April 2009
6 posts
Adios
Today will be my last post for this blog for my journalism class. I hope this blog has proved to be informative and thought-provoking on the subject of women and the U.S.-Mexico border.
Though this class is ending, I have developed a passion for these issues, and I see myself continuing to write about and be involved with social justice issues in the future.
The issue of the murdered women in...
My (almost) Mexico experience
This past semester I have covered topics related to women and the U.S. - Mexico border. The knowledge and experience I’ve gained from it have been valuable not only to my education, but have allowed me to relate better to the Southern Arizona community.
This past weekend, I traveled to Nogales, Ariz., as part of my “special project” for my capstone journalism class. The place...
Women’s groups protest Mexico’s Ministry of...
As the murders in Ciudad Juárez are estimated to reach about 130 this year alone, some women’s rights groups are taking a stand.
Several women’s groups, are protesting Foreign Relations Commission of the Mexican Senate asking them to reconsider the recent appointment of Mexico’s ambassador to Canada, Francisco Barrio Terrazas.
He was governor of the state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad...
A family recipe - Arroz Dulce
Earlier this week I went over to my friends house for dinner and they shared with me thier Mexican recipe for Arroz Dulce or “Sweet Rice.”
“It’s fast, cheap and delicious,” Ashlee Gonzales said. Food and big family meals have always been an important part of the Gonzales’ life.
She said Sweet Rice was inspired by the mexican rice drink Horchata. The Gonzales...
March 2009
10 posts
Hispanic women more likely to attend college then...
A recent study by California State University, Los Angles said there is a persistence among Hispanic Women to attend college, but there are contributing factors that determine their success.
Some of these factors are socioeconomic background, aspiration, language, sex role socialization, and availability of financial aid.
I talked to Maricela Zamora, a mathematics freshman at the University of...
"Close encounters of the deadly kind: Gender,... →
Women 2.7 times more likely to die crossing then...
I recently read a recent study titled “Close encounters of the deadly kind: Gender, migration, and border (in)security,” by Anna Ochoa O’Leary, a University of Arizona professor who studies Mexican migrant women. It was published in by the journal Migration Letters.
She discusses the humanitarian crisis of many immigrant Mexican women facing death while crossing the U.S. –...
Hispanics: a growing population in the U.S.
It has been largely documented that the hispanic population is growing quickly in the United States. Hispanic women have one of the highest unmarried birthrates in the country.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, forty-five percent of all Hispanic births occur outside of marriage. This number drastically more then the rate 24 percent of white births, but still less then the 68 percent...
“Machismo in Mexico is nearly impossible to remove. It’s part of the culture....”
– Mexican women’s soccer Coach Leonardo Cuellar - The Las Angles Times, Feb. 2008.
Mexican women and sports
Mexican women have made great advances in athletics in the male-dominated culture of Mexico. Some women are beginning to redefine their roles in the long-standing cultural traditions of women being encouraged to only follow domestic and family-centered career paths.
Mexico’s female national football team has been making strides in advancing Mexican women in sports. They qualified for both...
February 2009
10 posts
Child labor in Mexico: a survival tool for...
In Mexico, child labor is commonplace. In some families, child workers make up a large portion of the income they depend on for survival. This cycle of poverty and dependance upon child labor has had devastating effects on the country’s children.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Statistics, there are an estimated 8 to 11 million children under the age...
Feminicidios
I have been avoiding writing this blog because this is an issue that is very real and very terrifying to me.
Since 1993 there has been an onslaught of “Femicides” or murders of Mexican women in the city of Ciudad Juárez. This is often called las muertas de Juárez (“The dead women of Juárez”). Hundreds of women have died over the years.
According to Amnesty International, more than...
Cultural, economic conditions lead to Hispanic...
I recently stumbled upon a study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities that presented new data to show that two-thirds of Hispanic Women with breast cancer discover it themselves.
The study looked at both Mexican women and Hispanic women living in the U.S. It determined that women in Mexico were more likely to be diagnosed...
“ They tend to hire just young women because they don’t like to deal with...”
– Raquel Rubio Goldsmith, University of Arizona mexican american studies lecturer
Maquiladora "sweatshops" staffed by a female...
Maquiladoras, or assembly plants, are large factories where mostly female workers work for low wages constructing materials to be exported to other countries.
The maquiladora industry allows companies to temporarily import materials without paying export tax on the products they produce.
The work is tedious, repetitive, and sometimes dangerous, but for many women, it is their best or only option...
January 2009
2 posts
Transnational Motherhood
Today I want to discuss Transnational Motherhood. This new idea of motherhood is developing out of the growing number of immigrant women who leave their home children in Mexico while they seek work (both legally and often illegally) in the United States.
In many Mexican families, the woman is often a key provider of household income. Based on job availability, many Mexican women have decided to...