"Marianisma"

information from this posting is based on an article from THE NEWS, the English-language newspaper in Mexico city. For the full article, check here http://thenews.com.mx/articulo/womens-roles-polled-1038

A lot of North Americans have heard of "Machismo" which is the Mexican stereotype/ideal/legend of the "ultimate" man. Not so many have heard of "Marianisma" which is basically that every woman should be like Mary - pure but also a mother (hard to be both, but you get the idea). Every man wants his mom, wife, sister, and daughter to be modest and good at homemaking. Or at least, that's the idea.

In reality, most Mexicans are poor. And like poor women throughout history and across cultures, Mexican women do not have the opportunity to be a "stay-at-home-mom". They might stay at home, but they are working, making money however possible, and often sharing in running the family business. Women run small tiendas, work as housekeepers, hawk items in the street, run boarding houses and laundromats, and even run lunchtime restaurants out of their garage.

Perhaps it is this idea that explains the results of a study that an American found "surprising": 91% of Mexican women think women should work outside the home but only 42% do work outside the home. Most women want access to their own spending money, so that they can buy a book to read or shoes for their children or meat for dinner, rather than rely on their husband's infrequent and/or inadequate income. But not every woman has the option of leaving her house to work - there just aren't jobs available.

OTOH, 77% of U.S. women work outside the home while onkly 58% of women prefer working outside the home. In a country where staying at home means wealth rather than poverty, we'd rather show off our wealth.

BTW - March is women's history month, so I'm going to try to add some "women-focused" posts this month.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-03-02/news/17285004_1_stay-at-home-mothers-fathers-spend-more-time-suzanne-bianchi
http://women.webmd.com/news/20070906/women-prefer-working-outside-the-home