I was fascinated by the fact that Latina women display such strong entrepreneurship. Upon reflection, this makes sense as there is a creative force needed to survive daily for many Latina women. These are women who are willing to take risks because not taking a risk means there is no chance that life will improve substantially for their families. What would be interesting to know is what the corresponding facts are for their Latino counterparts. Do women outnumber men in this same spirit of entrepreneurship? If so, what factors contribute to this?
Furthermore, I was interested in the search for identity, particularly in owning identity. Ownership creates a sense of empowerment and control that blind acceptance does not.
Good questions, I'd be curious to know what the numbers are for the male Latinos.
ReplyDeleteI loved your arguments for why Latinas may be such great entrepreneurs. It would be very interesting to do some research to see how they have gotten to where they are today and to get our students to really think about the path that they are on.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your last statement that it is imperative for a person to own their identity. From prior research that I have done, identity is a compilation of both how you view yourself and how you are viewed by others. Self perception, though, is the identity that you are most likely going to use as you pursue careers and further your own resources so we need to encourage our students to find positive role models that look like they do.
I also found the high level of entrepreneurship among Latina women fascinating, but as I learn more about the Latina community and read more Latina literature, it is not hard to believe that it's true. While I think that some of the entrepreneurship may be a result of one's Latina background, I think that it has also developed as a necessity to help many Latina women survive, take care of their families and better their situations. There is an extremely strong sense of family within the Latina community and it seems that many Latina women are extremely focused on working to improve their situation for themselves and their family’s, and that they aren't looking for temporary success and are not afraid to work extremely hard. Similar to Theresa, I wonder how this compares to men within the Latino community. I would also like to know more about what the male perspective of Latina success is. Is it pride? Jealousy? A combination?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which: http://www.mujerlatinahoy.com
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