The Struggles of Latinas Pursuing a Higher Education

There have been too many stereotypes of young Latinas in the past. There has been a long going stereotype and expectation for the female role in a Hispanic family, the man was the breadwinner and the woman was the housekeeper. Moreover, other stereotypes have been more “damaging to Mexican American females portrayed as submissive and docile with no ambition other than producing children” (Latina College Students: Issues and Challenges for the 21st Century). While we have broken away from some of these stereotypes, or at least to a certain extent, many young Latinas still do not take this education option that we have today. There are many obstacles and factors that lead to the low numbers we see for Latinas and other women of color pursuing higher education today, but I think one category that is often overlooked is the environmental circumstances that many come from and the great influence that these have on being a successful college student.
One very big factor is the lack of financial support. These financial concerns include “debt incurred by loans, lack of money for bills and personal expenses, hours spent on outside employment, and uncertainty of receiving financial aid” (Latina College Students). For the most part, Latino households have an annual income below $50,000. With these low earnings, many females feel guilty for having this money spent on their education; they do not want to give their parents the burden of having this additional expense. Thus, many will start working to pay their own education but will often lose their ultimate education goal to focus on maintaining their job.
Another concern that many young Latinas have is what their parents think. They worry about the “family obligations, educational aspirations that conflict with parental expectations and gender-role conflict” (Latina College Students). These concerns are particularly strong with first-generation Latina college-students. “This conflict is particularly strong for Latinas who must often deal with the parental expectation of living close to home and staying in close contact both physically and socially” (Latina College Students).
Although increasing the representation of women of underrepresented minorities in higher education institutions has become a national priority as evidenced by policy, there are still many other obstacles that Latina females must overcome. Gloria Anzaldua includes a short excerpt on Borderlands, where she talks about women progress and how now we are given many options including education. Yet, despite a woman’s desire to pursue a higher education, a woman has many more concerns and expectations than a man. For instance, women in general spend more time doing unpaid domestic labor than men do, this also has a negative impact on program progress. A male can go out to pursue his education without anything in return. A woman on the other hand, is responsible for completing her college education and also for mastering all of the typical household chores. Thus, gender has an indirect impact on the success of a college student; greatly due to gender-stereotypes that still persist in today’s society.

Additional Resources:

https://www.msu.edu/~mwr2p/SotoYao-MR2P-2010.pdf

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