Using the theoretical perspective originally developed by West and Zimmerman (1987)—wherein gender is viewed as a dynamic, interactional accomplishment rather than a categorical status, this article explores how both gender and race-ethnicity are reinforced and affirmed among 152 selected Chicana white-collar workers in a major public university. Based on results from a 1989–1990 mail survey and in-depth interviews with 35 randomly-selected respondents, I find that the tasks performed in the workplace, sex-and-race/ethnic discrimination and harassment, and the female-associated tasks Chicanas continue to do at home, all intensify their accomplishment of gender as well as reinforce occupational segregation by gender and gender-race/ethnicity. Moreover, Chicanas' attachment to family is linked ideologically to the survival of the Chicano culture, rendering their accomplishment of gender an overt act of racial-ethnic and cultural politics. This particular finding may well be a neglected truth in many women's lives.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AgassiJudith B.1979. Women on the Job: The Attitudes of Women to their Work. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
2.
BaronJames N.NewmanAndrew E.1990. “For What It's Worth: Organizations, Occupations, and the Value of Work.”American Sociological Review55: 155–175.
3.
BarreraMario1979. Race and Class in the Southwest: A Theory of Racial Inequality. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
4.
BerkSarah Fenstermaker1985. The Gender Factory: The Apportionment of Work in American Households. New York: Plenum.
5.
BriefA. P.AldagR. J.1975. “Male-Female Differences in Occupational Attitudes within Minority Groups.”Journal of Vocational Behavior6: 305–314.
6.
CaufieldMina Davis1974. “Imperialism, the Family, and Cultures of Resistance.”Socialist Revolution2: 67–85.
7.
ColtraneScott1989. “Household Labor and the Routine Production of Gender.”Social Problems36: 473–491.
8.
CrewleyJoan F.LevitanTeresa E.QuinnRobert1973. “Facts and Fiction about the American Working Woman.”Ann Arbor: Survey Research Center, University of Michigan.
9.
DillBonnie ThorntonCannonLynn WeberVannemanReeve1987. “Pay Equity: An Issue of Race, Ethnicity and Sex.”Washington, DC: National Commission on Pay Equity.
10.
EngelsFrederick [1884] 1968. Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State. Moscow: International Publishing.
11.
EnglandPaulaBrowneIrene1992. “Trends in Women's Economic Status. Sociological Perspectives35: 17–51.
12.
FenstermakerSarahWestCandaceZimmermanDon H.1991. “Gender Inequality: New Conceptual Terrain.” Pp. 289–305 in Gender, Family, and Economy: The Triple Overlap, edited by Lesser-BlumbergR.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
13.
FerreeMyra Marx1987. “The Struggles of Super woman.” Pp. 161–180 in Hidden Aspects of Women's Work, edited by BoseChristineFeldbergRoslynSokoloffNatalieNew York: Praeger.
14.
GarciaJohn A.1981. “Yo Soy Mexicano …: Self-Identity among the Mexican Origin Population.”Social Science Quarterly62: 88–98.
15.
GarciaJohn A.1982. “Ethnicity and Chicanos: Measurement of Ethnic Identification, Identity, and Consciousness.”Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences4: 295–314.
16.
GordonMilton M.1964. Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origin. New York: Oxford University Press.
17.
del CastilloRichard Griswold1984. La Familia: Chicano Families in the Urban Southwest, 1848 to the Present. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
18.
HartmannHeidi1981. “The Family as the Locus of Gender, Class, and Political Struggle: The Example of Housework.”Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society6: 366–394.
19.
HochschildArlie R.1983. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.
20.
HochschildArlie R. [with Anne Machung]. 1989. The Second Shift, Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. New York: Viking.
21.
KeefeSusan E.PadillaAmado M.1987. Chicano Ethnicity. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
22.
MalveauxJulianneWallacePhyllis1987. “Minority Women in the Workplace.” Pp. 265–298 in Women and Work: Industrial Relations Research Association Research Volume, edited by KoziaraK. S.MoskowM.TannerL. DeweyWashington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs.
23.
MirandeAlfredoEnriquezEvangelina1979. La Chicana. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
24.
MooreKristin A.SawhillIsabel U.1978. “Implications of Women's Employment for Home and Family Life.” Pp. 201–255 in Working Women: Theories and Facts in Perspective, edited by StrombergAnn H.HarkessShirleyPalo Alto: Mayfield.
NelsonCandaceTiendaMarta1985. “The Structuring of Hispanic Ethnicity: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.”Ethnic and Racial Studies8: 49–74.
27.
OgbuJohn U.1978. Minority Education and Caste: The American System in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Academic.
28.
OrtizVilmaCooneyRosemary Santana1984. “Sex-Role Attitudes and Labor Force Participation among Young Hispanic Females and Non-Hispanic White Females.”Social Science Quarterly65: 392–400.
29.
PenalosaFernando1970. “Toward an Operational Definition of the Mexican American.”Aztlan: Chicano Journal of the Social Sciences and the Arts1: 1–12.
30.
PesqueraBeatriz M.1985. “Work and Family: A Comparative Analysis of Professional, Clerical and Blue-Collar Chicana Workers.” Ph.D diss. University of California, Berkeley.
31.
RubinLillian B.1983. Intimate Strangers: Men and Women Together. New York: Harper and Row.
32.
SeguraDenise A.1986. “Chicana and Mexican Immigrant Women in the Labor Market: A Study of Occupational Mobility and Stratification.” Ph.D diss. University of California, Berkeley.
33.
SeguraDenise A.1989a. “The Interplay of Familism and Patriarchy on the Employment of Chicana and Mexican Immigrant Women.” Pp. 35–53 in Renato Rosaldo Lecture Series Monograph, vol. 5. Tucson: Mexican American Studies and Research Center, University of Arizona.
34.
SeguraDenise A.1989b. “Chicana and Mexican Immigrant Women at Work: The Impact of Class, Race, and Gender on Occupational Mobility.”Gender and Society3: 37–52.
35.
SmithDorothy E.1987. “Women's Inequality and the Family.” Pp. 23–54 in Families and Work, edited by GerstelN.GrossH. E.Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
36.
TiendaMarta1981. “The Mexican American Population.” Pp. 502–548 in Non-Metropolitan America in Transition, edited by HawleyA. H.MazieS. M.Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
37.
TiendaMartaGuhlemanP.1985. “The Occupational Position of Employed Hispanic Women.” Pp. 243–273 in Hispanics in the U. S. Economy, edited by BorjasG. J.TiendaM.New York: Academic.
38.
U. S. Bureau of the Census. 1991a. “Money Income of Households, Families, and Persons in the United States: 1988 and 1989.”Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 172. Washington DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
39.
U. S. Bureau of the Census. 1991b. “The Hispanic Population in the United States: March 1990.”Current Population Report, Series P-20, No. 449. Washington DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
40.
WestCandaceFenstermakerSarah n.d. “Power, Inequality and the Accomplishment of Gender: An Ethnomethodological View.” In Theory on Gender/Feminism on Theory, edited by EnglandPaulaNew York: Aldine. Forthcoming.
41.
WestCandaceZimmermanDon H.1987. “Doing Gender.”Gender and Society1: 125–151.
42.
WilliamsNorma1990. The Mexican American Family, Tradition and Change. New York: General Hall.
43.
YbarraLea1988. “Separating Myth from Reality: Socio-economic and Cultural Influences on Chicanas and the World of Work.” Pp. 12–23 in Mexicanas at Work in the United States, edited by MelvilleM. B.Houston: Mexican American Studies Program, University of Houston.
44.
ZavellaPatricia1987. Women's Work and Chicano Families: Cannery Workers of the Santa Clara Valley. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
45.
ZinnMaxine Baca1975. “Chicanas: Power and Control in the Domestic Sphere.”De Colores, Journal of Emerging Raza Philosophies2: 19–31.
46.
ZinnMaxine Baca1979. “Chicano Family Research: Conceptual Distortions and Alternative Directions.”Journal of Ethnic Studies7: 59–71.
47.
ZinnMaxine Baca1980. “Gender and Ethnic Identity among Chicanos.”Frontiers5: 18–23.
48.
ZinnMaxine Baca1982. “Mexican-American Women in the Social Sciences.”Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society8: 259–272.
49.
ZinnMaxine Baca1990. “Family, Feminism and Race.”Gender and Society4: 68–82.
