefs and practices tend to vary from culture to culture.

    Read More

  • Mexican American Parenting Style Analysis

    394 Words  | 1 Pages

    In this specific article, the authors had several questions about the way Mexican Americans went about their parenting. Mostly, they aimed to find a connection of how cultural values and neighborhood dangers impacted parenting. Past research discovered that it was quite hard to fit Mexican American parents’ parenting into the four parenting styles, because they were influenced by so many different factors. The four main types of parenting styles discussed were authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful. The participants were biological Mexican/Mexican American families of 5th grade students who lived in the same household in Southwestern United States.

    Read More

  • Hispanic Culture

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cultural value orientations are the, “basic and core beliefs of a culture; that have to deal with one’s relationship with one another and the world” (McCarty & Hattwick, 1992). All cultures may encounter challenges with the media and society of how their beliefs and values are represented. There are several factors that resemble how cultural values influence a culture, more specifically the Hispanic culture in Yuma, AZ. Some of those factors are, the expression of their individual and collective identity through communication, cultures identity expressed though the mass media channels, examples of the value orientations that influence the groups communications behaviors, and one of the major events that challenged Hispanics identities.

    Read More

  • Hispanic Cultural Culture

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    My readings suggest the Hispanic culture gender roles are very common and strict. Starting early in life children are taught to follow the strict guidelines of their gender (American Home Resources, 2010). There exists three common gender specific scripts in Hispanic culture; females can either be “Marianismo” or “Hembrismo”, and, males are classified as “Machismo”. The two female roles differ greatly; “Marianismo” defines behaviors of women as being obedient, dependent and caring for their children. The “Hembrismo” role stresses a female’s strength to persist through life’s difficulties; however, this role is not accepted widely in their culture. The “Machismo” role describes behaviors of men as being dominant and independent. This role views the man as being in charge of the family. (Peñalosa,

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Latin American Societies

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Latin American society places a great deal of importance on the family as a support network; it is not uncommon for several generations to reside in the same house. This emphasis is called familismo, and the mother in the family is usually the most important figure. She “is seen as the primary nurturer and caregiver in the family…[and] plays a critical role in preservation of the family as a unit, as well as in...

    Read More

  • Family Values In The Italian American And African American Family

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    African-Americans and Italian Americans tend to have big families. Each and every member have an intense bond with one another and endures a strong love for everyone. Family is very important in these households. One day out of each week is always designated for the entire family. Everyone comes together just to have one huge supper. These suppers are usually at the matriarch’s house. The matriarchs are central when it comes to a household. She is the one who keeps everyone together in both these

    Read More

  • Hispanic Women 's Inequality Of Women And Hispanic Culture

    1918 Words  | 4 Pages

    Latina women are suppressed through Hispanic culture with the ideology that a woman’s domain is within the walls of her own home. However, there has been a greater turnover rates in high school graduates amongst Latinas they are still falling behind due to lack of resources and the restricted patterns of opportunity perpetuated through transformative assets.

    Read More

  • Adler's Birth Order: An Examination of Life Perception

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Corey, “Often, the only child is pampered by her parents and may become dependently tied to one or both of them” (2013, p. 109). I was very much pampered and became dependently tied to both of my grandparents. Do not get me wrong, I love my grandparents with everything I have, and they love me unconditionally. However, I never was able to make a decision on my own. My grandparents did everything for me and I never learned how to take responsibility for myself or actions until it was almost too late. I am not blaming them at all because they did the best they knew how to do, and it was always out of love for

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in American Society

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, the roles of men and women in the home suggested that the husband would provide for his family, usually in a professional field, and be the head of his household, while the submissive wife remained at home. This wife’s only jobs included childcare, housekeeping, and placing dinner on the table in front of her family. The roles women and men played in earlier generations exemplify the way society limited men and women by placing them into gender specific molds; biology has never claimed that men were the sole survivors of American families, and that women were the only ones capable of making a pot roast. This depiction of the typical family has evolved. For example, in her observation of American families, author Judy Root Aulette noted that more families practice Egalitarian ideologies and are in favor of gender equality. “Women are more likely to participate in the workforce, while men are more likely to share in housework and childcare (apa…).” Today’s American families have broken the Ward and June Cleaver mold, and continue to become stronger and more sufficient. Single parent families currently become increasingly popular in America, with single men and women taking on the roles of both mother and father. This bend in the gender rules would have, previously, been unheard of, but in the evolution of gender in the family, it’s now socially acceptable, and very common.

    Read More

  • My Birth Story

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...cisions for myself and learn from any mistakes I may have made. The thing I remember most about my mom allowing my young independence was when I learned to dress myself. During my first year of preschool, I wore the same dress every day. It got to the point where my teachers called home to make sure I had enough clothes, but my parents simply told them: “We let her dress herself, and that’s what she wants to wear.” The same dress every day for a year, it was my trademark, I suppose.

    Read More

More about Exploring the Role of Mothers in Hispanic Families

Open Document