Notes on the Changing Mexican Family
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7598661 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Norman S Hayner (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1942 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 489 |
| Publication date | 1942-08-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2085042 |
| OpenAlex | W2314577578 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
IN CONTRAST to the Pilgrim fathers of the United States, the Spanish conquistadores came without women. Marriage with them was seizure, not a courtship. The inferior role played by women Spain was matched by their almost complete submission among the Aztecs. Aztec daughters were taught modesty, respect, and obedience. Even today, Mexico is a man's country. Seniora Millan describes her own shock as an American married to a Mexican, when she realized that in Mexico women are still considered inferior beings, unfit to manage their own lives or assume any position of responsibility.' There is, it is true, a great deal of respect for women as mothers, but not for women as companions. It is woman's place to make the home. If she works outside, it is usually from necessity. There is a feminist movement Mexico, but many men regard it as nonsense. The law of the statute books on domestic relations may be quite liberal but practice the man still wields absolute power. A wife cannot move freely without her husband's consent. It is the psychological attitude of the husband that is important. If a wife is too independent, she does not hold her man. In the words of a Mexican immigrant Los Angeles, Those American women control their husband and I nor any other Mexican won't stand for that.2 Studies of agricultural areas, such as the Valle del Mezquital near Mexico City, show the women enslaved-victims of mistreatment and excessive work.3 The revolution brought legal divorce, to be sure, but few women have had either the courage or the economic independence to take advantage of it. Among the wealthy, it is common for a man to have a conventional wife and family a so-called casa grande, or big house, and a mistress with perhaps another family a casa chica, or little house. One reason that the wife's place is the home is so that she will not discover the mistress. The com
| Citations per year | 0.06 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1972 - 2011 (40) |
| Highly cited | No |