respectable Japanese women. Hall, referring to work by Takie Sugiyama Lebra, offers a
clear depiction of that treatment:
The training young girls receive at home instills cultural values and conditions them to
proper comportment. These values include modesty, reticence, elegance in handling such
things as chopsticks and dishes, tidiness, courtesy, compliance, discipline for self-reliance,
diligence, endurance, and a willingness to work around the house. Japanese girls are
groomed to be skilled wives and mothers.^65
In most Asian cultures, although the structure of the culture perceives men as
being superior to women, most of the crucial responsibilities of child rearing fall on
the mother. This is exemplified in the Chinese saying“Strict father, kind mother.”Latino. It might be helpful to clarify some of the words we use to define the various
types of families that we will place under the umbrella“Latino.”While there is an
overlap between the words“Hispanic”and“Latino”and many people believe they
are interchangeable, they are not. First,“Hispanic”refers to language and constitutes
a broad group of Spanish-speaking peoples from places such as South and Central
America and the Caribbean.“Latino”is more general than“Hispanic.”We should
point out that many people consider all Latinos to be Hispanic. For our purposes,
Latino is anyone who is from or can trace his or her ancestry to a Latin American
country. In many instances, Latinos prefer to call themselves Hispanics. Two clarifica-
tions might be helpful. When we speak of“Mexicans,”we are referring to someone
born in Mexico.“Mexican American”refers to people who live in the United States
but have (or have had) some family connections to Mexico.
The sacredness and importance of the family is at the core of Latino cultures.
This can be seen in the Mexican proverb“The only rock I know that stays steady,
the only institution I know that works, is the family.”It is within the context of the
family that the individual finds security, emotional support, and a sharp distinction
as to how gender roles are defined. Just as Confucian philosophy influenced the
shaping of Asian gender roles, the conception of female roles within Christianity
derives in part from the masculine representation of God as Father.^66 That is, the
male and female roles within Latino families are defined by tradition and religion.
For Latina female gender roles, the termmarianismois often used when talking about
the women being focused primarily on the family while at the same time being sub-
servient to males. As Schvaneveldt and Behnke note,“Marianismois sometimes
viewed as women lacking power and being submissive to men.”^67 This interpretation
is directly linked to the perception of mothers sacrificing their own needs and desires
for their children and their husbands. It is the mother who nurtures and educates the
children while allowing the father to be the head of the household. This seemingly
selfless role does not diminish the fact that“Women...have great influence in their
family, although it may be exercised indirectly.”^68 One of their major influences is
with young females within the family. For example, because of families’observance
of strict female gender roles, young girls“are often less vocal and take less assertive
stands than males do.”^69
As you can observe from what we have described thus far, in Mexican culture,
the father occupies the dominant role. And, as Hildebrand and his associates
note,“The authority of the husband and father is seldom questioned or disputed.
The father’s role is expected to be one of breadwinner and protector of the family.84 CHAPTER 3•The Deep Structure of Culture: Lessons from the Family
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