Gender and Gender Roles

ROWELL: I have noticed that women in Coyolillo seem to have a position very different from that of women in Xalapa. And that position is different from the one women occupy in the United States. Here in Coyolillo they all seem confined to working in their homes. But you're a professional; you are not confined to the home. Your position here seems so different from other women in this community. In fact, your professional position is obviously central to the well-being of this community. That is, to exercise that position you must leave your home and do public work for the good of all—for the men, women and children of Coyolillo. You are in a position of serious authority. How do the men here deal with you, a woman in a powerful position of authority?

BENITA: Well you can imagine that when I started it was very hard for me. It took a lot to get the people to adapt to us working and all that. What happens more than anything is that there is a lot of machismo here. It's very difficult for the men to let their wives work even though she might have a university degree. It's pride or machismo or who knows what. Sometimes even though they need the income, they still don't let them work. Or it might be jealousy, I don't know, but I think it's more machismo. I believe that if both of us worked just a little, we'd live better. With both husband and wife working more income makes it to the house. But they don't believe that. More than anything, the men don't let them. Now, though, the ones that are going to the United States are bringing their wives, and I think they do work up there. Maybe they have a new mentality, seeing how the majority of the women in your country work.

ROWELL: When the husbands are in the United States, can their wives find jobs here?

BENITA: Here, no. They wait for them to return. Or their husbands send for them. There are some women who go to the United States; some of them follow their husbands there, and go to work there.

ROWELL: But here, no? Why not here?

BENITA: They don't give them permission to work here.

ROWELL: Do you mean that their husbands don't give them permission to work here? Or are you referring to the community?

BENITA: No, I'm talking about their husbands. Their husbands don't give them permission.

JONES: If their husbands are in the United States for six or seven years, the women can't work?

BENITA: They don't leave their homes to go out to work, but they work in the homes. They take care of their homes and their children, but they may not go outside to work.

ROWELL: Are you saying they're not free to go out to work then? Don't they have freedom to do that?

BENITA: No, they control them all the way from there in the United States. They talk from time to time on the telephone.

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ROWELL: Do you have any other job or do you only work in the house?

HERNALINDA: No, we do not go out and work.

ROWELL: What do your daughters do when you are cooking?

HERNALINDA: Some begin to wash (clothes). Others mop the floor, wash dishes and I begin to cook. The daughters also learn to cook, including the daughters-in-law. All my daughters-in-law know how to make food.

ROWELL: All the people have responsibilities in the community. The men, the women, the children, all have responsibilities in the community.

HERNALINDA: Yes, it is their obligation.

ROWELL: What is the difference between the responsibilities of the boys and girls in the house and in the community?

HERNALINDA: When they are young children, they play and go to school. They can go to...