The Pew Research Center has recently released findings from its National Survey of Latinos, aimed at better understanding the experiences of Hispanic women in the United States. The report analyzes Latinas’ perception of societal pressures, life satisfaction, and experiences with sexism, harassment, and discrimination.
The survey found a large majority of Hispanic women feel pressure to support their families and be pleasant towards others. About 68 percent of Latinas surveyed reported feeling pressure to cook and clean and 62 percent reported pressure to be beautiful, such as dressing nicely or wearing makeup. A majority of Hispanic men held the same beliefs regarding societal pressures facing Hispanic women, but not to the extent reported by Latinas. Additionally, Hispanic women who were born in the United States were more likely than Hispanic immigrant women to feel pressure to maintain historical domestic gender norms.
Hispanic women were more likely than Hispanic men to state sexism against women in the workplace, school, and at home was at least somewhat of a big problem. A similar belief was seen regarding sexism in movies, television, and music. However, Hispanic women were more likely to state sexism was a problem in English-language media compared to Spanish-language media.
Notably, while these viewpoints were seen across all ages of Hispanic women, young Hispanic women were more likely than older women to state they felt societal pressure to succeed at work or live close to their family. Additionally, young Latinas were more likely to see sexism as a significant problem in the workplace and were more likely to have experienced harassment or discrimination in the past year.
Despite the many challenges facing Latinas today, 88 percent of Hispanic women stated they were at least somewhat satisfied with their family life, with a majority of respondents stating they were very satisfied. Currently, Hispanic women account for 17 percent of adult women in the United States and are the fasting growing racial or ethnic population in the country.