DOCUMENT RESUME ED 119 888 95 RC 009 028 AUTHOR Cotera, Martha TITLE Profile of the Mexican American Woman. INSTITUTION New Mexico State Univ., University Park. ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education (DREW), Washington, D.C. PUB DATE Mar 76 CONTPACT NIE-C-400-75-0025 NOTE 280p. AVAILABLE FROM National Educational Laboratory Publishers, Inc., 813 Airport Blvd., Austin, Texas 78702 (Stock No. EC-037, $8.00) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-$15.39 Plus Postage DESCRIPTORS *Achievement; Bibliographies; Cultural Images; Family Life; *Females; Feminism; Life Style; Mexican American History; *Mexican Americans; *Role Perception; Self Actualization; *Sex Role; Socioeconomic Background IDENTIFIERS *Chicanas ABSTRACT The second largest group of minority women in the U.S., Mexican American women share multitudinous histories, vast differences in lifestyles, experiences and realities. A Chicana may have recently arrived from Mexico, or her ancestors may have been in the Southwest since 1520(or before) or in the Midwest since the 1880's. She may be rural, urban, poor, middle class or Ph.D., a high school dropout, a teacher, or a migrant. She does share some basic, and heterogeneous, roots in the development of Indian and Spanish culture and history. She also shares the history of involvement and participation which has been a way of life for the Chicano community in the U.S. since 1848. Documenting the development of Mexican American women in Mexico and the U.S., this monograph discusses: the Chicana's historical legacy during Mexico's Pre-Columbian and Colonial Periods, its War for Independence, the 1910 Revolution, and during the United States Colonial Period and history.between 1840 and 1960; Chicanas in the U.S. today--their education, employment status, income, health, housing, roles, and attitudes; the Chicana and her family; today's Chicana and her achievements in education, literature and journalism, political activities, and labor; Chicanas in the feminist movement; and the Chicana and the future. Appended are a 119-item bibliography, addresses for 35 Chicana organizations, and various resolutions passed between 1970 at41'1975 in 10 Chicana conferences. (NQ) Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. U 5 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION IL WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO- DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM CO THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN- ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS cc , STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE- SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTEOF CO EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY 'S LtJ 114 a 11 PROFILE ON THE MEXICAN AMERICAN WOMAN MARTHA COTERA President, Information Systems Development Austin, Texas For Sale By National Educational Laboratory Publishers, Inc. 813 Airport Boulevard Austin, Texas 78702 Stock No. Bo437 Price - $8.00 3 March 1976 The material in this publicationwas prepared pursuant to a contract with the National Institute of Education,U. S. Dt.partment of Health, Education and Welfare. Contractors undertaking such projects undergovern- ment sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgmentin pro- fessional and technical matters. Prior to publication, the manuscript was submitted to the Task Force -le La Raza for critic.;review and determination of professional competence. This publication has met such standards. Points of view or opinions, however, donot necessarily represent the official view or opinions of either the Task Force de La Razaor the National Institute of Education. This booklet may be duplicated in wholeor in part, whenever such duplication is in the interest of bettering education. EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC) CLEARINGHOUSE ON RURAL EDUCATION AND SMALLSCHOOLS (CRESS) New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003 4 ii CONTENTS I. Introduction 1 Chapter I Footnotes 7 II. Chicana Historical Legacy 8 Summary 8 Mexicanas During the Pre-Columbian Period 12 Mexicanas During the. Colonial Period 24 Mexicanas and the War for Independence of Mexico 36 Revolution of 1910 and the Participation of Women 41 History of Chicanas in the United States - Colonial Period 47 Chicana History, 1840-1900 55 Chicana History, 1900-1910 65 Chicana History, 1920 72 Chicana History, 1930 85 Chicana History, 1940 91 Chicana History, 1950 97 Chicana History, 1960 101 Chapter II Footnotes 113 III. Chicanas in the U.S., A Socioeconomic Profile 120 General Characteristics 120 Education 121 Employment Status 122 Income 127 Mexican American Migrant and Farmworker Women 128 Manpower 132 Child Labor 133 iii III. (Continued) Education 133 Health 134 Housing 134 Public Assistance Program 134 Farmworker and Migrant Women, Roles and Attitudes 135 Chapter III Footnotes 138 IV. La Chicana and La Familia 140 Family - General Characteristics 140 Children 141 Chicanas as Heads of Households 142 Income of Families 144 Families and Public Assistance 145 Extended Families 146 Intermarriage 146 Family Dynamics, the Mythand Realities 148 Chapter IV Footnotes 155 V. La Chicana Today, Posture and Accomplishments 157 Chicana Achievements inEducation 160 Literature and Journalism 164 Political Activities and Accomplishments 168 Chicana Achievements in Labor 178 Chicana Organisations 181 Chicanas and Feminism 189 Chapter V Footnotes 196 VI. Que Sere? . Siendo Chicana? La Chicana and theFuture 197 Chapter VI Footnotes 202 6 iv Appendices A. Chicana Bibliography 203 B. Chicana Organization3 in the U.S. 219 C. Resolutions Passed in Chicana Conferences in the U.S., 1970-1975 222 Tables I Sex Ratios of Mexican Americansby Age and Residence 263 II. Labor Force Participation of Spanish Origin Wives and Female Heads 264 III. Employment Characteristics of U.S. Total and Mexican Americans 265 IV. Family Characteristics of the U.S. Total and Mexican Americans, 1970 266 V. Poverty Characteristics and Sources of Incomes of the U.S. Total and Mexican American Population,1970 267 7 V I. Introduction The Mexican American woman as ahuman being, as a topic for research, or asthe object of a project or curricula is anelusive being. Myths and stereo- types abound because very few resourceshave been allocated to objective research and to documenting historical fact. A popular myth and often-used excuse for not producing curricula relevant to MexicanAmerican women is that "there is no literatureavailable." Literature and information abound, undiscovered and unculled in archives (church, University of Texas, Hexer, Santa Fe State Library Archives, etc.), obscure univer- sity publications, theses and dissertations, in the writings of women themselves, in period community news- papers, and in government publications. Unfortunately, despite this there is at present no single source which can provide a profile on the Mexican American woman. This is what is attempted herein, to provide at least a broad stroke profile, with some basic references and information for educators, program administrators and the general public to use as a starting point. A documentation section in the Appendix 8 will provide the most comprehensive andgrassroots "statement of need" to date, because the resolutions presented through historic meetingsare directly voicing the issues and 4oncernsconsidered important by women. The scope of work is ambitious and the time andresources limited. But, hopefully, it may serve as a stimulus to pique the intellectof those involved in multicultural and bilingualeducational projects to begin the developmentof curriculum which is adequatelybalanced in its female/male content. The term Mexicana, Chicana,Mexican American and Hispana woman is used throughoutinterchangeably simply because the author and theCentral Texas community she lives within does exactlythis. It is the author's firm belief that communities,bureaucracies, andeven edu- cational institutionsin the U.S. tend touse one of the four terms,or any combination ofone, two or four terms to refer to the woman of Indo-Spanishorigin. Scholars, writers and the U.S. CensusBureau have expressed opinions on the topic. For example, Rudy Acuna in speaking of labelssays that, "Recently the labelMexican American has become popularfollowing the hyphenization 2 tradition of other ethnic groups. Anglo Americans have promoted the use of this label and for a time it seemed as if it would be universally accepted. But within the last four years activists have begun to question this identification. At first some just dropped thehyphen and symbolically broke with the Americanization tradition. Others sought to identify themselveswith a name of their own choice.They selected the term Chicano which had often beenused to designate lower class Mexicans. Even though it had negative connotations for the middle class, activists considered that it was a symbol of resistance as well as a demand for self-determination. Such self- identification is, I believe, a necessary step in the process of awareness by which 1 Chicanos can liberate themselves collectively." A Mexican American woman, Rosalie Flores, has this to say about the use of the term: