Empowering Young Latinas Through the Girl Scouts

           Today the House of Representatives passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a couple of weeks after the Senate passed the bill, now sending it to the President to be reauthorized. I mentioned in a previous post that this act offers resources to women who arevictims of violence. This act is certainly necessary, but I sometimes feel disappointed that we often put resources toward the treatment of problems, rather than focusing on prevention of the problems in the first place. Educational programs for men about using means other than physical violence to get what they want, and how to respect women could certainly go a long way. Programs that empower women and young girls would also be a great step in the right direction.
          Thankfully, there is one such group that empowers young girls that is quite high profile in general, but especially at this time of year. They do not rely on government funding, but perhaps our tax dollars would be better invested in programs like it-then they would not have to sell so many cookies to make ends meet. Because of those cookies, though, they are doing quite well for themselves and are teaching young women and girls great skills through their sales. If you have not guessed by now, I am talking about the Girl Scouts.

I typically buy a few boxes of cookies each year in January, to have them delivered around this time in late February. It seems that there is always a friend, a relative, or a coworker with a daughter who can hook me up with some Samoas or Tagalongs. This year I am lucky to have a Daisy in the house, the entry level Girl Scouts, and she is my six-year old daughter. 

Having a daughter has done a lot to raise my consciousness about gender and equity issues for females, which explains my last few posts. Not that I was completely unenlightened before, but I did grow up in a house with two brothers, and my father is one of nine boys (with one sister), and my mom likewise lived in a male dominated house (at least in numbers, with four brothers and a sister). So, I was not the most sensitive guy in the world, but thinking about opportunities and the safety of my own daughter quickly changed that. While, unintentionally, our daughter has become quite “girly” I am always happy to encourage her dreams and pursuits that don’t fit into traditional gender roles, such as playing soccer, being an astronaut, or playing with blocks.

The wonderful thing about the Girl Scouts, Brownies, and Daisies is that they empower young girls, but still reward them for being girls. This newfound admiration and cookie season led me to do a little research and I learned that they provided a great opportunity for girls in general, but that they are also great about empowering young girls of color, especially Latinas, my self-identified Mexican daughter included. 

First, a little history. Juliet “Daisy” Gordon Low, an upper class woman from Georgia was in an unhappy marriage with a philandering husband, who while perhaps not physically abusive, was certainly emotionally and financially abusive to Daisy. After his death in 1905 she assumed that she would have been left as an heir as they were still legally married, despite the fact that he had a live-in girlfriend and relegated Daisy to the servant’s quarters. But her husband left her nothing. Daisy was able to make it on her own and after meeting the founder of the Boy Scouts, she had the idea of creating a similar organization to serve young girls.  So, as I wrote previously in my VAWA post about immigrant and Latina women who experience abuse or at least a lack of respect by their macho husbands, the Girl Guides, as they were originally called had roots in issues that touch Latinas. 

As the media often does special interest stories on the Girl Scouts because of cookie season I learned of a couple of other connections between the organization and Latinas. One is the fact that the organization is currently headed by Anna Maria Chavez, a woman of Mexican-descent, who was enrolled in the Girl Scouts as a youngster by her mother, who saw it as an opportunity to help her excel in school. Now as CEO she gives back to young girls of all backgrounds, serving as a role model for all, but especially for those of Hispanic origin. A second Latina connection, also out of Arizona, is the all-time cookie selling record holder, 10 year-old Mary Ruiz, who was featured in the New York Times, and who sold over 5000 boxes of cookies last year. 

So, while I am happy that the VAWA was passed today, I am even happier that great work is being done by the 101 year old girl scouts; perhaps with their support we can have more female legislators and even our first Latina senator rise from their ranks to create a society where that type of act is no longer needed.

Violence Against Women on Fox

Yesterday, I shared my thoughts on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and how it has yet to be reauthorized by Congress since expiring in 2011. Republicans held up its re-authorization for a while before the Presidential election. After that loss, they realized they needed a new strategy, namely going after Latinos, an emerging giant that will be a force to be reckoned with in politics for years to come. I pointed out that Republicans have anointed Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas, and Marco Rubio, senator from Florida, as leaders in the party, charged with the goal of attracting the Latino vote. Unfortunately, these two senators have taken a hard line against VAWA, which is ironic because there are provisions that protect immigrants that really speak to Latino voter interests. I suggested that perhaps their views resulted from macho attitudes that don't consider women fully and with respect. Then I came across this article on Slate that reminded me that violence against women is not just a Latino thing or just political, it is a reality for all women. Bob Beckel, a former adviser to President Jimmy Carter, had the audacity to question whether rapes actually ever occur on college campuses. This despite the sad evidence that 1 in 4 women are victims of attempted sexual assault by the end of college. The worst part is how deeply ingrained the idea that rape and sexual assault can be justified or not that big of a deal in some parts of American culture. I was glad to see that even Fox News panelists called him out on this, but this kind of ignorance shows all the more that women need protection from this foolishness and violence.

A Woman’s Work is Never Done When a Latino Man is Standing on Top of Her

As a graduate student in New York City I worked on a multi-year research project that sought to find out more about how recent immigrants in the United States raised very young children. The goal of the project was to see how young children of immigrants develop and get ready for school and life in the U.S. more generally, given that many immigrants, and Latinos in particular, find themselves at the lower levels of the socioeconomic ladder as they move from childhood to adulthood.

As part of my work I visited two families who were originally from Mexico every two months for three years. I spent time with them in their homes, ate meals with them, played with their children in the park, and went on errands with them as they parented. I watched the kids grow from infants to toddlers to preschoolers. Given that mothers take on the majority of the childrearing in most cultures, especially Mexican culture, most of the focus was on them and their childrearing beliefs and practices.

Each time I visited I had a pre-defined agenda of topics to discuss, such as the experience of migrating, education, and struggles with learning English. On one occasion I had the task of discussing what life was like for a female immigrant, how the roles of women were different in the U.S. and Mexico, and how their ideas of what it meant to be a woman had changed since their move. I vividly remember the large grin that appeared on one mother’s face as she discussed her work life in the United States. She worked as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant making a very good wage. She said that apart from the money, one of the most satisfying parts of her job was to go into the kitchen and give the patrons’ orders to the cooks, who were all men. She delighted in teasing them for doing “women’s work” and for her ability to “order them around.” She said that it was empowering to be able to earn a good wage, but also to have some freedom and authority that she may not have had if she were in Mexico. This type of liberation among Latina immigrant women has been documented in a few research studies, and changing gender roles are a somewhat unintended consequence of migration. I think that for Latinas, these transformations are especially pronounced given the male-dominated, macho culture in which many of them were reared.

The other side of this gender coin is that men must sometimes re-adjust to their new status as dishwashers, cooks, or launderers-positions that they would probably hesitate to share with men in their home country.  Men have devised a number of “civilized” ways to maintain their privileged status as this completely un-ironic scorecard from the nineteen-fifties shows; it grades woman on how well they perform their roles and behave toward their men. When the upper hand that men have is threatened, they sometimes resort to less civilized coping mechanisms such as drinking. The trump card that men hold, given their biological advantages of size and strength, is to physically impose their dominance through violence, an issue that many Latinas face, especially immigrant Latinas. Shockingly, well over half of immigrant women experience physical or sexual abuse in their lives.

Among the most vulnerable immigrant Latinas are those who are undocumented or who are in the process of becoming legal residents with the help of their citizen husbands. Immigrant women without legal status or who are dependent on a partner to achieve legal residency can easily find themselves at the mercy of the whims of their male spouses. The risk of losing access to legal status by ending an abusive, violent relationship could lead women to stay in situations that are harmful or life-threatening. Further, undocumented women may be hesitant to report abuse to police out of fear of being deported or detained indefinitely in prison-like conditions. Deportation and detention can lead to separations from family members and loved ones, especially young dependent children.

Thankfully, in 1994 Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act, which aimed to provide resources to all women residing in the U.S. with the goal of dealing with violence and abuse through treatment and prevention. There are progressive and libertarian concerns that some provisions of the Act, which call for harsh punishment of male offenders and invasive monitoring, infringe on liberties and are more punitive than restorative. Critics also contend that the law paints too broad a brush stroke that portrays most men as potential abusers. Perhaps this is true, but when one in three adult women in the U.S. report having been victims of sexual abuse, such laws don’t seem that unreasonable.

Notwithstanding these criticisms, the law was reauthorized in 2000 and again in 2005. In 2000 provisions were added to protect immigrant and undocumented women from the pitfalls of reporting abuse that I mentioned above. It gave any migrant women who reported abuse temporary legal status while in the country, so they did not have to fear being deported or detained for coming out of the shadows. In some cases, immigrant women received a U-Visa, which even provided a path toward residency for these women. Some have claimed that women will take advantage of this law by faking abuse in order to receive legal status, although they must still prove the abuse through the courts; it seems a little far fetched that one could feign abuse well enough to pass that standard.

In 2011, the law was up for reauthorization, however, congress failed to pass it a couple of times, with one of the most contentious pieces being the provision of services to undocumented immigrants. Part of the failure to reauthorize may have been political gamesmanship during an election year. Conservative Republicans likely did not want to appear to be supporting more government spending, especially on non-citizens. However, with the presidential loss, Republicans have been rethinking their political strategy, especially when it comes to immigrants and Latinos, the latter group who many believe was and will be decisive in elections to come. That is probably why after the election that the senate overwhelming approved the reauthorization of the law with a vote of 78-22.

The biggest piece of note in this vote, which is connected to Latino and immigrant issues, is that the only two Republican Latino senators voted against the reauthorization of the law. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida are considered the new hotshots of the party that will lead them to victory by garnering the Latino vote. Again, however, we see that simply having a Spanish surname is not enough. If the Republicans ever expect to gain inroads with Latinos, they can’t rely on old macho ideology, but they must also remember that our Latina mothers, sisters, and daughters deserve some respect, too.