Mexican American Family

Most second-generation Asian women were exposed to American values since an early

age. Nevertheless, they were detested and oppressed by the American society. They were facing

a major identity crisis because they were in between the need to fulfill their parents' expectations

and the inclination to be in an American culture (Fan 79). In an Asian family, the tradition is

to value elders and other members above one’s own individual self. Especially in patriarchal

Asian communities, family is defined as the “central institution” for a woman's place and identity

(Fan 81).

Within Mexican American families, young women were expected to uphold certain

standards. Parents often assumed what they perceived as unquestionable entitlement
The most serious tension arose between an adolescent

daughter and her parents was about her behavior toward young men. However, some women

openly rebelled toward their parents. As a result, they moved out of their family homes and into

apartments. Considering themselves free and single women, they could go out with men

unsupervised because that was the practice among their native-born peers (Ruiz 269).

Between the 1916 to the 1970, more than half a million of African Americans joined the

Great Migration out of the South and into cities in the North. In the North, they still found

discrimination but they also found new freedoms and economic opportunities in the urban North

that helped them create a better life for themselves and their families (Simpson 1183). Within

African American families, women would often stay at home to focus on domestic works for the

family. If an African American family has a high level of socioeconomic status, it signifies that the family has the ability to protect their daughters from sexual exploitation which was quite

common for African American women at the time (Simpson 1185). Due to limited
In addition, asian American women had a high percentage in graduating high school in 1950. To

ward 1960 and 1980, there were even more college graduates. However, throughout the

education levels, Asian American males have always received a better education and advantage

to achieve their educational goals than females in the same group (American Women in College

and the Professions). For Mexican American students, they usually reconcile lessons at school with their own

Heritage (Ruiz 6). School often raised expectations with the American dream, young women

often believed that hard work will bring material rewards and social acceptance. Some Mexican

American women desired to go to college while others planned careers right after high school.

Although typing and shorthand courses were popular among Mexican American women, toward

the end of the 1920s, only about two percent of them held clerical jobs (Ruiz 7). Between 1920 and 1950, the number of African American women receiving college

degrees increased rapidly. By the mid-century, that number exceeded the number of