Chican Women's Movement Analysis

1. Three political issues that are most evident for women during the 1960’s and 1970’s Chicana/o Movement are oppression, machismo, and control over their bodies. Chicana’s encountered oppression from La Raza because they focused on getting equal rights for the men and completely put the women’s needs aside. Women were not accepted by the leaders in the Chicano Movement or the Anglo establishment (Vidal 22). Chicana’s experienced machismo within the Chicano Movement because they were seen useful only to perform sexual activities or support the men. The third issue women dealt with was wanting to have access to free and safe abortions, free child care, and birth control. Chicana feminist’s challenged sexism and cultural nationalism by writing

The Women’s Movement excluded women of color as well as queer women of color because the Anglo Women’s Movement focused on at least three positions: some wanted access to whatever men had access to, others felt that men had all the power and were responsible for women oppression, and others felt that women oppression was one of many in society that had to be corrected (NietoGomez 54). The Anglo Women’s Movement felt that they needed equal opportunities as men, while the Chicana Feminist Movement focused on racism, sexism, and classism. The Chicana Feminist Movement recognized that men did not have all the power because the Chicano men had no power, they made up for that lack of power through “male privilege” (NietoGomez 55). Due to so much oppression and machismo the Chicana Feminist Movement came to existence. The fact that there were two Women’s Movements hurt the strength of each movement because it was easier to divide and conquer; although it did hurt the movements strength, it

An example of white privilege is learning about the history of their race in elementary school while people of color must wait to learn about their history in college.

F) Sexism: is prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, based on sex. An example of sexism is double standards where a woman is considered a slut when she embraces her sexuality and a man is a stud when he embraces his sexuality.

G) Patriarchy: a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line. An example of patriarchy is the Roman Catholic Church and how it is set up where the men are at the top of the system serving as popes and priests while the women are at the bottom serving as nuns.

H) Equal Educational Access: tries to ensure that students have equal and equitable opportunities to take full advantage of their education. An example if this would be that students of all backgrounds and ethnicities have access to the same opportunities such as technology, extracurricular activities, and good