The Machismo Condition: Exploring the Lives of Occupational & Domestic Shifts of Mexican and Mexican-American Women

This project was inspired based on my childhood experience growing up in a culture that has normalized abuse on women. This study analyzed two different spaces that women must display subservient behavior. I have coined this as the double shift: the occupational and domestic spheres. Findings were drawn using semi-structured open-ended interviews with 10 women that work at an elite university (I have identified as Jerome State University), and identify as Mexican or Mexican American. Also, I was able to examine the relationships that service-working women experience with students, professors, and administration at Jerome State University through participant/ fieldwork observation. I was able to gain entry within this group of women by acknowledging my privilege as a male, and also by using a confidential informant. This research was conducted in Northeast Los Angeles County, a community that is heavily populated with people of color.