Firstborn Latina Daughters: The Obstacles That Come With Learning From Home

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My Autobiography Growing up as the eldest daughter in a lower middle class Mexican family, I matured much faster than my younger siblings due to various sociological dynamics. I realized due to my gender there were certain traditional expectations from me simply because I was a girl. Gender roles were deeply rooted in my household, I was to take on more responsibilities than my younger brothers and take care of them. There was a study done by Glenda Valenzuela called “Firstborn Latina Daughters: The Obstacles that Come with Learning from Home”, where it highlights the additional burdens placed upon first born Latino daughters due to cultural and gender norms. Additionally, religion played a big role in my upbringing as well. Growing up in a …show more content…

This is when I started to start putting myself first, rather than my family. This elicited a negative reaction from my parents. Socialization within my community places great importance on marrying early and having children for young women. Conforming to these gendered expectations contrasted with my plans to continue my education and go to nursing school. Valenzuela states in her findings, “Latina students find that their culture and socialization motivates them to achieve academic success in order to be able to be at the same status as their male counterparts in their families. Additionally, female children of immigrant parents are also likely to aim towards higher status occupations and reveal this through early educational expectations (Feliciano & Rumbaut, 2007)”. This demonstrates that I am not alone in my struggles, and plenty of Latina daughters have the desire to further their education. As the first in my family to go to college, my education and social class have provided numerous challenges in navigating higher education. Coming from a lower class background, I lacked access to support and resources that were available to more privileged