User:GenderandMigration/sandbox

Chicana Activism and Leadership: Gendering of the Labor Movement [edit] Chicana Feminist Influence[edit] Chicana writers and historians have argued that the national narrative around the farm workers’ movement has typically centered on male figures and their leadership roles, depicting people like Cesar Chavez as the hero of the labor struggle. Scholarship in the field of Chicana feminism has acknowledged that this is a distortion of history and, in fact, many Mexican women contributed immensely towards the building of the UFW labor movement in the United States through various forms of activism and mobilization.[10] Furthermore, Chicana activism was fueled by Chicana feminist consciousness because addressed the intersectionality of the female Mexican-American identity. The women’s labor movement, along with other historical movements, formed a female centered narrative that challenged the mechanisms of patriarchy within the Chicano community, classism and racism from wider society, state violence, and the legacies of colonialism.[11] Many Latina women recognized the race and class biases in the second wave feminist movement, so they positioned their political identity in a way that addressed structural inequalities relating to poverty, racism, immigration, and the lack of Spanish and bilingual services.[12]

Chicana Activist Life: Patriarchy, Racism, Poverty, and Domestic Life[edit] Latina women who engaged directly with the labor movement and facilitated demonstrations dealt with various circuits of power and inequality within and outside of their communities. Multiple generations of Chicana women had to negotiate the dynamics of gender, class, and racial discrimination institutionally from public education systems, employers, and the state. Those who were undocumented migrant women were even more vulnerable to exploitation and poverty that resulted from seasonal and low paying jobs.[13] Economic disparities often created divisions within the Latino movements, but many Chicana activists strived to break those barriers in organizing revolution.

In addition, there were many cultural nuances of marginalization within these communities that Mexican women faced, leading them to collide with patriarchal powers and the expectations of family life, feminine domesticity, and motherhood. The act of balancing political and social activism with motherhood and gender roles was something Chicana women uniquely dealt with while being involved in the labor movement. Their simultaneous identification as homemakers and laborers came with many complications for the notion of traditional family life and its coexistence with political consciousness.[14] Their personal choices to leave their children in the care of others while they participated in labor demonstrations could be criticized by people in their community. At the same time, white male farm growers and employers racialized Mexican women and ascribed certain feminized stereotypes to them. Those who engaged in the movement were labelled as violent and disobedient in comparison to what white society saw as the “traditional” Mexican woman who prioritized motherhood and home life.[15] However, the social change that these women brought about was largely due to their transforming of traditional community networks and family life into assets for political mobilization, which became an extension of their household responsibilities.[16] Many of the Mexican mothers who joined the UFW went on to become more involved in community initiatives that supported better education for their children and opposed state policies that would be detrimental to their communities, which formed more powerful networks of women working towards a common goal.

By the 1950s, many Mexican migrant women and Mexican-American girls from migrant families began working in the fields if they couldn’t afford to go to school and it was also very rare for them to go to college. Female farm workers occupied a marginal position in the industry where they were often faced with higher unemployment rates, a lack of healthcare, and double discrimination as undocumented migrant women.[17] Exercising political and personal agency was largely determined by each woman’s social class, personal history, level of education, and degree of assimilation. Many female Mexican farm workers were already living in poverty and spoke minimal English, but community based associations and volunteer groups formed by other more middle class and bilingual Mexican American women empowered those who were among the most disadvantaged.

Community Organizing and Divisions of Labor in the UFW[edit] Many Mexican women in California who joined the UFW in the 1960s were already previously involved in community-based activism in the 1950s through the Community Service Organization for Latino civil rights. The racial discrimination and economic disadvantages they faced from a young age made it necessary to form networks of support like the CSO to empower Latinos in America with voter registration drives, citizenship classes, lawsuits and legislative campaigns, and political protests against police brutality and immigration policies.[18]

While male activists held leadership roles and more authority, the women activists participated in volunteering and teaching valuable skills to individuals of the Latino community. By the 1960s, Huerta and others began to shift their attention to the labor exploitation of Latino farm workers in California and began to strike, demonstrate, and organize to fight for a myriad of issues that Mexican laborers faced. While many of the male leaders of the movement had the role of being dynamic, powerful speakers that would inspire others to join the movement, the women devoted their efforts to negotiating better working contracts with companies, organizing boycotts, rallying for changes in immigration policies, registering Latinos to vote with Spanish language ballots, and increasing pressure on legislation to improve labor relations.[19]

Among the women who engaged in activism for labor rights, traditional and non traditional patterns of activism existed. Mexican-American women like Dolores Huerta used their education and resources arrange programs at the grassroots level, sustaining and leading members it into the labor movement. As the sister-in-law of Cesar Chavez, Huerta co-founded the National Farmworkers Association which would become the United Farm Workers and she had immense influence over the direction that it took, breaking stereotypes of the Mexican woman in the 1960s. However, it was most common for Chicana activists and female labor union members to be involved in administrative tasks for the early stages of UFW; women like Helen Chavez were essential in these responsibilities, such as credit union bookkeeping, behind the scenes and advising her husband. Still, both women along with other Chicana activists participated in picketing with their families in the face of police intimidation and racial abuse.[20] Keeping track of union services and membership were traditionally responsibilities given to female organizers and it was integral to the institutional survival of the UFW, but it has gone much less recognized throughout history due to the male led strikes receiving majority public attention.[21]