Mexican Women’s Changing Perspectives on Marianismo and Gender Expectations: Moving from Mexico to the US

• In Event: 2323 - Student Forum Refereed Roundtable
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 10. Race and the Study of Gender and Sexuality

Abstract

This study analyzes the changing perceptions of Mexican women on gender expectations and roles for their Mexican American daughters, focusing on how the mother’s upbringing in Mexico influenced her goals and expectations for her daughter in the US. In this study we interviewed ten Mexican women that have at least one U.S. born and raised daughter. We asked questions regarding the beliefs of their generation, as well as the previous generation. Overall, we found a shifting perception in gender roles by Mexican mothers in the change from growing up in Mexico to their hopes for their daughters in the US. Whether poverty or marianismo, women in Mexico had limited opportunities for education and career. However, those same women perceived greater opportunity for themselves, and more so for their daughters in the US. In fact, those women expected their daughters to put aside family, marriage, and children in order to pursue education, specifically college, as well as career. The older generation, the mothers of our participants, more reflected marianismo in how they raised their daughters. But despite that upbringing, Mexican women still reflect a desire to be less dependent on men, something they definitely want for their daughters in the US.

Authors

• Cindy Reyes

• Chabeli Rodriguez, University of Illinois Chicago

• Marcell Gomez, University of Illinois Chicago